2006 Media Releases
Monday, 24 July 2006
‘A Sketcher of No Mean Pretensions’ - Charles Joseph La Trobe, the Governor and the Artist
Victorians will have a rare chance to view the artistic talents of their first Governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe, when one of the National Trust’s most significant collections goes on display on La Trobe University’s main Melbourne campus at Bundoora this week.
The exhibition, titled ‘Charles Joseph La Trobe: A Sketcher of No Mean Pretensions’, will be opened by Professor David de Kretser, AC, Governor of Victoria, at 5.30 pm Wednesday 26 July.
It will run until Sunday 27 August – Bundoora Campus Open Day – before touring other venues throughout the State until early 2007 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the National Trust in Victoria.
The exhibition consists of 34 pen and ink and watercolour sketches created during La Trobe’s travels in Italy, Switzerland, North America and Mexico.
In addition, there are 19 works from Victoria and Tasmania completed during La Trobe’s tenure as Superintendent of Port Phillip from 1839 to 1850 and then as Victoria’s first Lieutenant-Governor, 1851 to 1854.
The exhibition is complemented by a selection of La Trobe’s travel accounts, a life-size portrait of La Trobe by Sir Francis Grant and artefacts from La Trobe’s cottage. It is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria and the Community Support Fund.
La Trobe supervised the establishment of self-government in Victoria, the public library, art gallery, a university, and the development of the gold fields. La Trobe University, named in his honour by an Act of the Victorian Parliament in 1964, was officially opened in March 1967 and celebrates its 40th Anniversary next year.
Exhibition hours:
Tue Wed Thur Fri 12.00 – 4.00pm or by appointment
Tel: 9479 2111 Fax: 9479 5588
For further information:
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM AND COLLECTIONS
Glenn College, Bundoora Campus
La Trobe University, Victoria, 3086
Melway 573 G5 Parking carpark 6 or 7
email: artmuseum@latrobe.edu.au