The Possum - Art Tree

Artists

A review from the competition in the one horse colony ^[1]

It is probably rather late in the day to acknowledge the receipt of a journal issued last Saturday. But on the ground of better late than never we have much pleasure in acknowledging the appearance of the second issue of Possum, a paper which is to be, and indeed is, devoted to fun and satire.
That it has not, as yet, been particularly ardent in its devotion is, perhaps, not altogether its fault. It is a young Possum, but will probably learn its business better as it goes along, or, at all events, be better able to avail itself of such opportunities as are likely to present themselves in a community so limited as this. However, it is the mission of the Possum to "dig down" or "climb up" as its work is presented, and, if it is specially industrious, it may find a good deal to do, even in the "one horse" stage this colony has as yet reached. The paper contains some illustrations which would probably prove more effective if better printed.

Prinsep had been able to maintain his interest in art and literature. After 1874 he lived in Perth where he was a draftsman in the Lands and Survey Office. He led a small but influential cultural group engaged in sketching excursions, literary discussions and the theatre.
With Herbert Gibbs, another artist, he published several numbers of Opossum, a humorous journal. Prinsep's 1875 and 1876 drawings of incidents in the explorations of (Sir) John Forrest and Ernest Giles were included in the published accounts of their expeditions.

• The First Edition - (1887, July 30). The Possum (Perth, WA ), p. 1. - Cover art ^[2]

People Sketches

• Western Australian Gallery of Celebrities.
  - art, and Sketches from The Possum (Perth, WA : 1887 - 1888)

Sir Frederick Napier Broome KCMG - art 1887 from The Possum,Perth, p. 5 ^[3]

George Walpole Leake QC - art 1887 from The Possum, Perth, page 7 ^[4]

James George Lee Steere - art 1887 from The Possum, Perth, page 7 ^[5]

Septimus Burt - art 1887 from The Possum, Perth, page 7 ^[6]

Malcolm Fraser - art 1887 from The Possum, Perth, page 7 ^[7]

Sources