Tom Roberts

Thomas William Roberts (8 March, 1856 - 14 September, 1931), usually known simply as Tom, was a famous Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.

Works

Roberts painted a considerable number of fine oil landscapes and portraits, some painted at artist camps with his friend McCubbin, but perhaps his most famous works were two large works, Shearing the Rams and The Big Picture.

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Shearing the Rams, based on a visit to a sheep station (large farm) at Brocklesby in southern New South Wales, depicted the wool industry that had been Australia's first export industry and a staple of rural life. It showed an idealised look at a theme which many people in Australia could identify with. At the time it was exhibited, it was criticised because many critics did not feel it fit the definition of 'high art'. However, since the wool industry was Australia's greatest export industry at the time, it was a theme in which many Australian people could identify with. The painting showed a view of the shearing sheds which was not in some cases realistic. Shearing would probably have been much messier; for instance the shearer on the left has picked the ram up to move it, when normally it would have been dragged backwards.

Related Topics:
Brocklesby - New South Wales - Wool

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Roberts loved this theme of the value of the work of ordinary Australian people. He made many other paintings showing country people working, with a similar image of the shearing sheds in The golden fleece, a drover racing after sheep breaking away from the flock in A Break Away!, and with men chopping trees in Woodsplitters. Many of Roberts' paintings were landscapes or ideas done on small canvases that he did very quickly, such as his exhibits to the famous 9 x 5 exhibition in Melbourne, 9 x 5 referring to the size in inches of the cigar box lids which most of the paintings were done on. Roberts had more works on display in this exhibition than anyone else. Many of the paintings had humorous touches and anecdotes, showing Tom Roberts' sense of humour.

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"The Big Picture", a depiction of the first sitting of the Parliament of Australia was an enormous work, very notable for the event depicted as well as the quality of Roberts' work.

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