Exploring the legacy of the Australian Modernist printmaker and artist.

Ian Armstrong was an artist who pursued his “own peculiar idea of the world, his own way of thinking and feeling”. He was born in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern and left school at thirteen to become a grocer boy, before joining his father as a blacksmith. At age 17, he commenced art classes – first at RMIT, then the National Gallery School where he met lifelong friends Fred Williams and Harry Rosengrave, and finally, seeking more rigour, The George Bell School.

Bell, a hugely influential figure in Australian modernism, was also a strong disciplinarian. He taught Armstrong “everything that was worth anything”, but also stifled him at points. To escape both Bell and the more conservative teachings of the Gallery school, Armstrong, Williams and Rosengrave purchased a block of land at Lilydale in 1946. The ‘Block’ represented a haven from the city – it was where the artists spent most weekends, painting en plein air.

Ian Armstrong 'Actors Performing'

Armstrong’s sixty-plus decade career crossed landscapes, portraiture and still life. Across this plethora of subjects, a modernist grasp of form and composition persists – a kind of musicality that looks beyond the appearances of the world and into its soul. Not only a maker, Armstrong also taught a generation of Australian artists at Collingwood and Sandringham Technical School, then as Drawing Master at the National Gallery School working with John Brack.

 Ian Armstrong 'Untitled (Still Life with Tomato)'

Armstrong’s work can be found across public collections, including at the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia and Art Gallery of New South Wales. His legacy continues to expand and resonate – an artist not only deeply engaged with the debates, milieu, doubts and triumphs of twentieth century Australian art, but also in the clarity of his own unique vision.

Ian Armstrong 'Untitled (P. River Blossum)'