CHAPPLE, ARTHUR WILLIAM (1867-1928)

“River Pastoral” (c.1890)
Watercolour
11 x 16.5cm
Signed lower left
*private collection, Sydney
 
Chapple was a forgotten Australian Impressionist of the Heidelberg School. He was raised in the oeuvre of the great Australian Impressionists of the Heidelberg School. He first exhibited at the groundbreaking Centennial International Exhibition in 1888. Shortly after he relocated to Sydney where he trained at the Sydney Technical College. At this time he was living and working in Petersham as a salesman, when he filed for bankruptcy in 1890. He exhibited at the Royal Art Society in 1891, and the NSW Society of Artists from 1895-1899. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Art Society of NSW from 1905-1909. He passed away suddenly in 1928, and a posthumous retrospective was held to his work in 1934 by his painter wife, Maud, which "captured the real Australian atmosphere... a lifetime of careful and loving study alone (that) could uncover the true essence of Australian life and scenery".