Julian Ashton Art School

Henry Gibbons had started at the school as a student in April 1919 and soon became the teacher of the night drawing classes.

In 1924 Gibbons proposed starting a Saturday afternoon class so that he could teach some of the night drawing students to paint.

The Saturday class started in February 1924 and the first nine students were Dobell, Dundas, Passmore, Badham, Lawrence, Brackenreg, Byrne, Hubble and Cox.

Julian Ashton students have included Elioth Gruner, George Lambert, B. E. Minns, Thea Proctor, Adrian Feint, Howard Ashton (Julian's son), Dorrit Black, J. J. Hilder, William Dobell, Edmund Arthur Harvey, Eric Wilson, Quinton Tidswell, Jean Bellette, Douglas Dundas, Arthur Freeman, William Dadswell, John Passmore, Yvonne Audette, Joshua Smith, John Olsen, Michael Johnston, Jim Russell, Florence Turner Blake, Harry Julius, Sydney Ure Smith, Alexander McKenzie, Brett Whiteley, Susan Dorothea White, Nigel Thomson, Graeme Townsend, Nora Heysen, Salvatore Zofrea, Helen Stewart, Madge Tennent, Don Peebles and Anne Dangar.

Recognising the early talent of Ray Wenban, Ashton taught him gratis, helping him become a respected and successful painter and illustrator.

Julian Ashton Art School building, George Street, The Rocks
Photograph by Henry King showing members of the Society of Artists ' 1907 Selection Committee, including Julian Ashton (far left) and Norman Lindsay (fifth from left)