Title

Fullwood, A.Henry.

Author

Gray, Anna

Publication date

1985

Type

Biography

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Fullwood, A. Henry
by Anna Gray

Fullwood, A(lbert) Henry (b. Birmingham, England 15 March 1863; d. Waverley, 1 October 1930). Australian painter, etcher and illustrator. In his formative years he undertook illustrative commissions for the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, as well as for the Australian Town and Country Journal and other publications. For a time he painted with friends Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder at their camps around Mosman or on trips to Richmond and along the Hawkesbury. In his best oils of this period he achieved a lyricism and sure handling of paint that resembles the work of Conder. During this period he became interested in etching. In 1900 he moved to New York, and the following year he traveled to London, where he continued to work as a black and white artist with the London Graphic and Black and White. He painted landscapes depicting picturesque sights and developed an interest in monotypes, using the delicacy of this medium to create soft, low-key images of atmospheric subjects. He worked in the tradition of English landscape painters such as John Constable and John Sell Cotman, producing calm, quiet, understated images.

From 24 April 1915 to 16 November 1917 Fullwood served as an orderly in the Royal Amy Medical Corps at the 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, with fellow Australian artists, Roberts, Streeton, and Coates. In 1918 he visited France and Belgium as an official war artist. He made numerous watercolour sketches of the ordinary soldier in which he merged his talent as an illustrator with his ability to create sensitive evocations of place. He portrayed the everyday subjects of guards doing duty, clerks at their desks and soldiers writing home – capturing not so much men's personalities as how they passed their time.

Following the war Fullwood returned to Australia where he was founder of the Australian Painter-Etchers' Society. While he continued to paint he put much of his energy into etching, depicting picturesque spots, street scenes or views of buildings – subjects popular in Australian etching of the first half of the twentieth century.

Fullwood's work is represented in main Australian public collections.

© Anna Gray
ref: A.Henry Fullwood, 'The Art of Monotyping', The Studio, vol.32, June-September 1904; D.H.Souter, 'A.Henry Fullwood, Landscapist', Art and Architecture, vol.3, no.1, January-February 1906; A.Henry Fullwood, 'A Note on the Artistic Treatment of Architectural Drawings', The Studio, vol.46, February-May 1909; A.Henry Fullwood, 'An Artist's Reminiscences', The New Triad, August 1925 and November 1927; Files 18/1/70 and 18/7/6 (Australian War Memorial); S.W.Pring papers, MS1367, vol.1 (Mitchell Library); A.Gray, A.Henry Fullwood: War Paintings, Canberra, 1983; A.Gray, 'Fullwood in Tasmania', Art Bulletin of Tasmania 1983; A.Gray, 'AHenry Fullwood: Recording Australia's first 100 years', Australian Antique Collector, January-June 1984.