Hall Thorpe

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John Hall Thorpe, known as Hall Thorpe, was an Australian artist born on 29 April 1874 in Sandridge, Victoria. His family moved to New South Wales and settled in Sydney, where he studied at St John's Grammar School and the Society of Arts. He learned woodblock engraving as an apprentice on the Sydney Mail from 1891, and when zinc replaced wood he became a staff artist and later succeeded Norman Hardy as principal artist in 1897.

Thorpe showed his work with the Sydney Society of Artists. In 1898 several of his paintings were shown in London, and in May 1900 he moved to England after the newspaper shifted to photo-engraving.

In England he studied at Heatherley’s School of Art and developed bright coloured woodcut prints. He exhibited at the Royal Academy's Colonial Exhibition in 1906. A favorable notice from critic M. Camille Mauclair helped his breakthrough, and he began making large, bold colour prints. One famous work, A Country Bunch, measured 25 by 30 inches, perhaps the largest woodblock colour print published.

Thorpe ran the whole process himself from his studio at 36 Redcliffe Square and gallery at 32 Sussex Place, South Kensington. His prints became popular in homes across Britain and America and were collected by the Contemporary Art Society, royalty, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Critics praised their intimate, graceful color. He helped popularize home decoration and wallpaper design. Interest faded but saw a revival from the 1980s. He died of pneumonia on 8 October 1947 in Bexhill-on-Sea.