James Shaw (12 January 1815 – 1 September 1881) was a Scottish painter, photographer, engraver, lithographer, surveyor, and lawyer. He was also an early colonist of South Australia.

1836
1860
1875

Biography

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Shaw was born on 12 January 1815 at Dumfries, Scotland to James and Isabella Shaw. His father was a clerk and proofreader who painted for pleasure, and his brother George Baird Shaw.[1]

Shaw went to Edinburgh Royal High School, and then studied law at the University of Edinburgh.[1]

In September 1836, sponsored by Justice Thomas McCornock, he left Edinburgh for Jamaica to be a bookkeeper. He painted in his free time. When people realised his talent, they started to ask him for commissions. In 1841, he became a surveyor and began taking portrait commissions.[1]

In 1847, Shaw learned photography and became a photographer.[1]

He married Janet Liddle Paterson on 5 July 1850. Together, they moved to Adelaide in the colony of South Australia. Janet died suddenly in 1868 aged 41, and he raised their six children alone after that.[1] At some point he lived at 17 Wellington Street, Kensington, in a former pub which had been converted into a dwelling.[2]

In 1857, he showed some of his paintings at the first exhibition of the South Australian Society of Arts, of which he was a founding member. He received an honourable mention. He continued to paint and exhibit his works until 1871.[1]

Shaw produced two paintings of the ship Admella, which are held in the Art Gallery of South Australia: the first shows the intact ship, painted in 1858,[3] and the second, a dramatic imagining of the ship getting wrecked on a reef at Cape Banks in 1859.[4]

The Art Gallery of South Australia holds the major collection of his work.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "James Shaw: biography at Design and Art Australia Online". Design & Art Australia Online. 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  2. ^ Mark Butcher Architects (1994). "Heritage Survey: Kensington & Norwood" (PDF). p. 515.
  3. ^ "The Admella". AGSA. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  4. ^ "The Admella wrecked, Cape Banks, 6th August, 1859". AGSA. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  5. ^ "James Shaw". AGSA - Online Collection. Retrieved 17 June 2024.

Further reading

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Some of James Shaw's works from the 1860s:

  1. ^ Lunatic Asylum, North Terrace - List: Others: [1], [2], [3] Photos: 1869, 1870, 1875, 1887
    1935 photos: Former Lunatic Asylum, Old Lunatic Asylum, East of Botanic Gardens