Russell, John (1858-1930), was an Australian Impressionist painter. He spent more than 40 years, from 1881 to 1923, in England and France, where he produced most of his best work. His finest paintings portray landscapes, seascapes, and rocky shorelines, all in vivid colors that show the influence of the French Impressionist artist Claude Monet. Russell also painted sympathetic portraits of his family and of fishermen.
John Peter Russell was born on June 16, 1858, in Sydney. In 1881, he left Sydney to study art at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. In the mid-1880’s, in France, Russell first became friendly with several influential painters, especially the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Russell’s portrait of van Gogh is in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Landscape, Antibes (1891) is a typical Impressionist landscape. Russell returned to live in Sydney in 1923. Russell’s painting received little attention during his life and for many years after his death on April 30, 1930. Interest in his work first emerged in the 1960’s.
