sketcher, modeller and plasterer, son of William and Elizabeth Shortman, arrived at South Australia with his parents aboard the Nimrod in 1856. He was awarded the prize for the best freehand scroll drawing copied from published patterns such as those put out by the London School of Design at the 1865 exhibition of the South Australian Society of Arts. At the next annual exhibition he won both prizes for crayon copies of sculpture by pupils of the School of Design: 'very creditable pieces of work, only we wish he had chosen something from among the statuary more graceful than the uncomfortable Mask of Silenus … and Lion’s Head’, commented the South Australian Advertiser . At the 1867 exhibition Shortman, still a student (presumably of Charles Hill ), was awarded a guinea prize for the best modelling in clay, none of the entries being considered eligible for the 2-guinea prize.
J.H. Shortman married Annie McRae on 20 July 1871 and they had three children. He died on 14 July 1923.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
