Watercolour on paper, ca. 24x33 cm (9 ½ x 13 in). Signed and dated “W.A. 98” in the right lower corner. Watercolour in very good condition. Recently matted.

Early attractive watercolour by a noted Australian Impressionist, Sir John William Ashton. He was born in England in the family of artist James Ashton and immigrated to Adelaide with his family in 1884. John Ashton was educated at Prince Alfred College from 1889 to 1897 and studied drawing part-time. In 1900, he left for England and France, where he continued his art education until 1905. His works were accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français in Paris. In 1908, Ashton won the Wynne Prize for the best Australian landscape painting.

The watercolour dates back to the early period of Ashton’s artwork, before his departure to Europe in 1900. The scene with a sailing vessel docked at a wharf, most likely in the Sydney waterfront. The artist’s focus is the ship and its reflection in the water underneath. A small steam tugboat is seen in the far left. Overall a beautiful early watercolour by Sir John William Ashton.

“In 1904 London's Royal Academy of Arts and Paris's Salon de la Société des Artistes Français accepted pieces of his work for exhibition. After marrying his student May Millman, Ashton ran successful exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide and won the 1908 Wynne prize for landscape. He traveled with his family overseas where he felt his prospects as an artist were better, returning to and from Australia during his working years.

Ashton became a renowned and prominent figure in the Australian art scene. In 1937, he became director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and undertook work to improve the buildings lighting, in 1944-47 he was director of David Jones' Art Gallery, from 1918 a member of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board and chairman in 1953-62. He was appointed an O.B.E. in 1941 and knighted in 1960. He passed away in 1963 at his home in Sydney” (The Australian National Maritime Museum).

“Will Ashton had worked mainly in oils from about 1910. He was fascinated by the effects of changing light on white, such as snow, cloud and foam, and his most characteristic works are impressionist seascapes and landscapes. He used a free and vigorous treatment in impasto, while not departing from design and good draftsmanship” (Australian Dictionary of Biography).