James Muir Auld

James Muir Auld was a respected Sydney-based portrait and landscape painter who trained with J.S. Watkins and Julian Ashton. He was active as a painter and illustrator for forty years and won the Wynne Prize in 1935. Auld was born in 1879 at Ashfield, where his father was a Presbyterian minister. His parents were Scottish immigrants who came to Sydney in 1873. Auld attended Ashfield Public School and Sydney Grammar School. He worked as a clerk with the Ashfield Council and enrolled in night classes in drawing at Ashfield Technical School. He spent much of his spare time drawing and sketching the foreshores of Sydney Harbour. Auld studied for six to seven years at J.S. Watkins's art school in Hunter Street, Sydney. Watkins was a popular teacher for students seeking careers as commercial and black and white artists. Auld also took lessons with Julian R. Ashton at his school in central Sydney. From 1902, Auld exhibited black and white studies and poster designs at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (RAS) annual show in Sydney, but from 1906 he contributed mostly oil portraits and landscapes. Auld resigned from his clerical position in 1907 to work full-time as a professional artist. He advertised his services as a teacher of "drawing, painting and black and white" from his studio at Commercial Union Chambers, 99a Pitt Street, Sydney. The same year he was appointed to the RAS Executive Council and joined their hanging and selection committees. The following year he shared a studio with Will Ashton and the pair held a joint studio show titled 'Sketches & Impressions'. Auld was best known in his early career for his illustrations and joke blocks published in the Sydney Mail, Bulletin and Lone Hand. He illustrated at least five books, including Seafarers by Charles D. Websdale (1905), Gray Horses by Will H. Ogilvie (1914), and Lyrics and Mystic Sketches by Agnes Littlejohn (1928). In 1909, Auld travelled to London to study the work of English painters. There he had work accepted for London Opinion and other journals. Returning to Australia about 1911, he worked in Sydney on landscapes and figure subjects, and also did some portraits. On 1 July 1914, Auld married a divorcee Maggie Kate Kane (née Bell). In 1917, The Broken Vase was bought by the National Art Gallery of New South Wales. At about this time, they also purchased a portrait of the poet Roderic Quinn. Auld joined the Society of Artists, Sydney about 1920 and frequently exhibited with it. In the 1920s, he joined the well-known commercial art firm, Smith and Julius, and illustrated several books. Towards the end of his life Auld spent 11 years at Thirlmere, living alone. The surrounding Thirlmere landscape did not appear to be of an inspiring kind, but Auld's work at this period ranked with his best. Auld won the Wynne Prize in 1935 for his painting Winter Morning. He had three one-man exhibitions at the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, in 1928, 1936 and 1938, and had also exhibited in London and Paris. Working with a palette knife, by 1938 he was expressing himself in a more delicate way with brushes. He was a foundation member of the Australian Academy of Art in 1938. Auld died of tuberculosis on 8 June 1942, survived by his daughter Thelma. He was a sound painter in the old traditions, who would not allow himself to be disturbed by the various movements which arose between the two wars. He had good colour, and was especially interested in effects of atmosphere and sunlight, which he expressed with much vitality. He was known as 'reserved, sensitive and honest.