Bidspirit auction | Arthur Burgess (1879-1957) Australian

Arthur Burgess (1879-1957) Australian - Arthur James Wetherall Burgess (1879–1957) Watercolor & Gouache on paper, signed lower right with Anchor, piece measures 9x 13 and 17 x 22 inches with custom giltwood frame. Burgess was only son of a former Royal Naval lieutenant, James Ogle Burgess, who emigrated to Tasmania in 1872. There he became a government employee and land surveyor, and he was also a competent topographical artist. As a result of helping J. R. Scott and R. M. Johnston in their survey of south-east Tasmania he met and married Dinah Eleanor (‘Nellie’) Evans of Newtown, the sister of Scott’s wife, and subsequently became a district surveyor in New South Wales. Their son Arthur was born at Bombala (halfway between Sydney and Melbourne) on 6th January 1879 and was brought up in Grafton and Lismore, NSW. In his later Who’s Who entry he said he was educated at ‘Hutchins, Hobart [Tasmania] and Armidale, NSW’; the latter was the then-new Armidale School, founded on the pattern of an English public school in 1894. After leaving, he completed a three-year apprenticeship with P. F. Spencer, a Sydney architect, but with an early talent in art and an interest in marine painting, used his leisure time to sketch in Sydney Harbour. He took evening drawing classes with Frank Mahoney (1863–1916), painter and Sydney Bulletin illustrator, and later enrolled as a pupil of the Australian seascape painter William Lister Lister (1859–1943). Lister had trained as a marine engineer in England but returned to Sydney as an artist in 1888 and was later President of the Australian Royal Art Society. Condition: The absence of a condition report does not imply an object is free of defects. All items may have normal signs of age and wear commensurate with their age; these issues will likely not be mentioned in the condition report. Please contact the auction house before the auction with any condition questions. Questions about condition will not be answered after purchase. Condition reports are provided as a courtesy, and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions. Important note on frames: Frames are not guaranteed to be in the same condition as they are in the item photograph. Due to handling and shipping, many frames, especially antique ones, are prone to losses. If you have questions about the condition of a frame, please contact us prior to the auction.