At the Farm by Robert Richmond Campbell

“At the Farm”, oil on board dated 1938 by Robert Richmond Campbell, inscribed ‘to Douglas D[undas]from Robert c 1938’ Robert Richmond Campbell was born in Edinburgh in 1902, dying in 1972 in Adelaide. He studied in Edinburgh with George Watson and also in Europe. He was a skilful and versatile painter in oils and watercolours; he achieved his first major success with his Streeton-like paintings of Sydney Harbour in 1928 at a sell-out exhibition a Macquarie Galleries. Campbell met Rupert Bunny in Melbourne in 1927 and stayed with him later in Paris. He worked also with John Duncan Fergusson the Scottish impressionist (‘Colourist’). Returning to Australia in 1932, he married the art writer Jean Young and painted for a year on islands off the Queensland coast and in Townsville. He taught part time in Sydney, including at Will Ashton’s outdoor painting classes in 1937, and in 1941 became head of the Art department of Launceston Technical College, where he also acted as honorary adviser to the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart. He later became Director of both the Queensland and South Australian Art Galleries and organised the Tate Gallery’s exhibition of Australian art in 1962.

His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, all State and many regional galleries and other public collections.                                                                                             

Biblio: Bénézit : Dictionnaire des Peintres; McCulloch: Encyclopedia of Australian Art.

Dimensions: 195 x 230