Joseph Augustine Clarke

Who was Joseph Augustine Clarke?

Joseph Augustine Clark early Queensland artist, painter, journal illustrator and arts-teacher.

'J.A. Clark', as he commonly signed himself, was responsible for the famous 1880 oil painting 'Panorama of Brisbane from Bowen Terrace' and also for all of the famous front pages and title-illustration used in the Queenslander during Lukin's managing editorship of that Journal from 1873 to 1880.

Little is known about Clark, except that he was born in England as son of John Clark and Mary Shell and that he came to Brisbane from India about 1870. He was trained at the Department of Science and Art, South Kensington, and had taught at the Bombay School of Design before coming to the colony of Queensland. In Queensland he became a leading artist, art critic and art teacher, a member of the Board of General Education and, in 1872, the North Brisbane School of Arts.

It is said that his original migration from England was caused by a 'weak chest'. He was certainly a treasured teacher on Brisbane's School of Art, later a 'Drawing Master' at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, next to his work as a painter and as an illustrator.