John Shirlow, On the banks of the Yarra, 1922, Yarra River
Summary
The City of Melbourne has a small number of etchings by John Alexander Thomas Shirlow (1869–1936). This work, a view from the southern banks of the Yarra, east of Princes Bridge, shows the city’s developing skyline, with the steeple of St Paul’s Cathedral and the turret of the town hall thrusting skyward. Made in 1922, it was printed by Horace E. Wilson, who has signed the lower left border in pencil ‘H.E.W. with regards’. It was purchased for the collection from Noël Stott Fine Art in 1995.
In the late 1880s, Shirlow studied art for a short time with painter Artur Loureiro, before taking classes at the National Gallery of Victoria. He taught himself the basics of etching through studying P.G. Hamerton’s book ‘Etching and Etchers’ (1868), and using tools and a press he had made himself. Shirlow became the first Australian artist to make a career out of etching; he focused primarily on the streets and buildings of Melbourne, drawing his subject directly onto the plate in reverse. An irrepressible advocate of etching, Shirlow not only practised his favoured medium, but he also lectured and wrote on etching techniques. He was also prominent in Melbourne art circles of the time.
