Kookaburras

James Squire Morgan (1886 - 1974)

Morgan was an artist educated at Sydney Grammar School and Sydney’s Fort Street High School. Not long after leaving school he decided to become an artist, and from 1905 to 1909 he studied with Julian Ashton and Sydney Long at the Sydney Art School (later known as the Julian Ashton Art School). By this time Morgan seems to have been known personally, and professionally, as Squire Morgan. While his relationship with the influential Julian Ashton is unknown, Morgan was clearly on good terms with Long, and during the early 1920’s acted as his agent in Sydney. Morgan’s debut as an artist was at the Society of Artists’ (SOA) 1908 spring show at the Society’s rooms at Sydney’s Queen Victoria Markets, where he exhibited five works. Morgan works focused mainly on landscape views of the New South Wales coast and Sydney’s rural hinterland. Popular sketching spots included Sydney’s northern beaches, especially Dee Why, and the Canberra region. He is represented in numerous institutional collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of NSW, Mitchell Library, and National Library of Australia.

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