Elder Wing of Australian Art: Plain English Tour
Work 7 of 15

This was the first painting collected by the Art Gallery

when it opened in 1881.

H.J. Johnstone was born in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 1835.

He studied with private teachers,

then at the Birmingham School of Design.

Mr Johnstone came to Australia in 1853.

He lived in Melbourne.

Mr Johnstone came to South Australia to sketch in 1874.

After this trip he added views of places near Adelaide to his paintings.

This painting shows the Murray River at sunset.

It shows big gum trees on the ground and in front of the sky.

It also shows the gum trees on the water.

The water acts like a mirror.

The big gum trees take up nearly all the canvas,

a type of heavy cloth.

A branch has fallen from the tree.

It looks like a bridge.

The Aboriginal people are wearing blankets.

This is a sign that European people are in Australia.

So Aboriginal people’s way of living is changing

and maybe they are losing their land.

Evening Shadows is the most copied artwork in Australia.

There are about 300 copies of it made by other artists.

But Mr Johnstone also copied it.

He painted pictures very like this one in other paintings.