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Max Meldrum (1875-1955), artist and teacher, studied at the NGV School before beginning work as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist. He won the NGV Travelling Scholarship in 1900, and painted in Paris and Brittany for thirteen years before returning to Melbourne. In 1916 he founded an art school in the city, and many students from the NGV school left it to join Meldrum's. They were the first of many generations of Australian artists known as 'Meldrumites', who were indoctrinated in what Meldrum believed to be the 'invariable truths of depictive art' and the 'science of appearance' relating to tonal and space relations between objects.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Shirley Greathead 2009
© Estate of Graeme Inson
Shirley Greathead (1 portrait)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
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