Charles David Jones Bryant (11 May 1883 – 22 January 1937), known as Charles Bryant, was an Australian marine artist.

Life and career

Early life

Bryant was born at Enmore, Sydney, the fifth son of John Ambrose Bryant, storekeeper, and his wife Caroline, née Leedon. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and studied the cello. He then obtained a position in the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches throughout Australia and N ...

Career

Bryant studied painting at Sydney under

W. Lister Lister William Lister Lister (27 December 1859 – 6 November 1943) was an Australian painter who specialized in landscapes. He was awarded the Wynne Prize seven times. He was also a recipient of the Commonwealth Government prize for his painting of th ...

, and was an exhibitor at the

Royal Art Society of New South Wales The Royal Art Society of New South Wales, or Royal Art Society of NSW, was established in 1880 as the Art Society of New South Wales by a group of artists including Arthur and George Collingridge, with the aim of creating an Australian school of p ...

for some years. He went to London in 1908 and studied with John Hassall at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Julius Olsson, A.R.A., at St Ives, Cornwall. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon, where he received an honourable mention for "Morning Mists" in 1913, and with many well-known societies. He was appointed an official war artist on the Western Front in 1917 and did many paintings for the Australian government.'Camofleur'
"Musketeers of Brush and Pencil with the A.I.F.: Art Under Fire: The Battlefield as Studio",
''The (Melbourne) Herald'', (1 February 1919), p. 4. Sixty-nine of his paintings are in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. In 1922, he returned to Australia, and in 1923 was sent to the mandated territories in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

to paint scenes of the occupation by the Australians. In 1925, he painted a picture of the American fleet which was presented by Sydney citizens to the United States government. This picture is now at the Capitol, Washington. Returning to England, some 10 years passed before Bryant was in Australia again. He had a very successful one man show at Sydney towards the end of 1936, which was followed by another at

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Bryant was an able oil painter mostly of marine subjects. He held various official positions with art societies, having been a member of the council of the

Royal Institute of Oil Painters The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London, England, and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists. Histor ...

, a vice-president of the Royal Art Society, Sydney, and president of the

London Sketch Club __NOTOC__ The London Sketch Club is a private members' club for artists working in the field of commercial graphic art, mainly for newspapers, periodicals, and books. History The club was founded in 1898 by a breakaway group of members from t ...

. He is represented in the Sydney,

, Adelaide, Castlemaine and Manly galleries, the Australian War Memorial, and the Imperial War Museum, London.

Death

He was unmarried. He died at Manly, Sydney on 22 January 1937 and he was buried in the Church of England cemetery.

Selected paintings

File:Bryant-Lusitania.jpg, The Loss of the Lusitania Dazzled Leave Ships, Boulogne Art.IWMART1346.jpg, Dazzled Leave Ships, Boulogne File:Bryant-Victoria.jpg, The Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert-Naval Review File:Bryant-Storm.jpg, Storm Clouds Over

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancie ...

References

*Joanna Mendelssohn,
Bryant, Charles David Jones (1883–1937)
, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 7, MUP, 1979, pp 469–470. *

External links

More works by Bryant
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Charles David Jones 1883 births 1937 deaths People educated at Sydney Grammar School Australian war artists 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists Australian male painters