Search on for Great Great Grandfather’s works

Published on 29 March 2016

In July this year, artist Michael Needham will present a solo exhibition titled Landscape with Grave: Inherited loss and Representation at Mildura Arts Centre, exploring the Australian landscape through his ancestral ties to the pioneer artist Frederick Miller Needham (1840-1910).  

Arts and Culture Portfolio Councillor Jill Joslyn said Frederick Needham is most known for his illustrations in The Australian Irrigation Colonies (first published in 1888), a book commissioned by the Chaffey brothers, which became a major endorsement for establishing the settlement towns of Mildura and Renmark.

Frederick Needham also commonly painted picturesque landscapes and a diary, kept the year before his death, documents Needham’s daily life painting from a small boat whilst travelling up and down the Murray. The diary, which will be on display in the exhibition, is pivotal to Michael Needham’s investigations into his family and cultural heritage for this forthcoming exhibition.

”In preparation for the exhibition, Michael Needham is seeking information from the local community about the artist Fredrick Miller Needham, who was his great, great grandfather,” Cr Joslyn said.

“He is particularly interested in locating any privately owned, original paintings of the Mildura area by F. M. Needham (sometimes he signed J. M. Needham), with the view to display some of the works at the Mildura Arts Centre for the duration of the exhibition.”        

Landscape with Grave: Inherited loss and Representation will open at Mildura Arts Centre on Thursday 7 July and run until Sunday 28 August 2016.

Anyone with information or works by Frederick Miller Needham is encouraged to get in contact with the Gallery and Heritage team at Mildura Arts Centre on (03) 5018 8330 or by email at gallery@mildura.vic.gov.au.

ENDS

Media enquiries 
Angela Umback
p) (03) 5018 8689
e) angela.umback@mildura.vic.gov.au