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Power's work was still fetching high prices in 1947; ''Draught Horses Drinking'' sold for 300 guineas (a value of A$20,660.00 in 2021).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1950-07-12 |title=£7500 Paid for Antique Treasures |pages=5 |work=The Age |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206402151 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> He conducted art lessons in his Melbourne School of Art on the corner of [[Elizabeth Street, Melbourne|Elizabeth Street]] and [[Little Collins Street|Little Collins Streets]] where he was assisted by a previous disciple and fellow realist Max Middleton.<ref>{{Cite news |last=George |first=Esmond |date=28 October 1950 |title=Colorful art show |pages=30 |work=The Mail |publication-place=Adelaide |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55852138 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> Among his students were [[Joan Lane]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=1980-06-13 |title=Composite on show |pages=16 |work=Australian Jewish News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262759092 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> [[Cathleen Edkins]]<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Edkins, Cathleen E |title=Cathleen E Edkins : Australian Art and Artists file |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/251624434 |access-date=31 October 2022 |website=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1951-08-30 |title=Out among the People |pages=47 |work=Chronicle |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93857110 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> and [[Janet Dawson]] who took his classes from the age of 11, between 1946 and 1949. She described him as "a funny old man [who] always had an unlit hand-rolled cigarette on his lower lip, which jiggled up and down as he talked. He was very kindly, and also a very good technician, and just taught basic things."<ref>Dawson interviewed by John Landt in {{Cite book |last=Landt |first=John |title=Janet Dawson’s Printmaking, 1957-60 |publisher=The Australian National University |year=October 2020 |edition=Thesis : Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies (Advanced), College of Arts and Social Sciences |location=Canberra}}</ref>
Power's work was still fetching high prices in 1947; ''Draught Horses Drinking'' sold for 300 guineas (a value of A$20,660.00 in 2021).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1950-07-12 |title=£7500 Paid for Antique Treasures |pages=5 |work=The Age |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206402151 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> He conducted art lessons in his Melbourne School of Art on the corner of [[Elizabeth Street, Melbourne|Elizabeth Street]] and [[Little Collins Street|Little Collins Streets]] where he was assisted by a previous disciple and fellow realist Max Middleton.<ref>{{Cite news |last=George |first=Esmond |date=28 October 1950 |title=Colorful art show |pages=30 |work=The Mail |publication-place=Adelaide |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55852138 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> Among his students were [[Joan Lane]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=1980-06-13 |title=Composite on show |pages=16 |work=Australian Jewish News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262759092 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> [[Cathleen Edkins]]<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Edkins, Cathleen E |title=Cathleen E Edkins : Australian Art and Artists file |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/251624434 |access-date=31 October 2022 |website=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1951-08-30 |title=Out among the People |pages=47 |work=Chronicle |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93857110 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> and [[Janet Dawson]] who took his classes from the age of 11, between 1946 and 1949. She described him as "a funny old man [who] always had an unlit hand-rolled cigarette on his lower lip, which jiggled up and down as he talked. He was very kindly, and also a very good technician, and just taught basic things."<ref>Dawson interviewed by John Landt in {{Cite book |last=Landt |first=John |title=Janet Dawson’s Printmaking, 1957-60 |publisher=The Australian National University |year=October 2020 |edition=Thesis : Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies (Advanced), College of Arts and Social Sciences |location=Canberra}}</ref>


In a 1950 interview headed "Modern Art Pathetic, Says Noted NZ. Artist,"<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1950-01-26 |title=Modern Art Pathetic, Says Noted NZ Artist : He's painted Royalty, and Betty Grable |pages=4 |work=The Barrier Miner |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48615329 |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref> Power warns "beware of modern art," but is ambivalent; condemning [[Russell Drysdale]]'s [[South Australian Society of Arts|Melrose Prize]]-winning picture, ''Woman In a Landscape'',"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drysdale |first=Russell |date=1949 |title=Woman in a landscape |url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/woman-in-a-landscape/24109/www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/woman-in-a-landscape/24109/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=AGSA - Online Collection |language=en}}</ref> for conveying "a wrong impression of our back country," but stressing that by "'modernists' he does not mean modern artists," admitting that "many of these are doing good work in Australia today and deserve encouragement."<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 January 1950 |title='Monstrous paintings' under fire |pages=3 |work=News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130795470 |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref>
In a 1950 interview headed "Modern Art Pathetic, Says Noted NZ. Artist,"<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1950-01-26 |title=Modern Art Pathetic, Says Noted NZ Artist : He's painted Royalty, and Betty Grable |pages=4 |work=The Barrier Miner |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48615329 |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref> Power warns "beware of modern art," but is ambivalent; condemning [[Russell Drysdale]]'s [[South Australian Society of Arts|Melrose Prize]]-winning picture, ''Woman In a Landscape'',"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drysdale |first=Russell |date=1949 |title=Woman in a landscape |url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/woman-in-a-landscape/24109/www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/woman-in-a-landscape/24109/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=AGSA - Online Collection |language=en}}</ref> for conveying "a wrong impression of our back country," but stressing that by "'modernists' he does not mean modern artists," admitting that "many of these are doing good work in Australia today and deserve encouragement."<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 January 1950 |title='Monstrous paintings' under fire |pages=3 |work=News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130795470 |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref> He welcomed artists migrating to Australia, saying they would "provide a much-needed transfusion for the naiton's art."<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 January 1950 |title=Migrants as aid to Australian art |pages=3 |work=News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130795117 |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref>


== Death and legacy ==
== Death and legacy ==

Revision as of 03:43, 1 November 2022

Harold Septimus Power
Caricature of Harold Septimus Power, 1920s, by John Henry Chinner from Saturday Journal, Adelaide
Born
Harold Septimus Power

31 December 1877
Dunedin, New Zealand
Died3 January 1951
Melbourne, Australia
Known forillustrator, painter, war artist
Spouse(s)Isabel Laura Butterworth
Margery Isabel Desmazures

Harold Septimus Power, usually known as H. Septimus Power or H. S. Power (31 December 1877 – 3 January 1951) was a New Zealand-born Australian artist, who was an official war artist for Australia in World War I.

Early life

Harold Septimus Power was born on 31 December 1877, in Dunedin, New Zealand, to Peter Power, an Irish-born hatter, and his Scottish wife Jane (née Amers).[1] His family migrated to Australia when he was six. Despite his desire to become an artist his father sent him to a school of veterinary surgery for four years. He befriended Walter Withers who advised him to let his son become an artist.[2]

Early paintings

After varied occupations, Power moved to Adelaide where he began his art studies.[3] He exhibited in 1899 with the Melbourne Art Club then moved to Adelaide where he worked as an illustrator and political cartoonist for the Adelaide Observer, South Australian Register and the Adelaide Critic.[1] In 1904, he was commissioned by the trustees of the Art Gallery of South Australia to paint an animal scene. On 17 September of the same year, he married his first wife Isabel Laura Butterworth.[1]

Between 1905 and 1907 Power studied at the Académie Julian in Paris,[4] and later gained a teacher's diploma at the Paris School of Arts. Settling in London, he joined the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Animal Painters.[1] During this time, he also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, taught and painted in England, and returned to Australia in 1911 to hold his first one-man exhibition at the Guild Hall, Swanston Strreet, Melbourne, Australia in June 1913. During this exhibition he displayed oils and watercolours of rural landscapes that were used as backdrops for equine scenes and hunting.[1] He returned to England later that year.

World War I

Bringing up the guns, 1917

After war broke out in the summer of 1914, the Australian government appointed official war artists to depict the activities of the Australian Imperial Force in the European theater of war. Power was appointed in 1917 and was attached to the 1st Division, A.I.F. from September to December of that year and then again in August the following year.[5] Official War Artist during the First World War and was renowned for his depiction of animals,[6] in particular horses, on the field of battle.[1] After the war, Power was contracted by the Australian War Records Section for the next two decades.

Between the wars

With W. B. McInnes in 1927 Power painted the ceremonial opening of the Federal parliament. During the interwar period Power spent time both in Melbourne and overseas, exhibiting on periodic returns usually featuring a work recognised in the Royal Academy, fetching prices of prices of five hundred guineas even during the Depression (worth A$41,160.00 in 2021), and even by the 1970s when they were considered unfashionable they auctioned for around A$7,000.[7]

He married his second wife Margery Isabel (née Desmazures) in Adelaide on 5 September 1936.[8]

After 1945

Owned by Merrill Family Trust
Harold Septimus Power-My Vase Arrangement-Circa 1930 to 1945.

Power's work was still fetching high prices in 1947; Draught Horses Drinking sold for 300 guineas (a value of A$20,660.00 in 2021).[9] He conducted art lessons in his Melbourne School of Art on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Little Collins Streets where he was assisted by a previous disciple and fellow realist Max Middleton.[10] Among his students were Joan Lane,[11] Cathleen Edkins[12][13] and Janet Dawson who took his classes from the age of 11, between 1946 and 1949. She described him as "a funny old man [who] always had an unlit hand-rolled cigarette on his lower lip, which jiggled up and down as he talked. He was very kindly, and also a very good technician, and just taught basic things."[14]

In a 1950 interview headed "Modern Art Pathetic, Says Noted NZ. Artist,"[2] Power warns "beware of modern art," but is ambivalent; condemning Russell Drysdale's Melrose Prize-winning picture, Woman In a Landscape,"[15] for conveying "a wrong impression of our back country," but stressing that by "'modernists' he does not mean modern artists," admitting that "many of these are doing good work in Australia today and deserve encouragement."[16] He welcomed artists migrating to Australia, saying they would "provide a much-needed transfusion for the naiton's art."[17]

Death and legacy

H. Septimus Power with wife Margery and son Hayden in 1950. Adelaide News photo

After a long illness, Power died at a private hospital in Richmond, Melbourne, on 3 January 1951. Announcing his death, the Adelaide News reported that "Power received higher prices for his oils and water colors than any other living Australian artist."[6] He was buried with Presbyterian rites in Brighton cemetery. He was survived by his second wife Margery Isabel, née Desmazures and sons Harold and Hayden,[18] the progeny of each of his marriages. He is well represented in public Australian galleries. Harold and Margery lived at 54 Crisp Street in Hampton,[19] where in 1952 his work was exhibited shortly after his death.[20] A full-colour copy of his 1945 painting of a beach scene at Hampton can be seen on the bayside Coastal Art Trail at Hampton.[21]

Commissions

  • 1904: Elder Bequest commission from the trustees of the AGSA, for an animal picture, After the Day's Toil[4]
  • 1927: Opening of the Federal parliament
  • 1924: War, a mural for the Public Library of Victoria

Collections

  • National Gallery of Australia[22]
  • National Gallery of Victoria[23]
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales[24]
  • Art Gallery of South Australia[25]
  • Art Gallery of Western Australia[26]
  • Queensland Art Gallery[27]
  • The Sir Claude Hotchin OBE Art Collection, Shire of Narrogin[28]

See also

Bibliography

  • Holden, Robert. (1988). "Power, Harold Septimus (1877 - 1951)," Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 11. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press.
  • Reid, John B. (1977). Australian Artists at War: Compiled from the Australian War Memorial Collection. Volume 1. 1885–1925; Vol. 2 1940–1970. South Melbourne, Victoria: Sun Books. ISBN 978-0-7251-0254-8; OCLC 4035199

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Holden, Robert (1988). "Power, Harold Septimus (1877–1951)". In Serle, Geoffrey (ed.). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 11 1891-1939 Nes-Smi (1st ed.). Melbourne: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University and Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0 522 84380 8.
  2. ^ a b "Modern Art Pathetic, Says Noted NZ Artist : He's painted Royalty, and Betty Grable". The Barrier Miner. 26 January 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  3. ^ Reid, John B. (1977). Australian Artists at War, Vol. 1, p. 15.
  4. ^ a b McCulloch, Alan; McCulloch, Susan; McCulloch Childs, Emily (2006). The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art (Fourth ed.). Fitzroy BC, Vic. ISBN 0-522-85317-X. OCLC 80568976.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Australian War Memorial (AWM), H. Septimus Power biography
  6. ^ a b "Septimus Power dead". News. 3 January 1951. p. 16. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Streeton painting sold for $10.000". Canberra Times. 31 October 1973. p. 21. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Family Notices". The Australasian. 12 September 1936. p. 14. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  9. ^ "£7500 Paid for Antique Treasures". The Age. 12 July 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  10. ^ George, Esmond (28 October 1950). "Colorful art show". The Mail. Adelaide. p. 30. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Composite on show". Australian Jewish News. 13 June 1980. p. 16. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  12. ^ Edkins, Cathleen E. "Cathleen E Edkins : Australian Art and Artists file". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Out among the People". Chronicle. 30 August 1951. p. 47. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  14. ^ Dawson interviewed by John Landt in Landt, John (October 2020). Janet Dawson’s Printmaking, 1957-60 (Thesis : Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies (Advanced), College of Arts and Social Sciences ed.). Canberra: The Australian National University.
  15. ^ Drysdale, Russell (1949). "Woman in a landscape". AGSA - Online Collection. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  16. ^ "'Monstrous paintings' under fire". News. 20 January 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Migrants as aid to Australian art". News. 18 January 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  18. ^ "Family Notices". The Adelaide Chronicle. 2 May 1940. p. 23. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  19. ^ "Family Notices". Advertiser. 30 April 1940. p. 6. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  20. ^ McCulloch, Alan (2 September 1952). "ART REVIEW : History in making". The Herald. Melbourne. p. 8. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  21. ^ "Hampton beach : painting by H. Septimus Power; Power, Harold Septimus; 2012; P71... on eHive". eHive. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  22. ^ "Septimus Power - Search the Collection, National Gallery of Australia". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Septimus Power". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Works by Septimus Power". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  25. ^ "Septimus Power". AGSA - Online Collection. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  26. ^ "Septimus POWER". Art Gallery WA Collection Online. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  27. ^ "POWER, Septimus | QAGOMA Collection Online". collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  28. ^ "The Sir Claude Hotchin OBE Art Collection". Shire of Narrogin. Retrieved 31 October 2022.

External links

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