Abbey Altson

Altson was born in on 21 August 1866, in Middlesbrough, the only child of Ethel (née Hatrick) and David AlstonNew York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates and travelled to Australia in the early 1880s. He joined the bohemian Buonarotti Club (1883–87) as one of its youngest members and received encouragement from senior artists.{{Cite journal |last=Mead |first=Stephen F. |date=December 2011 |title=The Search for Artistic Professionalism in Melbourne: the activities of the Buonarotti Club, 1883 -1887 |journal=The Latrobe Journal |volume=88}} He studied at the National Gallery School from 1885 to 1890, and in 1890, he was awarded its Travelling Scholarship.{{Cite book |last1=McCulloch |first1=Alan |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/80568976 |title=The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art |last2=McCulloch |first2=Susan |last3=McCulloch Childs |first3=Emily |publisher=AUS Art Editions; The Miegunyah Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-522-85317-X |edition=4th |location=Fitzroy |pages=208 |oclc=80568976}} Altson's winning painting was named Flood Sufferings and gained attention through its connection to the recent flood disaster of Bourke and other towns on the Darling River. He went to Paris the following year and spent the rest of his life overseas,{{Cite web|title=Abbey Altson :: biography at :: at Design and Art Australia Online|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/abbey-altson/biography/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.daao.org.au}} often traveling between England and India, and migrating to the US in 1939.

Altson along with Rupert Bunny and Max Meldrum studied at the Académie Julian, Paris under Jean Paul Laurens who was highly respected teacher. He also exhibited at the Allied Artists Association in London in 1908. Australian exhibitors in 1908 exhibition included Altson, George Bell, Rupert Bunny & Thea Proctor.{{Cite book|last=Robertson|first=Kate|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1086343250|title=Identity, community and Australian artists, 1890-1914 : Paris, London and further afield|date=2020|isbn=978-1-5013-3284-5|location=New York, NY, USA|oclc=1086343250}}

Altson was a successful painter who after winning the 1890 National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship, moved to London. The winners of the scholarship were required to paint 2 copies of old masters and one original. Altson chose to copy 2 portraits, Van Dyck's Portrait of a Lady of Rank with her daughter from the Louvre,{{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/2905/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}{{Cite web|title=Portrait d'une dame de qualité et de sa fille. Pendant de l'INV. 1242|url=https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010062089|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Musée du Louvre|language=en}} followed by Rembrandt's An Old Man from London's National Gallery. Altson exhibited in Société des Artistes Français in 1892, 1893 and 1896.{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=Tom|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1102652144|title=Australasian artists at the French Salons|date=2019|isbn=978-1-925706-70-3|location=Royal Exchange, NSW|oclc=1102652144}}

Alston's work featured in the National Gallery of Victoria traveling exhibition Golden Summers, 30 October 1985 – 27 January 1986.{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Jane |title=Golden summers : Heidelberg and beyond |last2=Whitelaw |first2=Bridget |last3=National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne) |publisher=International Cultural Corporation of Australia |year=1985 |isbn=9780642097811 |location=The Rocks, Sydney |language=en |oclc=731056695}}

• Flood Sufferings (1890){{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/6050/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}
• Meditation (1896){{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/5939/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}
• The Golden Age (1893){{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/2794/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}
• Inspiration (1899){{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/140520/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}
• Idyll of the Sea (1896 ){{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/75847/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}
• Songs of the Forest [https://www.bedfordfineartgallery.com/abbey_altson_forest.html Artwork by Abbey Altson]

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• [https://www.bedfordfineartgallery.com/abbey_altson_forest.html Artwork by Abbey Altson]

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Category:1866 births

Category:1948 deaths

Category:People from Middlesbrough

Category:19th-century Australian artists

Category:British emigrants to Australia