Springvale Winery, South Australia ... in 1940
An original pencil drawing, mounted and matted (visible image size 178 × 288 mm), initialled ('R.E.C.') and captioned in pencil in the bottom right-hand corner.
The drawing is slightly foxed, with a short closed vertical crack (approximately 60 mm) barely visible in the sky above the tree; the mat is slightly bumped at one top corner; overall, in very good condition.
An article in the Adelaide 'Advertiser' on tourism in the 'Picturesque Northern Towns' (Monday, 16 December 1929) refers to 'Watervale, with its fine gums and wealth of undulating vineyards, is another of the show places of the locality, and the well-known Springvale winery and distillery is situated in this locality'. Robert Emerson Curtis (1898-1996), English-born Australian artist, architectural draftsman, camouflage officer, and official war artist, emigrated to Queensland in 1914. In 1922 he 'travelled to the USA with his great friend, the pioneer filmmaker, Charles Chauvel. There he developed what was to become a lifelong interest in industrial modernism and on returning to Sydney in 1928 he set about documenting the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.... He painted murals and did industrial illustration in 1932-38, including the series "Australia at Work", which was syndicated in Australian newspapers.... During WWII Curtis recorded working life in the Commonwealth Munition factories (1939-41), worked as Camouflage Officer in Australia and with the RAAF in New Guinea (1941-43), until he was finally appointed an official war artist to record the nation's industrial war-time production (1943-45). More than 200 works are in the Australian War Memorial (AWM) collection' (Design & Art Australia Online).
Item #127205
Price (AUD):
$250.00