Eric Stewart

1903 - 1970

Eric Stewart was a self-taught artist.  He was inspired by Aboriginal Myths and Legends (1966) by Roland Robinson which he read while recovering from tuberculosis. He moved to New South Wales for health reasons in 1970. Many of his paintings were sent to an auction in St. Kilda at this time and dispersed through the antique trade. Clifton Pugh discovered some in a second-hand furniture shop in Echuca and declared him to be a “primitive genius”. This discovery led to exhibitions in 1972 at Powell Street Galleries, South Yarra and Macquarie Galleries, Sydney

Barrett Reid had also bought some paintings by Stewart in Yarra Glen and wrote an article on the artist for Art and Australia in October the same year