Lot 19. JAMES ALFRED TURNER (1850-1908)

"Prospecting amongst the Gums, Dandenongs"

Oil on Panel
23x13cm
Signed Lower Left
Prov: Private Collection Adelaide

Frame size: 31x21cm

Condition: Painting is in lovely condition, no visible faults, marks or concerns to report. Work is in Period/traditional frame and in lovely clean and original condition.

$3,000-5,000

The rural life of colonial Victoria provided the defining subject matter of James Alfred Turner’s career. Born in England in 1850 and arriving in Victoria in the early 1870s, Turner established himself in Melbourne before settling at Kilsyth, near the Dandenong Ranges, where farms, bushland and the everyday activities of country life became recurring subjects in his paintings.

Working principally in oil and watercolour, Turner exhibited with the Victorian Academy of Arts, the Victorian Artists’ Society and other leading Melbourne art societies. In 1884 he was commissioned by James Oddie to produce fourteen paintings of Australian bush life for the newly established Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, while two of his paintings received awards of merit at the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition of 1888. His carefully observed scenes of farming, livestock and bush life provide an important visual record of rural Victoria during the late nineteenth century.