Gerrard ‘Gayfield’ Shaw (1885-1961) was an etcher and gallerist. Trained in art in his native Adelaide, he moved to Sydney in 1908 and attended the JS Watkins School. Over the next ten years he became known for his printed bookplates, landscapes and street scenes. By August 1919, when he hosted Roland Wakelin and Roy de Mestre’s now-famous Colour in art exhibition, he was a prominent connoisseur and dealer occupying premises in Penzance Chambers in Elizabeth Street. His art salon was an elegant oasis in the city, dotted with sofas, tables, prints and antiques. In early 1924, however, he devised a gallery from a covered van and took the first-ever show of paintings by Australian artists including Streeton and Roberts on the road, intending to cover a thousand miles through a dozen or so New South Wales country towns. The following year, Shaw disposed of his collection and took to farming in the Inverell district, but in 1929 he sold his property, Yangalala, to live for the next thirty years in Rose Bay.
The National Portrait Gallery is temporarily closed to the public until further notice.
