Sam Fullbrook

Sam Fullbrook (1922–2004) was an Australian artist who was a winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture and the Wynne Prize for landscape. He was described as "last of the bushman painters" (a rural art tradition). However Fullbrook was fine art-trained and his sophisticated works are in every State art museum in Australia and international collections.Fullbrook was to have a constant and wide ranging career as a painter beginning in 1948 with his first joint exhibition at Tye’s Gallery with NGS classmate Tim Nicholl. In the same year his father died and he returned to Sydney, converting his father’s shop into an art studio. To support his painting, Fullbrook went to far North Queensland for the cane-cutting season.
Around this time, sharks and "Bondi virgins" made their first appearance in his works. He returned to Queensland where he befriended James Wieneke of Moreton Gallery and was employed by Richard Morley, founder of the Blake Prize. This is when he discovered a talent for landscapes.

His first solo exhibition was held at the Waterside Workers’ Hall, Sydney in 1952. The same year, he had a second solo show at the Moreton Gallery, Brisbane and received honourable mention in the Archibald Prize for his portrait of his contemporary, potter Bernard Sahm. Fullbrook then travelled west across Australia, setting up a studio in Marble Bar in Western Australia, also working as a miner, cane cutter and stockman.
In 1971, he lost most of his work in a fire at his Brisbane studio, but recovered to continue working in the Darling Downs, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Melbourne.

He set up studios all over the country and each change in events and environment would prompt a new direction in the works. His main series were the "Darling River series", the "Phoenix" series in Buderim, Queensland, "Circus", "Brisbane River", and "The Shearer" series among others. His oeuvre ranged from biblical themes, horse-racing, aboriginal Australians, Pilbara landscapes to Bondi, wildlife, floral works, and studio nudes.Artist Robert Jacks said he painted "some of the most beautiful portraits ever painted in Australia."Among them are former Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr and media entrepreneur Reg Grundy; others include Pat Brown and Bernard Sahm, artists, jockeys and members of the public. The Kerr portrait was submitted to hang in Parliament House but was rejected for being "caricature".

Fullbrook's light and airy works were soft figuration bordering on abstraction in high-tone coloured patches but leaving the subject entirely recognisable. Most of his paintings and scenes were about his personal interests and life experiences. He painted in oils and worked in pastels and watercolour as well as exhibiting drawings. Reviewing a 1995 National Gallery of Victoria exhibition, Racing Colors, art critic Robert Nelson described him as:
  "A colourist... Fullbrook's forte lies in the difficult balancing of patches of pinks and teal, or striations of lilac and dashes of cadmium green.Wikipedia

Sam Fullbrook

Samuel Sydney Fullbrook was born in Chippendale Sydney in 1922.  As a fifteen year old, he worked as a timber cutter in Gloucester, NSW before enlisting with the Australian Infantry Forces in 1940. After five years in the army he studied art classes at the National Gallery of Victoria School under William Dargie, CBE.

Whilst earning his livelihood working on the Yarraville sugar wharf, Fullbrook painted his first portrait. In 1948 Fullbrook held his first joint exhibition at Tye’s Gallery with his National Gallery School classmate Tim Nicholl. When his father died, the artist returned to Sydney to convert his father’s shop into a studio. Fullbrook’s nomadic lifestyle took him on extensive travels as he supported his art by working as a canecutter, stockman and miner.

In 1952 he held his first solo exhibition at Waterside Workers’ Hall, Sydney. He held his second solo show in the same year at the Moreton Gallery, Brisbane.  In 1960 Fullbrook returned to Sydney where he finished his paintings "Girl & Galah" and “Death in the Afternoon" which portray the artist’s enduring respect for aboriginal people. From the 1960's onwards Fullbrook’s work became more atmospheric and poetic, verging on abstract expressionism.  In 1961 Fullbrook had his first work included in a Californian exhibition. In 1963 he embarked on a new phase in landscape painting after a trip to Cobar, Western NSW. The same year, his Sandhills on the Darling took out the coveted Wynne Prize.  Fullbrook returned to Melbourne in 1964. His last trip to the Darling produced his significant Darling River Series.  He won the Wynne Prize which he shared with David Strachan.

Fullbrook used colour to imbue his pictures with a sense of serenity. His individual style was characterised by a balanced modulation of colour, tone, line. Fullbrook’s artistic legacy is also an emotional documentation of his personal and spiritual life journey.

 Although a fire in his Brisbane studio in 1971 destroyed most of his work, Fullbrook went on to work in the Darling Downs, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Melbourne. He attracted notoriety with his 1978 portrait of Sir John Kerr which now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra.

In 1983 Sam visited America and remarried. Returning to Australia he pursued his painting and passion for horse racing.  In 2001, Fullbrook was named an Australia Day ambassador.  Fullbrook’s work was recognised by many major awards including the 1974 Archibald Prize for his painting "Jockey Norman Stephens". His work is represented in all major Australia galleries, the Mertz Collection and Art Museum Phoenix USA and numerous commercial and private collections throughout Australia and internationally.

Aged 81, Samuel Sydney Fullbrook died and was buried in the small cemetery at Tylden, close to the land on which he had lived for the previous decade. Fullbrook is widely credited as being one of Australia’s finest portraitists. (Abstract Australis)