RIVERS, Richard Godfrey (1859-1925)

artist

was born at Plymouth, England, in 1859, and studied at the Slade school, London. He exhibited one picture at the Royal Academy in 1884, and emigrated to Australia in 1889. He was director of the technical college, Brisbane, from 1890 to 1915, and, becoming president of the Queensland Art Society in 1892, held the position with two breaks of a year each, until 1911. He was also honorary curator of the Queensland national gallery from 1895 to 1914. He established a local reputation as a portrait painter, and portraits by him of Sir Samuel Griffith (q.v.) and others hang in the supreme court at Brisbane. He removed to Hobart in 1915 and endeavoured to rouse interest in the Hobart gallery. He died in 1925. Examples of his outdoor work are in the national galleries at Sydney and Brisbane.

W. Moore, The Story of Art in Australia; A. Graves, The Royal Academy Exhibitors.