Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the
Julian Ashton Art School in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery ''
en plein air
''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...
'', greatly influencing the impressionist
Heidelberg School movement.
He was a principal organiser of the 1898
Exhibition of Australian Art in London, the first major exhibition of Australian art internationally.
Biography
Ashton was born in
Addlestone
Addlestone ( or ) is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Runnymede (borough), Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement.
Geography
Addlesto ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, the son of American amateur painter Thomas Briggs Ashton, and his wife Henrietta, daughter of Count Carlo Rossi, a
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
n diplomat who married the soprano
Henriette Sontag. The family moved to
Penzance
Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...
, Cornwall shortly after, and lived at Burley Grove,
Gulval. At the age of 11, the family moved again to
Totnes, Devon.
His father died in 1864, and around age 15 he began working in the engineers' office of either the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
or
Great Eastern Railway. There he remained for six years using his entire leisure time painting at
South Kensington. During this time he studied at the
West London School of Art for three years. He then went to study at the
Académie Julian
The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...
in Paris and began illustrating books.
He also had considerable success as a painter, exhibiting at the
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
and elsewhere.
Ashton emigrated to Melbourne in 1878 under contract to
David Syme's ''Illustrated Australian News'' and lived there for five years before moving to Sydney.
He was the elected president of the
Art Society of New South Wales from 1886 to 1892. From 1892 to 1895 he taught classes on behalf of the society but was dismissed after choosing to exhibit his works with the newly formed
Society of Artists.
He had a background in the contemporary French
realism of the
Barbizon School, which emphasised painting ''
en plein air
''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...
'' (i.e. direct from nature, as opposed to studio-based painting), and which laid the basis for the
Impressionist movement. As a trustee of the
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...
he championed emerging Australian artists of the Australian Impressionist or
Heidelberg School, and the Gallery's decision to collect these works owes much to his influence. Ashton is known for his paintings ''Evening, Merri Creek'' (1882), ''A Solitary Ramble'' (1888) and others.
George Lambert painted a portrait of Ashton which is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Lambert showed Ashton, then 77, with white hair and a military-type moustache, dressed in a grey suit and a dapper bow-tie, cigar in hand, sitting beside a table with a mass of objects. The cigar and wine suggest 'good living' and the flowers and fruit may have referred to Ashton's role as a gardener. Behind him there is a deep red curtain draped over a gold picture frame, behind which there is a curtain, creating an abstract arrangement of bold colours, with the frame suggesting Ashton's role as an artist, teacher and patron.
Julian Ashton Art School

The Sydney Art School (also known as the Julian Ashton Art School), which Ashton established in 1890 as the "Academy Julian",
has been an influential art school in Australia.
Julian Ashton students have included
William Dobell,
John Olsen
John Wayne Olsen AO (born 7 June 1945) is an Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, Chairma ...
,
Fred Leist,
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley Order of Australia, AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize, Archibald, Wynne Prize, ...
,
Lola Ridge,
Justine Kong Sing,
Anne Dangar
Anne Dangar (1 December 1885 – 4 September 1951) was an Australian painter and potter.
Life and training
Dangar was born in Kempsey, New South Wales, Kempsey, a town on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, daughter of Otho Dangar, who wa ...
, and
Nora Heysen.
(Julian)
Howard Ashton's son, J. Richard Ashton, and his wife Wenda ran the School from 1960, when, among many gifted artists, Ian Chapman and
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...
winner
Francis Giacco attended, until 1977 when Phillip Ashton (Richard's son) became Principal, this being the time of Hadyn Wilson, political cartoonist
Bill Leak and artist
Paul Newton.
In 1988 the school was incorporated and
Paul Delprat, Julian Ashton's great-grandson, himself an ex-student took over the running of the school, becoming the principal. In 1989 the school's antique casts and easels, which date back to 1890, were classified by the
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
. The school's main campus is in
The Rocks, Sydney, located opposite the
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia at 117–119 George Street, The Rocks. The building is listed on the
New South Wales State Heritage Register.
Since 2004 the school has also conducted classes at Headland Park,
Georges Heights,
Mosman.
Family
Ashton married twice: to
Eliza Ann Pugh (died 15 July 1900) in Hackney, London on 1 August 1876, by whom he had four sons and a daughter.
*
(J)ulian Howard Ashton (9 August 1877 – 30 April 1964), journalist, artist, and writer and critic.
* Rupert Rossi Ashton (c. 1885 – 4 March 1895).
* Percy G. Ashton established a plantation in the
New Hebrides, before becoming a soldier in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. His first wife died in May 1918. He later married jewellery designer
Rhoda Wager in March 1920.
* Bertha Ashton married W(illiam) Charlton Hubble (1880 – 17 February 1949) in July 1923. He was the (divorced) ex-husband of
Georgina Temperley. Their son Tom Hubble went on to become a farmer and artist of no distinction.
He married again, on 8 September 1902 to (Constance) Irene Morley (died 11 April 1946).
On Monday, 27 April 1942 Ashton died at Bondi, Sydney, aged 91, after a long illness. Until his death he had still been an art teacher to others. The service for the 'Grand Old Man of Australian art' was held at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium on 29 April 1942.
Ashton also had a brother, George Rossi Ashton (born 1857), a black-and-white artist who lived in Australia between the years 1878 and 1893 before returning to London. He married Blanche Brooke Coppin, a daughter of
George Coppin, in Melbourne on 23 October 1883.
Recognition
He was appointed a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in 1930.
Selected paintings
File:Julian Ashton Aboriginal Family Group.jpg, ''Aboriginal Family Group'', 1886, Art Gallery of New South Wales
File:Julian Ashton - The Corner of the Paddock, 1888.jpg, ''The Corner of the Paddock'', 1888, National Gallery of Victoria
File:Julian Ashton - Circular Quay, Sydney, 1888.jpg, ''Circular Quay, Sydney'', 1888, private collection
File:Julian Ashton a solitary ramble 1888.jpg, ''A Solitary Ramble'', 1888, Art Gallery of New South Wales
File:Julian Ashton - The prospector - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Prospector'', 1889, Art Gallery of New South Wales
File:Julian Ashton - Reflections, 1892.jpg, ''Reflections'', 1892, private collection
File:The Old Cemetery, Devonshire Street, 1894, oil painting by Julian Rossi Ashton.jpg, ''The Old Cemetery, Devonshire Street'', 1894, State Library of New South Wales
File:Julian Ashton - Tamarama Beach, forty years ago, a summer morning - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Tamarama Beach, forty years ago, a summer morning'', 1899, Art Gallery of New South Wales
File:Julian Ashton Golden Willows.jpg, ''Golden Willows'', 1907, New England Regional Art Museum
References
Bibliography
* Gray, Anne. ''George W Lambert Retrospective – Heroes and Icons''. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2007. .
*
*
External links
*
Website for Julian Ashton Art SchoolJulian Ashton at Australian Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, Julian
Australian art educators
Australian schoolteachers
1851 births
1942 deaths
Artists from New South Wales
People from Addlestone
People educated at Totnes Grammar School
British emigrants to the Colony of New South Wales
Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
19th-century Australian painters
19th-century Australian male artists
20th-century Australian painters
20th-century Australian male artists
Australian writers
Australian etchers
19th-century etchers
Australian landscape painters
English people of American descent
English people of Italian descent
Australian male painters
19th-century Australian educators