Artist
Location: Pres*Q*203
Thomas Humphrey was a Scottish-born Australian painter and photographer whose work formed part of the Heidelberg School, the artistic movement that helped establish Australian Impressionism. Although his name is less familiar today than those of contemporaries such as Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin (q.v.), Humphrey was among the artists who pioneered a distinctly Australian approach to landscape painting during the late nineteenth century.
Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1858, Humphrey migrated to Victoria with his family while still a child. He was educated in Melbourne and studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where he developed his artistic skills while also learning photography, a profession that would support him throughout his life. He later worked with artist and photographer George Pitt Morison before establishing a photographic business with his wife, Alice Mills.
Humphrey became part of the circle of young artists who sought to move Australian painting away from traditional European conventions and towards a more direct observation of local landscapes and light. In 1885, he befriended Tom Roberts, recently returned from Europe, and soon joined Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and John Mather (Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery) in the establishment of the celebrated Box Hill artists’ camp. Working outdoors, the artists painted directly from nature, capturing the colours and atmosphere of the Australian bush in what became one of the defining developments in Australian art.
He later painted at Arthur Streeton’s Eaglemont camp and spent time at Charterisville with fellow landscape painters Walter Withers and Leon Pole. Through these associations Humphrey became closely linked with the Heidelberg School and the emergence of Australian Impressionism. His paintings were known for their quiet, reflective treatment of landscape, demonstrating a sensitivity to light, season and atmosphere that fellow artists greatly admired.
Throughout the 1880s and 1890s Humphrey exhibited regularly in Victoria. While he never achieved the fame enjoyed by some of his contemporaries, his work was well regarded by critics and fellow artists. His painting Under a Summer Sun achieved particular distinction when it was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1896. Art historian Alan McCulloch later described it as probably the first Australian Impressionist painting purchased by the Gallery, marking an important moment in the acceptance of the new artistic movement by a major public institution.
Despite his artistic promise, Humphrey’s career was affected by persistent ill health. The combination of chronic medical problems and the practical demands of maintaining a photographic business limited the amount of time he could devote to painting. Nevertheless, he continued to exhibit and paint throughout his adult life, earning respect within Melbourne’s artistic community for both his talent and dedication.
His paintings are now represented in several significant Australian public collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of Ballarat and the Warrnambool Art Gallery, where his painting The Way to School remains one of the gallery’s notable early works.
Thomas Humphrey died at Armadale on 15 September 1922, aged 63. The burial register records that he was born in Aberdeen and lists his occupation simply as “Artist”. His funeral took place at Brighton Cemetery on 16 September 1922, where he was interred in Pres*Q*203. He was later joined in the grave by his wife, Alice Humphrey née Mills, who died in 1929. The grave today remains unmarked by a headstone. The burial register records the causes of his death as asthenia, toxaemia and tuberculosis.
Three years after his death, a memorial exhibition of Humphrey’s paintings was held in Melbourne. In the exhibition catalogue, Tom Roberts wrote that Humphrey’s work conveyed “the intimate and tender spirit of the Bush in its quiet moods”, a tribute that reflected the esteem in which he was held by fellow members of the Heidelberg School. Although often overshadowed by more famous contemporaries, Humphrey’s contribution to Australian Impressionism and his role in the formative years of Australian landscape painting ensure his place in the nation’s artistic history.
Sources:
Warrnambool Art Gallery, “Tom Humphrey”.
Fawcett, Jinny, “Way To Go! Art Remembering: Warrnambool Impressions of Tom Humphrey”, 17 April 2016.
The Australasian (Melbourne), obituary of Thomas Humphrey, 30 September 1922.
“Tom Humphrey (artist)”, Wikipedia.
(Painting By Tom Humphrey Summer Walk – NGV)