Pictorial material including paintings and cartoons, ca. 1890-1935 / by D. H. Souter

PXD 1306
PXE 1492

fonds

ca. 1890-1935

Graphic Materials, Paintings, Drawings, Watercolours, Prints, Photographs, Ephemera

913946

104 paintings - oil (includes some watercolours) - 50.5 x 38.5 cm. or smaller
43 drawings - watercolour, pencil, ink - 52.5 x 31.5 cm. or smaller
616 prints - 49.5 x 38 cm. or smaller
2 photographic prints - 28.5 x 36 cm.
7 items of ephemera (postcards) - 9 x 14 cm.

David Henry Souter (1862-1935), black-and-white artist and journalist, was born on 30 March 1862 at Aberdeen, Scotland, son of David Henry Souter, engineer, and his wife Ann Smith, née Grant. Apprenticed at 12 to a house-painter and signwriter, he acquired a good grounding in drawing at the local art school under instructors from London and earned five shillings each for anatomical illustrations. He served for a year with the Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteers and in 1880 joined the staff of the magazine, Bon Accord

Active on the council of the (Royal) Art Society of New South Wales, in 1888 Souter established its Brush Club for members under 26: at monthly meetings Julian Ashton, Albert Fullwood and other senior artists appraised their work. In 1895 Souter was a founder and council-member of the breakaway Society of Artists, Sydney, and was president (1901-02) when it re-united with the Royal Art Society. After the societies split in 1907, he returned to the Society of Artists with whom he exhibited his water-colours in 1907

In the 1880s Souter drew cartoons for the weekly Tribune and News of the Week. For forty years from 1895 he had at least one cartoon published in every edition of the Bulletin and had the distinction of naming his own modest price for a drawing

Souter illustrated other books, including several for Ethel Turner, and co-edited Art and Architecture in 1904-11 (to which he contributed a series of articles on Australian painters); he was among the first to draw Australian posters and, with Norman Lindsay, to design bookplates. In September 1907 Souter's operetta, The Grey Kimona (1902), was staged in Adelaide by Clyde Meynell and John Gunn. Involved with Alfred Hill's Sydney Repertory Theatre Society, Souter produced two plays in 1914 and wrote librettos for light operas including Hill's Rajah of Shivapore. A selection of his full-page war cartoons for the Stock Journal were reprinted in 1915. Not least of his many triumphs were two comic strips, 'Sharkbait Sam' and 'Weary Willie and the Count de Main', drawn for the Sydney Sunday Sun in 1921: frame for frame, their inventiveness and composition were remarkable. By 1928 Souter was literary editor of Country Life. His Bulletin satire, in theme never other than domiciliary, was always sophisticated, often wise, with a knowing, gentle cynicism

Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/souter-david-henry-8589 (accessed 2 April, 2013)

PXD 1306
Box 1
16 paintings (watercolours and oils) of mostly landscapes and mythical/pagan figures and scenes

7 drawings in pencil/ink dealing with issues regarding labor relations, World War I and miscellaneous subjects

124 printed cartoons mostly of political and social commentary including aspects of World War I

Box 2
9 paintings (watercolours and oils), 7 of which depict mythical/pagan figures and scenes

6 printed cartoons, 3 relate to World War I

Box 3
19 printed drawings/cartoons, 17 relate to World War I, including issues of conscription, imperialism and peace

Box 4
13 paintings (watercolours and oils) including Sydney street scenes, Sydney Harbour, landcsapes/bush scenes and a depiction of trench warfare

1 print of a horse-drawn carriage and 1 print of a drawing titled, 'Prima Donna Assoluta'

Box 5
14 paintings (watercolours and oils) mostly depicting Australian bush/landscape scenes, portraits, a 'jazz' scene and mythical/pagan figures and scenes

10 drawings (with colour) of theatre costume designs

47 printed cartoons/comic strips. Many relate to political/industrial/economic matters, especially regarding New South Wales and Premier Jack Lang

2 photographs of theatrical scenes with an Egyptian theme

Box 6
22 paintings (watercolours and oils) depicting beach/coastal scenes, rural/landscape scenes, a dance rehearsal, mythical/pagan figures and scenes and a proposed cover of the 'Country Life Annual, 1934'

1 pencil sketch of a 'shadowy' figure wielding a whip

4 printed drawings/cartoons, 2 political in nature, the others relate to costume design and marketing

Box 7
Oil painting titled, 'Sunday Morning, Bondi Beach, 1927', along with 2 other paintings of the same scene

3 pencil sketched portraits

214 mostly political cartoons/comic strips by D. H. Souter and Gill Guy. Many relate to aspects of New South Wales politics and include Premier Jack Lang

Folder 8
1 watercolour showing a procession on an Australian street with Chinese people looking on from shop windows, 1890

PXE 1492
Box 1
27 paintings (watercolours and oils) depicting landscapes/rural views, theatre set design, costume design, a portrait of a girl, a city building at night, a rugby player, 'Eric Maxon - 1925' and mythical/pagan figures and scenes

19 drawings in ink, watercolour and pencil mostly depicting costumes/characters of the Elizabethan theatre, a landscape sketch (1926) and a sketch of a church titled, 'Sketch at Strathfield, 1895'

Box 2
197 printed cartoons mostly regarding political matters, trade unions, wheat industry, wool industry and cricket

2 original pencil cartoons

7 postcards featuring D. H. Souter artwork

Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Pic.Acc. Upgrade Project - Information transferred from Pic.Acc.1650 as part of the eRecords Project 2012-13

Some political cartoons have stamp from 'Country Life' periodical on their reverse side