Loudon Sainthill Gouache

"The Harbour" Watercolour & Gouache by Loudon Sainthill c1950. Sainthill was born in Hobart, Tasmania in 1918 and died in London in 1969. He was a watercolour artist, stage, costume and book designer. His family had moved to Melbourne when Sainthill was 2 and in 1932 he studied design and drawing under Napier Waller at the Applied Arts School of the Working Men's College (a precursor of RMIT University) and by age 17 he had set up a studio in the heart of Melbourne where he painted and sold murals. He designed numerous ballet productions in Australia in the 30’s & 40’s and exhibited his watercolours, a series of which was acquired by the Art Gallery of NSW.

He moved to London in 1949 and his first commission was for Robert Helpmann to design the décor for Ile des Sirènea for its forthcoming tour with Helpmann and Margot Fonteyn. He went on to design more than 50 major productions and had completed his last work on a feature film when he died of a heart attack in 1969.

His work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, in many state and regional collections in Australia, and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and his work was recognised in a major retrospective as part of the 1991 Melbourne International Festival of the Arts.

The work has been professionally conserved. Framed dimensions: 70cm wide x 77cm tall.

AU$7,985