Ainslie Roberts
Encyclopedia
Ainslie Roberts was an Australia
n painter, photographer and commercial artist. He is best known his for interpretations of Aboriginal
legends in his Dreamtime
books, written in collaboration with ethnologist/anthropologist Charles Mountford.
, England in 1911 to Harold Roberts and Rose (née Dougall). His early education was at St James's School, Clapton. The family migrated to Australia in 1922, staying first at Ardrossan
before settling in Adelaide
. Ainslie resumed his schooling at Westbourne Park Primary School, Blackwood in 1923 and was school dux
and first in the state of South Australia
in his Qualifying Certificate in 1926. His paintings and drawings from this period demonstrate proficient drafting skills and adept use of colour, along with affection for the Australian landscape and ships, locomotives, buildings and bridges as favourite subjects.
In 1927, he commenced work as an office boy in an insurance firm and developed a small graphic arts business as a sideline. He took evening classes in art at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts for four years, where he found little inspiration but honed his technique nonetheless. Joining with the more commercially-oriented Keith Webb in 1937 and Maurice McClelland in 1938, he formed Webb Roberts McClelland Pty Ltd, which was to become South Australia's largest advertising agency.
He married Melva Jean ('Judy') Andrewartha on 27 February 1937. Ainslie was a keen photographer, and was for some time president of the Adelaide Camera Club. Small in stature, but fit through swimming and working out in a health studio, he was rejected from military service during World War II because of a history of rheumatic fever. But joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, where his experiences inspired some fine cartoons. Ainslie and Judy Roberts' son Rhys was born in 1944.
and was ordered rest and quiet. His wife Judy bought him a one-way ticket to Alice Springs, where invigorated by the fresh air and the landscape, he commenced sketching and painting and resolved to extricate himself from the advertising business over the next five years.
In 1952, he met Charles Pearcy Mountford, who, like Ainslie, was a keen photographer. Mountford was also a largely self-taught ethnologist, writer and documentary film maker who, though he would take a Diploma of Anthropology from Cambridge in the late 1950s, worked and remained largely outside academic circles.
For several years, the two took journeys around South Australia to photograph caves and rock carvings, but in 1956, they made the first of several trips to the Centre
. Mountford collected myths and legends from tribal people, and Ainslie sketched and painted people and places. They made friends with characters like Bill Harney, a bushman, raconteur and writer, and Gwoya Jungarai
or "One Pound Jimmy", famous for being depicted on earlier Australian stamps and in Walkabout magazine
. With Mountford, he formed a company that produced the first tourist guides to Ayers Rock and The Olgas
.
, who suggested he try PVA paints, later known as acrylics
. Ainslie found success with them and exhibited his first 21 works at the Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide on 1 October 1963. Mountford opened the exhibition, saying, "No Australian artist has painted like this; he has followed no school – he has copied no previous artist."
Ainslie drew from many of the influences of the early twentieth century, though his style belongs to none. He acknowledged a debt to René Magritte
for his ability to reveal the secret meaning of the world and its objects. His paintings of Aboriginal myths and legends often feature a central focus – person, animal, tree, rock or celestial body – and a secondary, sometimes hidden element that casts light on the meaning of the work. His line drawings reflect the inspiration of a critical observer of life and the landscape and the technique and discipline of the commercial artist.
The exhibition was a sellout, and early in 1964, the poet Ian Mudie
, who was publishing manager of Rigby, proposed a book of the works. Ainslie's format was simple – one myth to an opening, a painting on one side and the text and a line drawing on the other. The Dreamtime was first published in 1965 and has been reprinted many times.
in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993. He died in August that year. He described his role as: "a communicator… a white man painting in a white man's way and trying, visually, to show the white people of Australia that this fascinating land they live in has a rich and ancient cultural heritage that they should be aware of and respect".
One of Ainslie's lithographs of Gwoya Jungarai was the inspiration for the design of the reverse side of the Australian 2 dollar coin.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n painter, photographer and commercial artist. He is best known his for interpretations of Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
legends in his Dreamtime
Dreamtime
In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...
books, written in collaboration with ethnologist/anthropologist Charles Mountford.
Early life
Ainslie was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England in 1911 to Harold Roberts and Rose (née Dougall). His early education was at St James's School, Clapton. The family migrated to Australia in 1922, staying first at Ardrossan
Ardrossan, South Australia
Ardrossan is a small town on the east coast of the Yorke Peninsula, about 150 km from Adelaide, South Australia.The town was largely initiated by wheat farmers and wheat transporters in the late 19th century who needed infrastructure to ship their produce across the Gulf St. Vincent to Port...
before settling in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. Ainslie resumed his schooling at Westbourne Park Primary School, Blackwood in 1923 and was school dux
Dux
Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....
and first in the state of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
in his Qualifying Certificate in 1926. His paintings and drawings from this period demonstrate proficient drafting skills and adept use of colour, along with affection for the Australian landscape and ships, locomotives, buildings and bridges as favourite subjects.
In 1927, he commenced work as an office boy in an insurance firm and developed a small graphic arts business as a sideline. He took evening classes in art at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts for four years, where he found little inspiration but honed his technique nonetheless. Joining with the more commercially-oriented Keith Webb in 1937 and Maurice McClelland in 1938, he formed Webb Roberts McClelland Pty Ltd, which was to become South Australia's largest advertising agency.
He married Melva Jean ('Judy') Andrewartha on 27 February 1937. Ainslie was a keen photographer, and was for some time president of the Adelaide Camera Club. Small in stature, but fit through swimming and working out in a health studio, he was rejected from military service during World War II because of a history of rheumatic fever. But joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, where his experiences inspired some fine cartoons. Ainslie and Judy Roberts' son Rhys was born in 1944.
In Alice Springs
In 1950, with a burgeoning business employing 35 staff, Ainslie experienced what was diagnosed as a nervous breakdownNervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
and was ordered rest and quiet. His wife Judy bought him a one-way ticket to Alice Springs, where invigorated by the fresh air and the landscape, he commenced sketching and painting and resolved to extricate himself from the advertising business over the next five years.
In 1952, he met Charles Pearcy Mountford, who, like Ainslie, was a keen photographer. Mountford was also a largely self-taught ethnologist, writer and documentary film maker who, though he would take a Diploma of Anthropology from Cambridge in the late 1950s, worked and remained largely outside academic circles.
For several years, the two took journeys around South Australia to photograph caves and rock carvings, but in 1956, they made the first of several trips to the Centre
Central Australia
Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...
. Mountford collected myths and legends from tribal people, and Ainslie sketched and painted people and places. They made friends with characters like Bill Harney, a bushman, raconteur and writer, and Gwoya Jungarai
Gwoya Jungarai
Gwoya Jungarai , known as One Pound Jimmy, was an Australian Aboriginal man of the Wailbri people of central Australia....
or "One Pound Jimmy", famous for being depicted on earlier Australian stamps and in Walkabout magazine
Walkabout magazine
Walkabout was an Australian illustrated magazine published from 1934 to 1974 combining cultural, geographic, and scientific content with travel literature. Initially a travel magazine, in its forty-year run it featured a popular mix of articles by travellers, officials, residents, journalists, and...
. With Mountford, he formed a company that produced the first tourist guides to Ayers Rock and The Olgas
Kata Tjuta
Kata Tjuta, sometimes written Tjuṯa , and also known as Mount Olga , are a group of large domed rock formations or bornhardts located about southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia...
.
Emergence as an artist
In 1962, Ainslie resolved to paint some of the myths Mountford had collected. His initial works were in oil, but with only three completed, he began to suffer nausea and headaches, which a specialist attributed to an allergy to turpentine and linseed oil. Mountford introduced him to Sidney NolanSidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, who suggested he try PVA paints, later known as acrylics
Acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...
. Ainslie found success with them and exhibited his first 21 works at the Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide on 1 October 1963. Mountford opened the exhibition, saying, "No Australian artist has painted like this; he has followed no school – he has copied no previous artist."
Ainslie drew from many of the influences of the early twentieth century, though his style belongs to none. He acknowledged a debt to René Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
for his ability to reveal the secret meaning of the world and its objects. His paintings of Aboriginal myths and legends often feature a central focus – person, animal, tree, rock or celestial body – and a secondary, sometimes hidden element that casts light on the meaning of the work. His line drawings reflect the inspiration of a critical observer of life and the landscape and the technique and discipline of the commercial artist.
The exhibition was a sellout, and early in 1964, the poet Ian Mudie
Ian Mudie
Ian Mayelstone Mudie was an Australian poet and author from Adelaide closely connected with the Jindyworobak Movement, which he was associated with from 1939 onwards. In 1941 he moved to Sydney and became involved in Australia First...
, who was publishing manager of Rigby, proposed a book of the works. Ainslie's format was simple – one myth to an opening, a painting on one side and the text and a line drawing on the other. The Dreamtime was first published in 1965 and has been reprinted many times.
Fruitful final journey with Mountford
Ainslie and Mountford made their last journey together in 1965. The Dawn of Time (1969), The First Sunrise (1971) and a larger edition The Dreamtime Book (1973) were all published before Mountford's death in 1976. The journalist Douglas Lockwood replaced Mountford on subsequent trips and he and Ainslie would collaborate on Rigby's Sketchbook series. Dreamtime Heritage (1975), Dreamtime: the Aboriginal Heritage (1981) and Echoes of the Dreamtime (1988) were published with contributions from the Roberts, Lockwood and Mountford families.Honours
Ainslie was appointed a Member of the Order of AustraliaOrder of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993. He died in August that year. He described his role as: "a communicator… a white man painting in a white man's way and trying, visually, to show the white people of Australia that this fascinating land they live in has a rich and ancient cultural heritage that they should be aware of and respect".
One of Ainslie's lithographs of Gwoya Jungarai was the inspiration for the design of the reverse side of the Australian 2 dollar coin.
Further reading
- Ainslie Roberts and the Dreamtime - a biography by Charles E Hulley - published in 1988
- See also Beyond the Dreamtime – a documentary film on Ainslie's life and works by John Lind - released in 1994.
- Hulley subsequently published Dreamtime Moon: Aboriginal Myths of the Moon (1996), featuring works by Ainslie and his son Rhys.