NEWBURY, ALBERT ERNEST (1891-1941)

"Roses" (c.1920)
oil on board
40 x 34cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Newbury was an important Australian Tonalist. In 1909, at the age of 18, Newbury entered the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, Melbourne, where he studied under Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall. In 1916, Newbury studied under Max Meldrum who influenced his work. Newbury won the Hugh Ramsay prize for portrait-painting in 1913 – his two pictures being placed first and second. Newbury held a joint exhibition in 1917 with Richard McCann, and gradually established a reputation for the simplicity and spaciousness of his work. Most of his paintings were landscapes, but he also did some very good portraits. After the death of William Beckwith McInnes in 1939 and the appointment of Charles Wheeler as master of the painting school at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Newbury was made master in the school of drawing. However, Newbury became ill soon afterwards and died at Eltham near Melbourne on 1 April 1941. Newbury married Ruth Trumble who survived him with one son. His work is represented in the galleries at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Ballarat, Geelong, and at Canberra.