Appreciation | the works of Tom Roberts, the leader of Australian Impressionism

Thom Roberts

Tom Roberts

Australian painter, (1856-1931)

Thom Roberts (alias Thomas William Roberts) was an English-born Australian artist and leader of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian Impressionism. The Heidelberg School, composed of him and his Fellow Impressionists, dominated the Australian art scene for more than 30 years. Roberts is known for depicting Australian country life.

After attending art school in Melbourne, he went to Europe for further training in 1881 and returned to His country in 1885 to "learn the latest art". He did much to promote en plein air and encourage other artists to capture Australian national life. While he's best known for his "national narrative" – which includes Shearing The Sheep, Breakthrough! and Bail, he also gained a reputation as a portrait painter and completed The Big Picture in 1903, the most famous visual representation of Australia's first parliament.

Shearing Sheep, 1890

National Gallery, Melbourne

Breakthrough! 》

Bail

Roberts was born in Dorchester, Dorset, England, although his actual date of birth is somewhat mysterious: his birth certificate says March 8, 1856, while his tombstone says March 9. In 1869, Roberts moved to Australia with his family to live with relatives. Settled in Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. In the 1870s, he had been an assistant to a photographer, studying art under the direction of Louis Beverot and making friends with others who would later become famous artists, notably Frederick McCubin.

During this time, his mother remarried to a man who could not get along with Roberts. In 1884, he decided to return to the Royal Academy of Arts from 1884 to continue his studies. In 1883 he traveled to Spain with the Australian artist John Peter Russell, where he met the Spanish artists Laureano Barrau and Ramón Casas, who introduced him to the principles of Impressionism and Plein Air painting. During his time in London and Paris, he was influenced by the painters Le Parge and James Whistler.

From 1884 to the 1890s, Roberts worked in Victoria again, working at the famous Grosvenor Chambers studio at 9 Collins Street in Melbourne. In 1885 he began hiking for painting and drawing, traveling to the outskirts to set up camps in Bockhill and Heidelberg, where he worked with Frederick McCubin, Arthur Stridton and Charles Condell, dedicated to representing light, heat, air and distance in Australia.

In 1896, he married 36-year-old Elizabeth Williamson (Lillie), and they had a son, Caleb. Many of his most famous paintings are from this period. Roberts was also a professional framemaker, and between 1903 and 1914 he painted relatively few paintings, and most of his income apparently came from this work. Roberts assisted in a hospital in England during World War I. In Australia, he built a house near Melbourne. Elizabeth died in January 1928, and he died of cancer in 1931 in Calista, melbourne.