Henri van Raalte (1881–1929), etcher and curator, moved to Western Australia in 1910 having trained in his home town of London and at schools in Belgium and Holland. He had been exhibiting at the Royal Academy since 1901 and was an associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. After settling in Perth, he worked in a department store before establishing himself as an art teacher. He became known for his etchings of gum trees and the bush and held his first Australian exhibition in Perth in 1919. His work was exhibited again at the Royal Academy in 1920 and he held further solo exhibitions in Adelaide in 1920 and 1924. In 1922, van Raalte became Curator at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Having declared Western Australia to be a place where 'art was dead' he found the Adelaide gallery 'a pleasant backwater' but one troubled by lack of facilities and staff. Van Raalte developed and catalogued the Gallery's large print collection, established the United Arts Club, Adelaide, and was a member of the Australian Painter-Etchers' Society. His outspokenness created conflict with members of the Gallery's board and he resigned in 1926, three years before his death.
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009
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