[citation needed] Victor mastered the viola and violin and performed in chamber orchestras as a young man.
The unnamed Age reviewer described it as a "loveable little show amidst picturesque surroundings" and implied that Victor was known already and setting out in a new direction with his landscape paintings.
The Age review encouraged him and the public by adding "Mr Zelman has paid us a charming complement -he exhibits only his best work … all carefully studied and entirely satisfactory panels."
His natural clientele was the comfortable middle class of Melbourne including so-called titled individuals who sometimes opened his exhibitions with condescending approval, but provided that cache of exclusiveness that was important in attracting sales.
At one such opening, Lady Creswell claimed his name was "a household word in Victoria" and had painted in the hills on their property where she sent out a "jug of tea and cakes" to him to refresh him in his labors.
Amongst the places named in his paintings are Romsey, Carlsruhe, Croydon, Castlemaine, Glen Waverley, Dromana, Rosebud, Shoreham, Mooroolbark, Diamond Creek, Ashburton, Lilydale, Port of Melbourne and the Goulburn and Murray rivers.