• Title
  Series 02: Drawings by Johnny the Aboriginal artist, Kangatong Station, 1855
• Call number
  PXA 606
  
• Level of description
  series
• Date
  
  1855
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Watercolours
• Reference code
  61014
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  5 drawings - 25.3 x 20.4 cm. ; 20.2 x 25.3 cm. ; 18.3 x 20.2 cm. - pencil, ink and watercolour drawings on 3 sheets
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Artist Eugene von Guerard (1811-1901) visited Kangatong Station the property of James Dawson to paint a picture of Tower Hill in 1855. During his stay von Guerard met Johnny, an Aboriginal youth, aged about fourteen or fifteen. Johnny was probably Johnny Dawson (known by the name of his employer), born about 1842. Johnny worked as stock-keeper on Kangatong. He died at Framlingham in 1883.
  
  Reference:
  Aboriginal artists of the nineteenth century / Andrew Sayers ; with a foreword by Lin Onus and a chapter by Carol Cooper. Melbourne : Oxford University Press in association with the National Gallery of Australia, 1994.
• Scope and Content
  1. [Women with parasol]
  
  1 verso. [European man in uniform and European man with a gun]
  Inscribed "Drawing from Black Johnny / Kangatong 1855" in ink
  
  2. [European soldier ; Aboriginal man in landscape]
  Inscribed "Burrumbeep / Streatham [?]"; "Black Johnny Kangatong / August 1855." in ink
  
  2 verso. [European couple and horse ; Horserace]
  
  3. [Portrait of von Guerard sketching]
  Inscribed "Mein Portrait / v[on] / dem Eingeborenen - Black Johnny Kangatong August. 1855" in ink
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  These drawings were originally part of:
  Australien Reminisunzen: a collection of illustrations of Australian Aborigines and their weapons, together with geographical profiles in N.S.W., Tasmania and Victoria, and miscellaneous prints, ca. 1846-1858 / Eugene von Guerard (PXA 54)
  
  This collection was in a folder labelled in ink on one side 'Australien' and on the other side in pencil 'Australien drawings / E.v.G / 3 by Black Johny / 2 original drawings by Sir Thomas Mitchell'.
  The folder, formerly classified at Q741 was relocated to Mitchell Library Drawer 24 (Aborigines) and later transferred to PXA 54.
  The drawings by Black Johnny, 1855 were relocated to Mitchell Library Drawer 17 (Sketches) and transferred to PXA 606 in 1993.
  
  PXA 606/3 is probably a portrait of artist Eugen von Guerard.
  According to Andrew Sayers (1993), Curator of Australian Drawing at National Gallery of Australia, von Guerard visited Kangatong station in 1855.
  
  In his sketchbook at location number DGB 16/vol. 3/77 is a drawing inscribed "Johnny the Artist Kangatong 8 Aug. 1855". In German at bottom left of drawing is inscribed "My portrait by a native" in a hand similar to von Guerard's.
  Digital order no:Album ID : 823855
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Johnny, active 1855
  
• Subject
  Aboriginal Australians.
  Art, Australian--Aboriginal artists
  Artists, Aboriginal Australian--19th century
  Portraits, Australian--19th century.
  Guérard, Eugen von, 1811-1901.
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Aboriginal Artists of the 19th Century
  Australian Portraits Timeline
  Eugene von Guerard : nature revealed
  Far Out Tours 2013
  Far Out Tours 2014
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE935197

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