Included in the Margaret Vine Collection of ephemera at Special Collections, James Cook University , Townsville , are several items related to painter, illustrator Keith Looby , awarded the l984 Archibald Prize for his portrait of comedian Max Gillies .
The above graphic , from a Brisbane gallery, is for Looby's distinctive Black and White History of Australia series, he having already done a pen and ink history of the world. The first portfolio of six etchings in the Australian series included Macathur's Sheep, Massacre of Tasmanians , an Aboriginal Family. A second portfolio offered Kelly, Kelly Hung, Eureka Stockade, Justice, Sportingmen's Club and Heidelberg .
Born Sydney in l940, Looby , l5 , attended the East Sydney Technical College, fancied cartooning, took off overseas , spent several years in Italy and London , displayed an elaborate drawing at the Royal Academy in 1960.
From 1972-74 he was on an Australian National University Creative Arts Fellowship and won the Sulman Prize in l974; named Canberra Artist of the Year l992.
A quick Google search provided an unexpected early view of Looby in his studio made by a Sydney firm that constructed cabanas , garden sheds .
Historian Humphrey McQueen wrote Suburbs of the Sacred about Looby for Penguin Books in l988.
