Old Joe (Julian Ashton School Portrait)

This work is one of the earliest recorded paintings by Dobell. The artist was twenty-five years old when he entered the Sydney Art School, later the Julian Ashton School. He had been apprenticed in his hometown of Newcastle to and architect and upon moving to Sydney in 1924 he began working as a draftsman. Evident in this work is the artist's burgeoning abilities as a draftsman and mastery of the use of light and shade.