Arnold Shore
Four tens (self portrait)
While serving an apprenticeship with Brooks Robinson, makers and
designers of stained glass, Shore attended night classes at the
National Gallery School, Melbourne.
In 1932 Shore went on to establish an art school with George
Bell in which the emphasis was on modern art. When this work
won the Crouch Prize in 1938 it was felt that because of its
"modern nature" it might attract some criticism. The judge, John
Rowell justified his decision by stating that the portrait was full
of character. Rowell reserved his criticism for the rendering
of the subject's neck, but felt that this was not enough to exclude
Shore from prize. Shore had, in Rowell's opinion, succeeded
in producing a work that was not only a splendid likeness but
possessed a fine paint quality, full of colour and vitality