COLVILLE, GEORGE GARDEN (1887-1970)

“Tokyo, Japan (Occupied Japan)” (1949)
Oil on board
39 x 48m
Signed lower right
*commissioned by Australian War Memorial
*exhibited at Georges Gallery, Melbourne, 1950
*private collection, Sydney
 
Colville is a prominent, forgotten Australian Impressionist. He began studying painting at the National Gallery of Victoria School of Art under Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall. In 1914, Colville enlisted and served overseas for four years in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt, and France and England. After the First World War, Colville became a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters. He also exhibited his works with the Victorian Art School. Painting for many years, in oil and watercolour, he produced impressionistic bush and coastal scenes. It was not until 1949-1950 that Colville became an official war artist. The Australian War Memorial facilitated Colville's joining the Australian troops occupying Japan. His project was to provide a record the aftermath of WWII; of the life and activities of the British Commonwealth Occupational Forces. It was agreed that the Memorial would select twenty of the works Colville produced during his stay in Japan. During his time there, Colville travelled with the troops, painting landscapes and scenes of Kure (near Hiroshima), Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama in his inimitable impressionistic style of oil painting. Twenty-one of these works were donated to the Memorial upon Colville's return and remain part of the Memorial's collection. This RARE, historically significant street scene, commissioned by the War Memorial, was exhibited at the Georges Gallery, Melbourne in August, 1950.