Granville Dunstan (1891–1952)

Water View Sydney

Oil on canvas on board

34.5 x 44.5 cm (frame 44.5 x 54.5 cm)

Signed lower right.

~~~~~~~~~~~

THE GEN

PERSPIRATION AND INSPIRATION,

THE RHYTHM OF THE EVERYDAY ARTIST

Granville Dunstan was born in Albury, New South Wales in 1891. He completed his artistic training at the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1909 to 1914. Granville was an industrious painter, both as a student artist and in his adult years. He painted a wide variety of subjects from landscapes to portraits, female nude studies and subject compositions. As Granville once quipped, his broad painting subject range included “Anything from a landscape to a rooster”. (The Advertiser, 19 March 1930, p. 8) His sheer dedication to art is best captured by his belief that “Art is as much the result of perspiration as it is of inspiration.” (The Advertiser, 19 March 1930, p. 8) Granville’s art was recognised with the awarding of several prizes by the National Art Gallery of Melbourne and, in 1917, one of his paintings was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Granville enlisted in the A.I.F. during the First World War. The trade recorded on his enlistment form was masseur. He served in the Army Medical Corps on board a hospital ship from July 1916 to March 1919. India, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, South Africa and Malta were some of the countries visited during his service. After the war, Granville returned to his profession as a masseur. His practice was located at the Auditorium Building, 167 Collins Street, Melbourne. All of his leisure time was devoted to painting.

In 1921 a joint exhibition was held with R.W. Sturgess at the Athenaeum Hall from 29 August to 3 September. Granville exhibited 81 oil paintings that included nude studies, portraits, subject compositions, landscapes and places visited during the war. Among the works exhibited were: Lohl and Tigyn; The Captive; Champagne Dancer; Gold Fish; Alfred Peters, Esq.; Memories; Portals of the Bush; Through Difficulty to Glory; A Glimpse of Sydney Harbour; The Old Home in the Bush; A Leafy Grove; Morning, Bayswater; Armistice Morning and Spanish Castle.

The Society of Arts in Adelaide hosted Granville’s first solo exhibition from 21 to 29 March 1930. Fanny Withers, the widow of Walter Withers and mother of Margery Withers, assisted with the organisation of the exhibition. It was opened by the Lady Mayoress, Mrs Lavington Bonython, who was amazed by Granville’s ability to complete 90 paintings while carrying on his everyday profession. Bride of the Nile; Auction Block; The Crystal Gazer; The Slave; Devil's Peak and Ear and Elegance were some of the paintings exhibited.

After Granville’s success in Adelaide, he held an exhibition of 102 paintings at the Athenaeum Gallery in Melbourne from 18 to 29 November 1930. Works in this exhibition included: The Enchantress; Humoresque; Miss L. Droop; Mr. H. Chambers; Chinese Princess; Crystal and Roses; The Yellow Vase; The Canal; The Gums; The Emerald Pool; The Bush Lagoon; Windswept and Moonlight Waters.

An exhibition of 50 paintings opened on 1 September 1931 at Newman’s Art Galleries in Melbourne. In what was an unconventional and inventive idea, Granville decided that no price list would be included in the catalogue. Instead, visitors to the exhibition were invited to make offers on such paintings as The Passing Storm; Sleep; The Green Buddha; A Grey Morning (River Yarra); Princes-Bridge and Mentone.

Portraiture appears to have become the focus of Granville’s later work. He entered portraits of Alfred Peters Esq. and Miss L. Droop in the 1930 Archibald Prize and portraits of Brigadier General E. Wisdom, Mrs Norman Brookes and Major General T.A. Blamey in the 1933 Archibald Prize. The portraits of Mrs Norman Brookes and General Blamey were also shown at the Victorian Artists’ Society in May 1934. Granville’s portrait of Mrs Louis Sallmann was published in The Herald in December 1935. The newspaper noted that this was one of several portraits recently completed by him at his studio in the Auditorium Building. In the early 1940’s he painted a life-size portrait of Viola Wilson, an opera singer, as Josephine in HMS Pinafore. The Australian War Memorial holds a portrait of Air Vice Marshal Adrian Cole that Granville painted between 1946 and 1950.

Granville married Leah Droop in 1934. They had two children, Evan and Valerie, and lived in East St Kilda. Granville died in October 1952 and Lead died suddenly in June 1953.

  © 2026 Georgegen. All rights reserved.

~~~~~~~~~~~