Design and Art Australia Online

Scenic artist, son of an English theatre painter was himself a highly successful scenic artist in England before he came to Melbourne in 1879. He painted most of the scenery for the Melbourne Opera House’s pantomime that Christmas, except for the spectacular final moving panorama of the Battle of Trafalgar, which was by Alexander Habbe . In mid-1883 the English entrepreneur William Henry (“Zulu”) Thompson commissioned Gordon to paint a panorama of the Egyptian War of 1882 for Melbourne. He was assisted by George Rossi Ashton , who apparently painted the many military figures. The Argus of 29 August 1883 reported: 'Messrs George Gordon and G. R. Ashton have just completed a moving panorama of the more remarkable incidents of the Egyptian War, consisting of 16 tableaux.’ After the Melbourne show it travelled to Sydney, but was not a success there because John Hennings 's 'Grand Panorama of the Egyptian War and the Bombardment of Alexandria’ was already on view as part of the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk . Thompson later claimed (as part of his bankruptcy proceedings) that he had paid Gordon £550 and 'lost £750 through playing against opposition’ (Colligan, p.93).

Gordon worked with Phil Goatcher on Australis 1900, which showed Semi-Circular Quay in 2001 as the centre of the world.

Tableaux vivants were presented by the firm of J.C. Williamson and George Musgrove, beginning at the Lyceum Theatre, Sydney, in August 1894 and moving around their other capital city theatres for the next two years. The works presented included some poses plastiques performed against a black velvet drop (three sculptures by Canova and the Venus de Medici in the first programme), but most were true tableaux vivants , presented within a large gold picture frame with the settings of each faithfully copied by the scene painter George Gordon. There were some sentimental genre pictures such as Luke Fildes’s The Doctor (1891) and Thomas Faed’s Worn Out (1868) which were favourites at the matinée performances advertised as suitable for 'ladies and children’; and there were a couple of contemporary Australian images, including Frederick McCubbin’s Down on His Luck (1889) and John Longstaff’s Breaking the News (1887) (19).

The newspaper reports make it clear, however, that (although Williamson & Musgrove made spurious claims for the educational value and artistic taste of the performances) the most popular tableaux were academic painted nudes popular at the end of last century, like Bouguereau’s Cupid and Psyche [copied from painting in Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart and used in Transformation scene], and kitsch sculpture such as Odoardo Tabacchi’s The Diver (see fig.3).(20) J.C. Williamson had not 'invented’ these tableaux but had copied them from the currently notorious show at London’s Palace Theatre (commencing in 1893) where representations of Henrietta Rae’s Naiad and John Gibson’s Tinted Venus had aroused the ire of National Vigilance campaigners and the attention of London County Council inspectors.(21) That both the London tableaux and J.C.Williamson’s antipodean versions were both popular and financially successful had very little to do with their aesthetic pretensions.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1999

Last updated:

2011