Robert Johnson | Coastal NSW C1940
Robert Johnson
Coastal NSW c1940 (possibly Port Macquarie)
Oil on canvas
36.5 x 44 cm
Signed lower left
$2,600
Robert Johnson (1890-1964) was a skilful and popular impressionist landscape painter who exhibited extensively in Australia and New Zealand from the 1920s to late 1950s.
Born in New Zealand, Johnson studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland (1910-14) and moved to Australia in 1921. His success as an Australian artist during this period is comparable to that of landscape painter Harold Herbert with Johnson’s accomplished naturalistic and impressionist paintings, particularly of Sydney Harbour, being well received during the prosperity and art boom of the 1920s. Undoubtedly, this also contributed to his later success in New Zealand, although by the 1950s his work was perceived as outdated in contrast to the concerns of an emerging modern movement.
Johnson was the recipient of numerous commissions throughout his career and of several prizes including the Queen’s Coronation Medal (1953). In 1957, he returned to New Zealand as the judge for the country’s most prestigious landscape competition, the Keilliher Art Prize.
He was a Council member of the Royal Art Society, Sydney and his work is held in the collections of The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
