Ainslie Roberts (12 March 1911 – 28 August 1993) was an Australian painter, photographer, and commercial artist. He is best known for his interpretations of

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

legends in his

Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Ja ...

books, written in collaboration with ethnologist/anthropologist

Charles Mountford Charles Pearcy Mountford OBE (8 May 189016 November 1976) was an Australian anthropologist and photographer. He is known for his pioneering work on Indigenous Australians and his depictions and descriptions of their art. He also led the Americ ...

Early life

Ainslie was born in London, England in 1911 to Harold Roberts and Rose (née Dougall). His early education was at St James's School, Clapton. The family migrated to Australia in 1922, staying first at

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...

before settling in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Ainslie resumed his schooling at Westbourne Park Primary School, Blackwood in 1923 and was school

dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux' ...

and first in the state of South Australia in his Qualifying Certificate in 1926. His paintings and drawings from this period demonstrate proficient drafting skills and adept use of colour, along with affection for the Australian landscape and ships, locomotives, buildings and bridges as favourite subjects. In 1927, he commenced work as an office boy in an insurance firm and developed a small graphic arts business as a sideline. He took evening classes in art at the

South Australian School of Arts and Crafts The South Australian School of Design was an art school in the earliest days of the City of Adelaide, the progenitor of the South Australian School of Arts, a department of the University of South Australia. Origin In 1856 Charles Hill started ...

for four years, where he found little inspiration but honed his technique nonetheless. Joining with the more commercially oriented Keith Webb in 1937 and Maurice McClelland in 1938, he formed Webb Roberts McClelland Pty Ltd, which was to become South Australia's largest advertising agency. He married Melva Jean ('Judy') Andrewartha on 27 February 1937. Ainslie was a keen photographer, and was for some time president of the Adelaide Camera Club. Small in stature, but fit through swimming and working out in a health studio, he was rejected from military service during World War II because of a history of rheumatic fever, but joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, where his experiences inspired some fine cartoons. Ainslie and Judy Roberts' son Rhys was born in 1944.

In Alice Springs

In 1950, with a burgeoning business employing 35 staff, Ainslie experienced what was diagnosed as a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

and was ordered rest and quiet. His wife Judy bought him a one-way ticket to

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

, where invigorated by the fresh air and the landscape, he commenced sketching and painting and resolved to extricate himself from the advertising business over the next five years. In 1952, he met Charles Pearcy Mountford, who, like Ainslie, was a keen photographer. Mountford was also a largely self-taught ethnologist, writer and documentary film maker who, though he would take a Diploma of Anthropology from Cambridge in the late 1950s, worked and remained largely outside academic circles. For several years, the two took journeys around South Australia to photograph caves and rock carvings, but in 1956, they made the first of several trips to the Centre. Mountford collected myths and legends from tribal people, and Ainslie sketched and painted people and places. They made friends with characters like Bill Harney, a bushman, raconteur and writer, and

Gwoya Jungarai Gwoya Tjungurrayi (c. 1895 – 28 March 1965), also spelt Gwoya Jungarai, Gwoya Djungarai and Gwoja Tjungarrayi, was a Walpiri-Anmatyerre man of the Northern Territory of Australia. Also known by his nickname One Pound Jimmy, he became the fir ...

or "One Pound Jimmy", famous for being depicted on earlier Australian stamps and in ''

Walkabout magazine ''Walkabout'' was an Australian illustrated magazine published from 1934 to 1974 (and again in 1978) combining cultural, geographic, and scientific content with travel literature. Initially a travel magazine, in its forty-year run it featured a ...

''. With Mountford, he formed a company that produced the first tourist guides to

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...

and

Kata Tjuṯa Kata Tjuṯa / The Olgas (Pitjantjatjara: , lit. 'many heads'; ) is a group of large, domed rock formations or bornhardts located about southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. Uluṟu / Aye ...

Emergence as an artist

In 1962, Ainslie resolved to paint some of the myths Mountford had collected. His initial works were in oil, but with only three completed, he began to suffer nausea and headaches, which a specialist attributed to an allergy to turpentine and linseed oil. Mountford introduced him to

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

, who suggested he try PVA paints, later known as acrylics. Ainslie found success with them and exhibited his first 21 works at the Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide on 1 October 1963. Mountford opened the exhibition, saying, "No Australian artist has painted like this; he has followed no school – he has copied no previous artist." Ainslie drew from many of the influences of the early twentieth century, though his style belongs to none. He acknowledged a debt to

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...

for his ability to reveal the secret meaning of the world and its objects. His paintings of Aboriginal myths and legends often feature a central focus – person, animal, tree, rock or celestial body – and a secondary, sometimes hidden element that casts light on the meaning of the work. His line drawings reflect the inspiration of a critical observer of life and the landscape and the technique and discipline of the commercial artist. The exhibition was a sellout, and early in 1964, the poet

Ian Mudie Ian Mayelston Mudie (1 March 1911 – 23 October 1976) was an Australian poet and author. Early life and education Mudie was born in 1911 in Hawthorn, South Australia, son of Henry Mayelston Mudie, an accountant, and his second wife Gertrude ...

, who was publishing manager of Rigby, proposed a book of the works. Ainslie's format was simple – one myth to an opening, a painting on one side and the text and a line drawing on the other. ''The Dreamtime'' was first published in 1965 and has been reprinted many times.

Fruitful final journey with Mountford

Ainslie and Mountford made their last journey together in 1965. ''The Dawn of Time'' (1969), ''The First Sunrise'' (1971) and a larger edition ''The Dreamtime Book'' (1973) were all published before Mountford's death in 1976. The journalist

Douglas Lockwood Douglas Wright Lockwood (9 July 1918 – 21 December 1980) was an Australian newspaperman and author. Born in Natimuk, west of Horsham in Victoria's Wimmera district, Lockwood left school at 12 to help run his father's (Alfred Wright Lockwo ...

replaced Mountford on subsequent trips and he and Ainslie would collaborate on Rigby's ''Sketchbook'' series. ''Dreamtime Heritage'' (1975), ''Dreamtime: the Aboriginal Heritage'' (1981) and ''Echoes of the Dreamtime'' (1988) were published with contributions from the Roberts, Lockwood and Mountford families. In 1980 Ainslie also provided 45 sketches and paintings for Douglas Lockwood's original 1962 life story ''

I, The Aboriginal ''I, the Aboriginal'' is an Australian book and television film about the life of Aboriginal Australian Waipuldanya, Phillip Roberts (or Waipuldanya). The 1962 book, written in first person, is described as the autobiography of Waipuldanya, a f ...

'' as told by Waipuldanya of the

Alawa people The Alawa people are an Indigenous Australian people from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. The suburb of Alawa in the Darwin's north, is named in their honour. Language The Alawa language is a non Pama-Nyungan language, clas ...

of the Roper River NT.

Honours

Ainslie was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993. He died in August that year. He described his role as: "a communicator… a white man painting in a white man's way and trying, visually, to show the white people of Australia that this fascinating land they live in has a rich and ancient cultural heritage that they should be aware of and respect". One of Ainslie's lithographs of Gwoya Jungarai was the inspiration for the design of the reverse side of the

Australian 2 dollar coin The Australian two-dollar coin is the highest-denomination coin of the Australian dollar. It was first issued on 20 June 1988, having been in planning since the mid-1970s. It replaced the Australian two-dollar note due to having a longer circula ...

.Royal Australian Mint – Designs & Products – Two Dollars
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts 1911 births 1993 deaths Australian photographers 20th-century Australian painters Australian commercial artists Artists from London English emigrants to Australia Members of the Order of Australia Volunteer Defence Corps soldiers