Louis Abrahams | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Abrahams by Tom Roberts, 1886, National Gallery of Australia | |
| Born | Louis Abrahams 1852 London, England |
| Died | 1903 (aged 50–51) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Heidelberg School |
| Spouse | Golda Abrahams |
Louis Abrahams (1852 – 2 December 1903) was a British-born Australian tobacconist, art patron, painter and etcher associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian Impressionism.
Born in London, England, Abrahams arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, as an eight-year-old with his family in 1860.[ citation needed ]
Later that decade, Abrahams attended the Artisans School of Design in Carlton, where he met Frederick McCubbin. [1] The pair formed a close friendship and later enrolled at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in 1871, where they founded a club to study the nude. McCubbin named his first son Louis after Abrahams, who reciprocated by naming his son Frederick. [1] Both artists, along with fellow National Gallery student Tom Roberts, established the Box Hill artists' camp in 1885. [1] Later accompanied by Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder and others, the group sought to capture the Australian bush by painting it en plein air .
By the time the group relocated to Mount Eagle estate (Eaglemont) near Heidelberg in 1888, Abrahams had less time for art due to the demands of the family cigar business, Sniders & Abrahams. He still made trips to visit his friends at Eaglemont, and supplied them with many cigar-box lids for painting impressions. 183 of these cigar-box paintings were exhibited by Roberts, Streeton, Conder and McCubbin in the landmark 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition of 1889. [1]
Abrahams sat for some of McCubbin's best-known paintings, including Down on His Luck (1889) and A Bush Burial (1890), and he is the subject of portraits by McCubbin, Roberts, Streeton, Julian Ashton, John Mather and others. [1] Due to his financial support of the Australian impressionists, Abrahams, along with his brother and business partner Lawrence, is regarded as an important patron of early Australian art. [1]
Abrahams suffered from depression and committed suicide on 2 December 1903. [2] His body was found in a basement toilet at his factory, "with a bullet wound in the head and a revolver clenched in both hands". [3]
Abrahams' personal art collection was passed down to his grandson, architect Sir Denys Lasdun, best-known for designing the Royal National Theatre complex on London's South Bank. [1]
Abrahams Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in his honour. [4]
Abrahams's nephew was Louis Henry Abrahams (1891 – 1940), son of Abrahams's brother Lawrence, and a founder of Astor Radio. [5] [6]
The Victorian Artists Society, which can trace its establishment to 1856 in Melbourne, promotes artistic education, art classes and gallery hire exhibition in Australia. It was formed in March 1888 when the Victorian Academy of Arts and the Australian Artists' Association amalgamated.
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has been described as Australian impressionism.
Frederick McCubbin was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
Thomas William Roberts was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism.
The Box Hill artists' camp was a site in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia favoured by a group of plein air painters in the mid to late 1880s who later became associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, named after Heidelberg, the site of another one of their camps.
Jane Sutherland was an Australian landscape painter who was part of the pioneering plein-air movement in Australia, and a member of the Heidelberg School. Her advocacy to advance the professional standing of female artists during the late nineteenth century was also a notable achievement.
Walter Herbert Withers was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists.
Down on His Luck is an 1889 painting by the Australian artist Frederick McCubbin. It depicts a disheartened swagman, sitting by a campfire in the bush and sadly brooding over his misfortune. According to an 1889 review, "The face tells of hardships, keen and blighting in their influence, but there is a nonchalant and slightly cynical expression, which proclaims the absence of all self-pity ... McCubbin's picture is thoroughly Australian in spirit." The surrounding bush is painted in subdued tones, reflecting his somber and contemplative mood.
The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition was an art exhibition held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It opened on 17 August 1889 at Buxton's Rooms on Swanston Street and featured 183 "impressions", the majority of which were painted by Charles Conder, Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton, three leading members of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Two other members, Frederick McCubbin and Charles Douglas Richardson, made smaller contributions.
David Davies was an Australian artist who was associated with the Heidelberg School, the first significant Western art movement in Australia.
A holiday at Mentone is an 1888 painting by Charles Conder, a leading member of the Heidelberg School movement, also known as Australian impressionism. It depicts people engaged in seaside activities on a sunny day at Mentone Beach, in the Melbourne suburb of Mentone.
The Heidelberg Artists Trail is a self-drive, cycling and walking trail that includes a series of 57 explanatory signs and boards situated in locations frequented by artists of the Heidelberg School. The signs display reproductions and descriptions of some of the most famous paintings, and are popular with school groups who have an interest in the arts and the natural environment. The trail winds for approximately 40 km through much of Jagajaga, including the municipalities of Banyule, Nillumbik and Manningham, through to the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges.
Golden Summer, Eaglemont is an 1889 landscape painting by Australian artist Arthur Streeton. Painted en plein air at the height of a summer drought, it is an idyllic depiction of sunlit, undulating plains that stretch from Streeton's Eaglemont "artists' camp" to the distant blue Dandenong Ranges, outside Melbourne. Naturalistic yet poetic, and a conscious effort by the 21-year-old Streeton to create his grandest work yet, it is a prime example of the artist's distinctive, high-keyed blue and gold palette, what he considered "nature's scheme of colour in Australia".
Leon Pole was an Australian artist who was associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian Impressionism.
The Exhibition of Australian Art in London was a show organised by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), notably Julian Ashton, and financially supported by the philanthropist Eadith Walker. Held at London's Grafton Galleries between April and September 1898, it featured 371 artworks made in Australia by 114 artists, and was the first major exhibition of Australian art to occur internationally.
John Llewellyn Jones, often referred to as Llewellyn or J. Llewellyn Jones, was an Australian artist and photographer who was associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
Thomas Humphrey was a Scottish-born Australian artist and photographer who was associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
Jane Rebecca Price was an Australian painter who was a foundation member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. Two of her works have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria and two by the Art Gallery of South Australia. She was a close associate of members of the group of painters known as the Heidelberg school.
Sniders & Abrahams was an Australian tobacco manufacturing company formed in 1886 in Melbourne, Victoria. It was the first Australian company to mass-produce cigarettes.
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