Read a brief overview of the milestones of Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo's life and a summary of his exhibitions.
Over the years he had 27 works selected for the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne Prizes. Included here as well is a list of public galleries and museums in Australia that hold his works.
Milestones of Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo's life
| 1870 | Born June 22 in Naples, Italy, Antonio Salvatore Dattilo-Rubbo. Son of Luigi-Raffele and Raffaela Dattilo-Rubbo |
| 1888 – 1889 | Begins art studies at the Municipal School of Fine Arts in Rome. Gains Certificate |
| 1889 – 1891 | Completes military service |
| 1897 | September: arrives in Sydney |
| 1898 | Opens art school for drawing and painting in Australian Chambers, Rowe Street |
| 1898 – 1919 | Part-time art master at St. Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill |
| 1898 – 1937 | Art master at Scots College |
| 1900 | Ad for his art school appears in the Art Society Catalogue with timetable |
| 1900 | Elected member of the Council of the Art Society. Becomes instructor in painting at Art Society and holds position until 1928 |
| 1901 – 1902 | Ad for art school appears in the Art Society Catalogue stating fees: £1.1.0 per quarter |
| 1903 | Obtains British citizenship |
| 1904 | December: Marries Mildred Jobson |
| 1906 – 1907 | Travels to London, Paris and Italy |
| 1907 – 1909 | Conducts weekly art lessons Cambridge School on Parramatta River, Hunters Hill. Florence Hooper, a former student, is principal |
| 1907 – 1910 | ‘The Atelier’ Art Classes for Ladies and Gentlemen. Ad appears every year in the Royal Art Society Catalogue |
| 1911 – 1915 | Lives at North Sydney |
| 1911 | September 11: son Sydney Rubbo born |
| 1912 | Awarded James Fairfax Prize for Pencil Drawing |
| 1916 | Challenges C.E.S. Tindall to a duel regarding the acceptance of ‘Down the Hill to Berry’s Bay’ by Roland Wakelin for the annual Royal Art Society exhibition |
| 1916 | Moves to Osborne Road, Manly |
| 1917 | Son Mark Anthony Rubbo born |
| 1918 | Moves to 144 Addison Road, Manly |
| 1919 | Member of the War Memorial Advisory Board |
| 1919 | Speaks at opening of exhibition of colour-music paintings by Roy de Maistre and Roland Wakelin at Gayfield Shaw Gallery |
| 1922 | Fellow of Royal Art Society, one of the first eight along with William Lister Lister, Charles Bryant, J.S. Watkins, Lawson Balfour, James R. Jackson, Sir John Langstaff and Margaret Preston |
| 1924 | Member of the first Committee of Manly Art Gallery with Charles Bryant; is first to donate a painting to the collection Aboriginal Head |
| 1924 | Moves to studio in Hudson House, 15 Bligh Street. Ad in Royal Art Society catalogue |
| 1926 – 1939 | Conducts weekly art classes at Rose Bay Convent |
| 1927 | Moves from Manly to 45 Prince Albert Street, Mosman |
| 1928 | July 18: Presented with Official Royal Art Society Diploma |
| 1932 | Made Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy, conferring the title of Cavaliere |
| 1933 | June 8: exhibition of students’ works |
| 1933 | September 1: Son Mark, aged 16, dies of meningitis |
| 1934 | Resigns from Royal Art Society and becomes member of the Society of Artists |
| 1936 | Builds a studio adjoining his home in Mosman |
| 1939 | Gives a collection of 100 paintings to Manly Art Gallery on the condition that room is built to house the works |
| 1940 | Interned for a short period on the outbreak of World War II, because of ‘suspicion of disloyalty, I believe, through my title, and then a donation to an Italian club of one of my works and a monetary contribution towards expenses for furnishing it’ ( from a letter to the Secretary of the Manly Art Gallery) |
| 1941 | Retires from Art School, hands over to Frances Ellis. Studio moves to 70 Pitt Street |
| 1942 | Makes application to serve as war artist |
| 1943 | Wife Mildred dies |
| 1947 | Commissioned to paint posthumous portrait of Prime Minister John Curtin for Kings Hall at Parliament House in Canberra |
| 1954 | Made Life Member of the Society of Artists |
| 1955 | Dies June 1 |
A very personal view of Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo is recorded by his grandson, Mike Rubbo, in his blog of 10 March 2008 on familyartstoriesrubbo.wordpress.com
Galleries and museums that hold his works
Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo's work is represented in these public galleries and museums:
- Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Manly, NSW, holds 130 works.
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Howard Hinton Collection, Armidale, NSW
- University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
- Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
- Ballarat Regional Art Gallery, VIC
- Benalla Art Gallery, VIC
- Albury Regional Gallery, NSW
- Wollongong City Art Gallery, NSW
Solo and group exhibitions of Dattilo-Rubbo's work
| 1901 | Victorian Gold Jubilee, Bendigo |
| 1912 | James Fairfax Drawing Competition - First Prize awarded |
| 1912-13 | Salon des Artistes Professionels, Paris |
| 1918 | Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney |
| 1919 | Solo exhibition, Decoration Galleries, Melbourne |
| 1919 | Pictures of the Year, federal exhibition, Adelaide |
| 1923 | Australian Society of Artists in London |
| 1930 | International Art Centre of Roerich Museum, New York |
| 1932 | Sydney Harbour Bridge Celebrations, Australian Painter Etchers' Society |
| 1936 | Manly Art Gallery |
| 1938 | 150 Anniversary Exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW |
| 1949 | Solo exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney; Proceeds of sales donated to Manly Art Gallery |
| 1949 | Solo exhibition, Moreton Galleries, Brisbane |
| 1950 | Society of Artists, David Jones Gallery, Sydney |
| 1952 | Mostre d'Oltremare, Naples |
| 1954 | Artists by Artists, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney |
| 1955 | Posthumous exhibition, organised by the Dante Alighieri Society and the Centro Italiano D'Arte, Bissietta Art Gallery |
| 1974 | 135 Years of Australian Watercolours, Fremantle Arts Centre |
| 1980 | Retrospective Exhibition Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, Manly Art Gallery & Museum |
| 1993 | The Italian Connection, S.H. Ervin Gallery |
| 1995 | Cav. Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo from the Francis Ellis Collection, Boronia Art Gallery |
| 2002 | Dattilo-Rubbo Memorial Exhibition, Manly Art Gallery & Museum |
| 2008 | November: For Limited Release: the Best Paintings from the MAG&M Collection |
| 2009 | February: Exhibition for the launch of this website, Manly Art Gallery & Museum |
| 2010 | September: 80 Tales from the Vault: Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Manly Art Gallery & Museum |
For Limited Release: the Best Paintings from the Manly Art Gallery & Museum Collection
To name but a few artists in the show apart from Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo: his students Roy de Maistre, Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston, Roland Wakelin and Donald Friend; and masters such as Tom Roberts, Ethel Carrick Fox, Emanuel Phillips Fox, Rah Fizelle, Norman Lindsay, Ralph Balson and Euan McLeod.
Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo's work in the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne Prizes. Between 1924 and 1951, 27 paintings by Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo were exhibited in these prestigious art competitions, held annually by the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1921. His portraits were shown in 18 Archibald Prizes: in his first submission for 1924 he was represented three times, with a portrait of Mrs G.H. Taubman, a portrait of Nelson Illingworth and a self portrait.
In the Wynne prize for landscape, his works were shown three times (twice for 1944, one for 1946), and in the Sulman Prize, his genre paintings were exhibited six times (twice in the prizes for 1940, twice in 1944, and in 1946 and 1950).
Dattilo-Rubbo himself was the subject for two other artists' entries to the Archibald Prize: in 1935 Arthur J. Murch's portrait of Dattilo-Rubbo was exhibited, and in 1942 Frances D. Ellis' (his successor in his art school) portrait was shown.
Exhibitions as Fundraisers
Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo donated generously to causes that were important to him.
The exhibition ‘Art’s Tribute to Red Cross’ was organised by ‘The Coin Catchers’ of the Red Cross Centre in 1943 and reveals that Dattilo-Rubbo was made an honorary life member of the Red Cross after World War I.
He donated 50 works to this fundraiser, along with other artists such as Eric Langker, Alison Rehfisch, Henry Hanke, Tempe Manning, Elaine Haxton, John Allcott and Joshua Smith.
Here is the introduction:
‘In presenting ‘Art’s Tribute to Red Cross’, we have only one apology to make and that to those artists whom we may have overlooked in our quest for pictures. The period for organising the exhibition, unfortunately, was all too short and was further curtailed by our being workaday people. Therefore, the absence of any artists from the list of exhibitors should not be taken to imply any more than the lack of opportunity to assist Red Cross.
We feel that our choice of title, ‘Art’s Tribute to Red Cross’ has been more than justified, for the response, both in numbers and quality of works donated, has been truly magnificent. It was indeed fortunate that a splendid nucleus should have been formed through the extreme generosity of Cav. A. Dattilo-Rubbo, who gave to our exhibition the balance of his life’s work. It was a gesture typical of one who, for his Red Cross efforts during World War I, was elected a Life Member of the Australian Red Cross Society.
The pictures donated were not subjected to the judgment of a Selection Committee, for it was felt that those whose love for their art was exceeded only by their love for their fellowmen would give to Red Cross works that were both representative and worthy. The exhibits bear testimony to the measure in which that confidence has been upheld.’
