SIX years\u2019 worth of wood-carved illustrations from colonial newspaper The News Letter of Australasia have been curated and published by a Sebastopol local.<\/p>\n
Peter Barwood has collated new book The Illustrators\u2019 Artistry, and said he was inspired to share the collection of drawings when he came across a picture from the newsletter\u2019s 61st issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the front pages of the newspaper… showed a gold escort leaving Sandhurst, now called Bendigo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really caught my eye, so I wanted to bring to the public\u2019s notice the work of the artists who did these pictures.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce these pictures were drawn, they had to cut into a piece of wood to distinguish clouds, water, a face, whatever. This lithograph process of engraving, it opened up the world for people getting stories in detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Illustrators\u2019 Artistry contains more than 70 of the newspaper\u2019s drawings between 1856 and 1862 as well as background on 10 artists, with one written by Barwood.<\/p>\n
Much of the research and collating was undertaken through browsing the collections of Australia\u2019s state libraries, as well as a copy of The dictionary of Australian artists loaned from the Eureka Centre.<\/p>\n
Barwood also contacted the Boorowa and District Historical Society in New South Wales in crafting his short biography on artist Warwick Pett.<\/p>\n
The book launched earlier this month at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, and can be found at the Ballaarat Mechanic\u2019s Institute, the Eureka Centre and Ballarat Libraries.<\/p>\n
Barwood is shopping the book around at stores and schools throughout the city and said he\u2019s proud to see it complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like the birth of a child. It\u2019s been a long time in the making but it\u2019s satisfying now to see it in hard copy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be on many bookshelves for some considerable time. This isn\u2019t something that everyone decides to do at my age, 91, but I just caught the bug and ran with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SIX years\u2019 worth of wood-carved illustrations from colonial newspaper The News Letter of Australasia have been curated and published by a Sebastopol local. Peter Barwood has collated new book The Illustrators\u2019 Artistry, and said he was inspired to share the collection of drawings when he came across a picture from the newsletter\u2019s 61st issue. \u201cOne […]<\/p>\n