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 Four tens
(self portrait) 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