Thomas William "Tom Roberts" 

(9 March 1856 - 14 September 1931)

Australian Impressionist, Worked as a photographer's assistant while studying art and strove hard to be a successful artist.

On December 4th at Canberra, the National Gallery of Australia will present the works of a legendary Australian artist Tom Roberts. The extraordinary exhibition shows how Roberts values the work of ordinary Australian people. He was also one of the first painters to recognize special character of the Australian landscape. Tom Roberts made many other paintings showing country people working, with a similar image of the shearing sheds in The Golden Fleece, a drover racing after sheep breaking away from the flock in A break away!, and with men chopping trees in Wood splitters. Many of Roberts' paintings were landscapes or ideas done on small canvases that he did very quickly, such as his exhibits at the famous "9 by 5 Impression Exhibition" in Melbourne, "9 by 5" referring to the size in inches of the cigar box lids which most of the paintings were done on. Roberts had more works on display in this exhibition than anyone else. Many of the paintings had humorous touches and anecdotes, showing Roberts' sense of humor. He also painted a considerable number of fine oil landscapes and portraits, some painted at artist camps with his friend McCubbin, but perhaps his most famous works, in his time, were two large works, Shearing the Rams and The Big Picture. 

We from Direct Art Australia, encourage you not to miss out on this remarkable exhibition and see an exciting period of change, including a large-scale rehang of almost every work of art, with Australian art taking pride in a new location.