John Mather (artist)

John Mather (1848 – 18 February 1916) was a Scottish-Australian plein-air painter and etcher.

Early life
Mather was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of John Mather, a surveyor, and his wife Margaret, née Allan. Mather worked as a house decorator. Mather studied art at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and migrated to Australia in 1878. He was married in 1882 to Miss Jessie Pines Best, a daughter of Captain James Best, a pilot of Hobson's Bay. Together they had one daughter and three sons; Margaret Playfair, John Allan, Louis Melville (died in infancy), and Leslie Frank Strand (died in 1919).

Career
In 1880, Mather was partly responsible for the decoration of the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne. He joined the bohemian Buonarotti Club, camping with other members on plein-air painting expeditions, and from 1886 served, with Frederick McCubbin, Louis Abrahams and Jane Sutherland, on its exhibition selection committee established by Tom Roberts. In 1892 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria, then was a founding member of the Victorian Artists' Society, and its president in 1893–1900, 1906–1908 and 1911. Mather was a member of the Felton Bequest Committee from 1905 to 1916 and as trustee, strongly supported Australian art.

As a painter, Mather was also involved in the bohemian Artists' Camps of Sydney. In 1912 along with Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum, Walter Withers Mather formed the breakaway Australian Art Association.

Three of Mather's own paintings, Autumn in the Fitzroy Gardens in oils, and Morning, Lake Omeo and Wintry Weather, Yarra Glen, both watercolours, were purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria.

Residences, Studios and other Addresses
Mather had a number of homes, studios and other addresses throughout his career, including:

Students
Mr John Mather is reported to have, had a wide celebrity as a teacher, and though the majority of his pupils did not aspire to more than amateur status, there are artists of repute in Melbourne now who commenced their careers in his Austral School in Collins Street. As well as studio lessons he led outdoor sketching excursions, often along the coast, where students used pencil, pen and ink and watercolor.

His students include:


 * Jessie Traill
 * Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
 * Jessie Laver Evans
 * Janet Cumbrae-Stewart
 * M. J. MacNally
 * Ellis Rowan
 * Miss Robertson
 * Lady Downer
 * Margaret Forrest or Lady Forrest
 * Lady Williams
 * David Davies
 * Alexander McClintock
 * Polly Hurry
 * Dora Wilson
 * Janie Wilkinson Whyte
 * James Fawcett of Fawcett and Ashworth
 * Arthur Jerome Salmon

Death
Mather died of diabetes at his home, Cadzow, South Yarra, Victoria on 18 February 1916; he was buried in the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery and lay in a grave with no memorial for more than 100 years.

Written just thirteen years after his death, "The war claimed his only son and his daughter who was well known in Melbourne music circles, lives now in the United States. It is as if "the place thereof knoweth him no more " But how can an artist ever be forgotten as long as human eyes are irresistibly drawn to the quiet beauty of his pictures on the wall?"

In July 2023 a small plaque was placed on the grave simply stating:

Mr John Mather 1848 – 1916 The beauty of his Art endures.

The words, his Art endures, refers to his painting and etching but also the art he nurtured as a mentor, teacher and one of the founding fathers of art in Victoria.

Collections

 * National Gallery of Victoria
 * Art Gallery of New South Wales
 * Art Gallery of Western Australia
 * Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
 * Ballarat Art Gallery
 * Castlemaine Art Museum
 * Geelong Art Gallery
 * Launceston Art Gallery
 * Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
 * Newcastle Art Gallery

Notes and References
Notes

References