Charles Douglas Richardson

In 1881 he left for London, studying at the Royal Academy schools for six years,[2] for a time sharing studios with fellow students from Melbourne, Tom Roberts and Bertram Mackennal.

In 1918 he was elected president of the Society, following dissatisfaction with his predecessor Max Meldrum and his very vocal core of supporters.

He retained the position until succeeded by John Longstaff in 1925, and was elected again a year later, to be replaced by Paul Montford in 1931.

Richardson's reputation has diminished amongst subsequent curators, critics and historians, partly because relatively few of the significant and highly regarded works that he was known to have produced came on the market, partly because his interest in symbolism and the British New Sculpture movement did not speak to the social realist values that were read into the plein air group by many later commentators.

A recent bronze casting of his female figure, The Cloud, was set into a formal water garden beside the former Brighton Town Hall (Victoria, Australia) in the 1980s.