Go back in time to a corner of Brisbane [Video]

In 1914, Melbourne-born artist Charles H Lancaster (1886–1959) moved to Brisbane to manage the stained-glass department at RS Exton and Co., where William Bustard (1894-1973) was subsequently appointed as chief designer. Brisbane’s ensuing building boom inspired both Lancaster and Bustard to make paintings of the dynamic civic projects developing around them, and they became active members of the city’s flourishing artistic community.

By 1937, Lancaster was awarded the Royal Queensland Art Society Jubilee Medal and exhibited A corner of Brisbane (illustrated) in the Society’s 49th annual exhibition. The artwork hung alongside other street scenes, such as Bustard’s Summer haze 1937 (illustrated). While landscapes were a common feature of the annual exhibitions, depictions of the city of Brisbane were rare.

Charles H Lancaster ‘A corner of Brisbane’ 1937