Lot 5

(possibly) The South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide
Lawsons, Sydney, 23 April 2001, lot 32
Private collection, Western Australia

(possibly) Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Mr Will Ashton, The South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, October 1915, cat. no. 81

Throughout his distinguished career, Sir John William Ashton (1881-1963), better known as Will Ashton, captured the world in transition; scenes such as bridges and boats, boulevards and harbours are rendered with an immediacy and vibrancy that aligned him with the broader Impressionist movement. Though often considered through the lens of Australian art history, Ashton's artistic identity was deeply international, shaped by years abroad and an enduring fascination with the atmospheric effects of European light and landscape.

Born in York, England and migrating to Adelaide as a young boy, Ashton studied at the South Australian School of Art before furthering his training in Europe, notably at the Académie Julian in Paris in the winter of 1902-1903 with other artists including Emanuel Phillips Fox and Hans Heysen. (1) It was here, amid the inspiring artistic atmosphere of Paris, that Ashton developed a deep affinity with the Impressionist principles that had revolutionised painting only a generation before. Like the Impressionists, Ashton sought to capture fleeting moments of beauty; the transient effects of light on water, the glint of sun on stone, or the subdued haze of a winter afternoon.

Among his most evocative works are his Parisian cityscapes, especially those depicting the historic bridges of the Seine. In paintings of the Pont Neuf, the city's oldest standing bridge, Ashton revels in the soft tonal shifts of grey skies and dusky riverbanks. His brushwork is characteristically loose and fluid, allowing form to emerge through suggestion rather than precision. The enduring bustle of the city is balanced by a quiet lyricism and his bridges are not just architectural subjects, but liminal spaces where people and place, history and movement, intersect. These works align Ashton with the French Impressionists and also with British contemporaries like Philip Wilson Steer, who shared a fascination with the urban landscape filtered through changing light.

Equally notable are Ashton's harbour and maritime scenes. The paintings of moored boats, sailing vessels, and busy docks, produced in both European ports and Australian coastal towns, display a deft sensitivity to reflection and rhythm. Ashton had a remarkable eye for the play of light on water, often capturing the ripple of tide or the glow of varnished hulls with sharp, assured brush strokes. These paintings exemplify the artist's command of compositional balance and atmospheric depth. Whether painting the crowded jetties of Sydney or the serene inlets of Brittany, Ashton found in maritime subjects a perfect vehicle for his painterly instincts and his lifelong fascination with movement.

The selection of paintings offered in this auction, highlight the enduring appeal of Ashton's practice. Each reveals his Impressionist sensibility and his ability to translate immediate experience into a cohesive, luminous scene captured in time. Together, they exemplify an artist who was grounded in traditional draftsmanship, while embracing a modern approach to light, composition, and expression. Ashton's legacy lies not only in his contributions to Australian art institutions, including his tenure as Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1937-1943, but also in these enduring artworks, which highlight a world forever in motion.

Amanda North
Senior Fine Art Specialist

(1) Harper, K., 'Ashton, Sir John William (Will) (1881-1963)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ ashton-sir-john-william-will-5071/text8457, published first in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 1 July 2025.