(Bridge Over Canal)

John Charles Goodchild

Southwark, London born South Australian artist John Charles Goodchild returned to London with his wife, artist Doreen Rowley in 1926 and spent two years studying at the Central School of Art and Design, a public school of fine and applied arts in London that had been founded in 1896. He became noted for his drawings and watercolors, she for her ceramics.

The effects of Whistler's composition techniques, the looseness and the use of humble architecture in his compositions, were being taught throughout the British empire, Continental Europe and the U.S., as witnessed in this small but intense ink wash drawing of a European bridge and the river beneath it. The structures in the background are just suggestions, added for context.

This drawing is from the collection of Danish critic and author Georg Bröchner (1874-1933) who wrote for the British art magazine "The Studio" in the early 20th century. This drawing is dedicate by Goodchild "To Georg Brochner with all good wishes" and was included in one of Brochner's "Golden Books"