THE SMILE, 1899
JULIAN ROSSI ASHTON
oil on wood panel
37.5 x 31.5 cm
signed and dated lower right: J.R. ASHTON / 1899
JR Lawson "house sale" Centennial Ave, Lane Cove, c1980
Mr and Mrs Rodney Ellison, Sydney
Sotheby's, Melbourne, 27 August 2007, lot 310
Private collection, Sydney
Company collection, Sydney
Society of Artists, Spring Exhibition, Sydney, August 1899, no. 146
Australian Paintings, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 2 – 19 April 1984, cat. 28
A Very Private Collection , SH Ervin Gallery, National Trust Centre, Sydney, 15 June – 15 July 1990, cat. 2
The Julian Ashton Book, Art in Australia, Sydney, 1920, pl. iv (illus.)
Born Surrey, England in 1851 Julian Ashton studied in London and Paris, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and Society of British artists prior to arriving in Melbourne in 1878. As an illustrator for The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia he moved to Sydney in 1883 where he founded his own art school, Academie Julian, later known and continuing today as the Sydney Art School. He became a central figure of the early Sydney Impressionist movement together with Conder, Fullwood and Nerli. As a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales he organised the first exhibition of Australian art to be sent overseas, the 1898 Grafton Gallery Exhibition of Australian Art in London. The Julian Ashton Book was published by Art in Australia in 1920 to accompany the artist's first retrospective exhibition. The Smile appears to have been a favourite picture as it was chosen by Ashton for a colour plate illustration in the publication.