John Michael Skipper

John Michael Skipper

THE LATE MR J. M. SKIPPER. In Kent Town on Friday afternoon one of the early colonists of South Australia breathed his last. Mr. John Michael Skipper was the eldest son of Mr. John Skipper, a lawyer of high standing in Norwich, and was himself destined for the legal profession. He was educated in the Norwich Grammar School, and became a clever classical scholar, as well as a good linguist. When quite a youth, in 1833, he entered the service of the Hon. East India Company, first ss a midshipman on board the Sherburne, Captain Corbyn, R.N. He displayed remarkable artistic abilities, and a sea journal exquisitely illustrated by him testifies to his talent, the scenes depicted being full of vigour and true artistic taste. In 1836 his love of adventure tempted him to visit Australia, and he arrived here in the Africaine, and married the eldest daughter of Mr. Robert Thomas, the founder of the Press in South Australia. He was articled to Mr. (afterwards Judge) Gwynne, and practised as a solicitor until the diggings fever broke out in the colony in 1851-2, when he joined in the search for gold, but returned to Adelaide like many others only fairly successful. He received an appointment in the Civil Service and continued in it for over twenty years, when he resigned, receiving a retiring allowance, and lived for several years a secluded life upon some little property he purchased. He possessed uncommon ability as a writer, and was a large contributor to the early colonial literature here, his caustic satires and keen sense of humour being ably directed against the abuses or follies of the day, and what his pen began his facile pencil completed, as he was a clever caricaturist. He painted a good deal in oils, and many of his productions betoken such talent and originality as would have placed him high in the ranks of marine or landscape artists had he followed art as a profession. Numbers of exquisite sketches in watercolours, also by him, still exist and are of more than ordinary value now as they faithfully represent scenes in and around Adelaide which are now no longer recognisable except by old colonists, by reason of the changes which have taken place since the site of the city was a wilderness and the country a hunting ground for the aboriginals. More than forty years ago Mr. Skipper used to penetrate alone, sketch-book in hand, far into the hills in search of subjects for his pencil, and scores of little gems of art fill the portfolios he has left behind. Like most genuine devotees of art he cared little for publicity and painted only for the love of it. He is the anthor of a work on perspective and colouring, and was regarded as an authority in matters connected with our ancient armour and costumes. The deceased gentleman was a nephew of the late John Stark, the famous landscape painter, from whom he received much valuable instruction in painting. He was an excellent German scholar, and amongst his works are a translation of "Faust" and one of "The Diver," exquisitely illustrated. The deceased gentleman will be buried in West-terrace Cemetery on Sunday afternoon. The subjoined article, which will now be read with special interest, was handed to us some days since by a gentlemen who is a comparative stranger to the colony, and is a thoroughly experienced and trustworthy art critic. As the expression of the opinions of an independent witness whose first acquaintance with the late Mr. Skipper's productions was made only a few week since, the article has a special value.

That there should have been amongst the original founders of the colony of South Australia an artist gifted by nature with genius of the very highest order, and possessed of a skill in the manipulation of pencil and brush that is equally exceptional, and, indeed, in his special department, quite unique, is, it must be confessed, exceedingly improbable. But, nevertheless, such is the fact; and, moreover, this eminently gifted man has spent some forty-seven years of his life in our midst, and during the intervals when his professional engagements left him free to follow his natural and favourite vocation he has thrown off hundreds of drawings of consummate beauty. By a few members of the community numbers of these drawings have been seen, and they have also in some degree been admired ; but up to the present moment it may be said that no one has recognised the exquisite and distinctive qualities which characterize the productions of this artist. It is hardly credible, we frankly admit, that half a century should have elapsed since the journal of a voyage from London to Calcutta and back, illustrated by drawings in pencil and Indian ink, which now lies before us, was composed, without anybody calling public attention to the extraordinary talent it so strikingly displays. And not less surprising is it that the copy of "South Australia: its Advantages and Resources," by George Blakeston Wilkinson, whose blank pages, whose headings and tails of chapters, and whose margins were profusely illustrated a quarter of a century ago with gems of landscape and figure art, from the same hand, brain, and heart, should have failed to attract the universal and enthusiastic appreciation which it unmistakably deserves and demands. The neglect which has befallen this great genius may at least partially be explained and excused without assuming that all the inhabitants of South Australia have hitherto been indifferent and insensible to artistic excellence, for we have abundant evidence that this is not the case. Still it is to be feared that most of our art patrons prefer works of art that are presented to them as the productions of men who have obtained at least some degree of reputation in Europe, and are not quite prepared to estimate independently the value of any art product whatever that has not the recommendation of a name that has gained at least local distinction. In a new country the minds and hearts of men are necessarily deeply engrossed in the problems that have for their aim the development of its material resources, and have little time and attention to bestow on the less practical concerns of life. It would therefore be unwise to expect that they should be noted for their insight and discrimination in regard to the fine art. In addition to this, however, some account must also be taken of the disadvantageous circumstances under which the works of the South Australian artist to whom we refer have been brought under the notice of the few who have had the privilege of seeing them. It is natural to suppose that a man endowed with rare and extraordinary gifts should be able to present the results of his labour in a form that would recommend them to the estimation of his fellow-men.

But the artist with whom we have now to deal has not done so; on the contrary, it must, we fear, be acknowledged that he has contributed largely to the neglect that has attended him. In the first place, he never adopted art as his profession, and was decidedly averse to reaping any material advantage from the exercise of his artistic genius. To him drawing and painting were accessories dearly loved and earnestly cultivated, and even indispensable; but, at the same time, they are nothing more than accessories. He was imbued with the obsolete aristocratic idea that literature, science, and art could only be prosecuted by "gentlemen" as a pastime, and not as the work of life. Of sympathy with sentiment of this description there was none to be found in South Australia, and few could even treat it with patience and forbearance. Two things seem to be equally clear. South Australia during the first forty years of her existence as a colony was among the last places on the face of the globe where an artistic genius could look for adequate appreciation and encouragement; and the artist to whom we are to direct attention had fully the average share of eccentricity, and the average lack of practical common sense, which so frequently characterizes the favoured sons of the Muses.

But the reader will be asking what is the evidence you can produce to justify the extraordinary estimate you have formed of this artist ? The present writer feels keenly that he is very imperfectly qualified to give sufficient answers to these questions. To the task on which he is engaged John Ruskin might do justice, and, undoubtedly, if the great English art critic had visited Adelaide and seen the productions which we have mentioned, all England, at home and abroad, and all Europe and America, would long ago have been ringing with the fame of the South Australian artist he had discovered. In addition, however, to the lack of literary power adequate to the proper presentation of this genius, the present writer feels hampered at the difficulty he experiences in conveving any idea of the artist's productions without exhibiting them to his readers. It is to be feared that the resources of the re-productive art of modern times would be very severely tasked in copying the most elaborate and most exquisite sea-scapes and architectural drawings, which form a portion of the illustrations with which the manuscript journal of which we have spoken is adorned. And yet there are engravers who might succeed in transferring much of the subtlety and delicacy, the breadth and power, which are their main features, and in this way bring them into the homes and hearts of lovers of nature and art throughout the world. When we mention that the voyage illustrated in this journal took place fifty years ago, and that the midshipman who was its author and its artist was then in his eighteenth year, our further assertion in regard to fourteen or fifteen of the drawings it contains is calculated to excite amazement and incredulity. Notwithstanding, we are compelled in justice to say that only amongst the masterpieces of J. M. W. Turner are parallels to these drawings to be found, and, moreover, that any resemblance they may have to the work of Turner is not the result of imitation, but rather the result of a similar lightning-like keenness and rapidity of perception, and a similar power of expression. No exhaustive criticism either of the text or the illustrations will be looked for here. Other and better opportunities for detailed examination will doubtless present themselves, but we must refer to a few of the more astonishing and characteristic drawings of this caligraphic volume. Between the thirteenth and fourteenth pages the East India Company's ship Sherburne is seen mounting a long-swelling, froth-tufted wave under furled main and topsails, the sky drifted and broken by the fierce wind that is blowing. How buoyantly, the vessel glides over the rushing water, which reflects the light and shade from the clouds above ! All is life and movement, most magically arrested on the paper by the witchcraft of pencil strokes and ink washings which defy description. Passing on towards the sixteenth page we come upon another scene. On a smooth sea, reflecting the broken bars of cloud in the heaven above, the same ship is lying with all her sails spread out, while the sun is slowly and quietly sinking below the horizon. Day is retiring gravely and peacefully, but gloriously, to his rest, and the night will not be disturbed by stormy dreams. Again, we can do no more than indicate the force with which the sentiment that pervades this scene is caught and conveyed to the spectator. Opposite page 40 the Sherburne is again seen labouring heavily in the turmoil of an angry sea, the wave-forms here being even more strikingly realistic and imposing than in the preceding storm scene we have noticed. In front of page 45 a massive towering banyan-tree rises from the bank of a broad river, striped with subtle lines of light and shade, an elephant solemnly marching up the slope, and beyond the smooth water are seen square-roofed, white-walled edifices, backed by trees. We are now in Calcutta, and passing on to page 50, we find presented to us an imposing square-roofed temple like structure, the verandahs of which, behind the rounded columns, are suffused with the tenderest shade. Nothing can excel the delicacy of the touch that distinguishes this drawing, except perhaps, the mellowness of the tone on the windows of the Custom House beyond the long flight of steps that lead down to the Ganges, which will be found in a companion picture between pages 56 and 57. But we pass over several drawings of almost equal merit; and leave the journal with a word or two on the last illustration, which shows the Sherburne nobly ploughing her way under a fair breeze behind a pilot-boat that is crossing her course, and in front of the white, gleaming, perpendicular Needles. The composition of this picture is simply masterly. So far as we know it has never been excelled. We doubt, indeed, whether, in certain most important respects, it has ever been equalled in marine painting. We reserve for another article some description of the treasures with which this artist has so lavishly, and some will say wastefully, adorned the blank corners of Wilkinson's " South Australia."

THE LATE MR. J. M. SKIPPER. (1883, December 8). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1912), p. 4. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198386295

Portrait of John Michael Skipper, artist and solicitor, seated and resting one hand on a desk. He came out to South Australia on the Africaine in 1836. [On back of photograph] John Michael Skipper / 1863 / Copied from Archives from photograph in possession of Mr. S.H. Skipper'. https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+7028

Baptism

• Name: John Michael Skipper
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 12 Jul 1815
• Baptism Date: 25 Jul 1815
• Baptism Place: St. George-Tombland, Norwich, Norfolk, England
• Father: John Skipper
• Mother: Jane Elizabeth