Silhouette artist S. John ROSS
On June 10, 1925, 101 years ago, Betty June Nevin (1925-2012) was born in Hobart, Tasmania to parents Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955), horse trainer and reinsman, and Emily Maud (Davis) Nevin (1891-1971). Albert was the youngest son and last child born to photographer Thomas James Nevin snr and Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin. Emily was the only child born to Frances Florence (Stewart) Davis and John William Davis of Launceston, Tasmania. Albert and Emily were married at Launceston on 4 March 1917 and had eight children between 1917 and 1939, all born in Hobart. Betty was their fifth child and fourth daughter.
A few years before her marriage to star footballer Patrick Roy Williams (1925-2021) and the birth of her only daughter Kerry in 1948 (see photograph below), Betty June Nevin sat for silhouette artist S. John Ross at the Royal Easter Show Hobart while he cut this profile portrait of her with nothing more than a pair of scissors and a black card.
Scissor cut silhouette of Betty June Nevin [married P. R. Williams 1948-1953, then F. D. Moran 1956-2012]
Date and location: The Royal Easter Show, Hobart Tasmania, mid 1940s
Silhouette artist: S. [Sebastian] John Ross (1919-2008)
Provenance: by descent, condition - fair, watermarked " KLW NFC 2012"
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection.
DO NOT COPY or REPRODUCE.
S. John ROSS in the PRESS, SMH 5 January 2005
"The silhouette man of Luna Park cuts a fine figure"
By Steve Meacham, January 5, 2005
Shadow man ... S. John Ross is back at Luna Park this weekend.
Photo: James Alcock
TRANSCRIPT
For three decades, S. John Ross was "the Silhouette Man" of Luna Park, an American-born showman who became one of the best-known human faces at Sydney's favourite fun fair.Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-silhouette-man-of-luna-park-cuts-a-fine-figure-20050105-gdkfmg.html
From 1950 until the tragic fire in 1979, Ross - "I've never revealed what the S stands for. It's my trademark, only the tax office knows" - worked until midnight in his stall. Generations of courting couples sat in his chair while he carved out their portraits - an artist whose medium was a pair of scissors and a black card.
Now, for the first time in 25 years, the 85-year-old is setting up his stall again at Luna Park. Every weekend in January he'll be open for business, just as he was in his heyday when visiting celebrities like Ernest Borgnine, Johnny Ray and John Mills would pose for him.
"Silhouettes were a big thing for 2000 years, until the advent of photography," Ross explains. "It goes back to the ancient Greeks."
He was 12 when he saw his first silhouette artist, at the Michigan State Fair in Detroit. "Right then I knew what I wanted to be." Through the Depression, he helped his mother raise seven children after charming his way into an apprenticeship with Bud-Jack, a master of the art.
In 1942 Ross came to Australia as a US soldier.
"My job was to look after celebrity VIPs like Bob Hope and Jack Benny. We needed good drivers so I requested some WAAF's. They sent 10, and one became my wife, Phyllis."
They married in 1945 and he began working shows as far north as Rockhampton, in central Queensland.
"My first Easter Show was in 1948. This year will be my 57th." In 1950 he was invited to try his luck at Luna Park. "I said I'd do it for a week. I stayed 30 years."
He was at work on June 9, 1979, when six children and one adult were killed in the Ghost Train fire. The park was closed and he thought that would be the end of his association. But in 2004 his contribution was recognised in a mural, painted by Ashley Taylor, artist in residence at the reopened park.
Not everyone has the kind of profile that suits a silhouette, Ross confides. "I'm very selective who I pick. I won't do anyone with a receding chin."
However one thing has changed. In 1950 he charged five shillings. This weekend he'll be charging $10.
OBITUARY: Australiana August 2009 Vol. 31 No. 3
Photo: S John Ross at the Brisbane Ekka
August 2007. Photograph from Peter Dunn's "Australia @ War" web site www.ozatwar.com
TRANSCRIPT
S. John Ross, the Silhouette ManSource: Australiana AUGUST 2009 Vol. 31 No. 3, p.9
by Silas Clifford-Smith
Few portrait artists can claim to have created images of such diverse luminaries as Al Jolson, Sir Robert Menzies and Queen Elizabeth II. These were just three of the tens of thousands of sitters who posed for silhouette artist S. John Ross who died recently after a 70-year career.
S. John Ross (the S stood for Sebastian) was born on 25 April 1919, and raised in Detroit, Michigan. As a boy he first saw a silhouette artist working at the Michigan State Fair and was captivated by the skill of the cutter. After leaving school he worked and trained with silhouette artist Joseph Budd-Jack (c. 1900-1961) for three years, working the fairs of the northern states of the USA, and later in Hollywood. Some of his early celebrity ‘cuts’ included Stan Laurel, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracey.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Ross was drafted into the US Army. Corporal Ross arrived in Australia in 1942 and was later transferred to the Philippines. During the war years he was involved in protecting General Douglas MacArthur and celebrity entertainers such as Bob Hope. Ross made silhouette images of both these men and garnered notice in the wartime press for his skill with his trademark surgical scissors and a piece of black card.
After the war, Staff Sergeant Ross left the army and returned to Australia where he married an Australian, Phyllis Counsell. Since 1948, Ross toured the Australian agricultural show circuit and was a regular at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney for 60 years. His long time connection with the Sydney show saw him awarded the title ‘show legend’ for 2007. A man of great humour, Ross was heard to say that he would ‘rather be a living legend than a dead one.’ He was also a regular at the Royal Queensland Show (the Ekka), the Royal Adelaide Show and at Sydney’s Luna Park and Centrepoint Tower.
Despite suffering from prostate cancer for many years, Ross worked right up to the end of his life. In 2008, he charged $10 for his silhouette portraits. One of his last major events was the Royal Easter Show in Sydney in April 2008. He became ill at the Cairns Show in July and died on 24 August 2008, aged 89. Arguably Australia’s most prolific portrait artist, few examples of Ross’ silhouettes are in public collections. Hopefully Australiana Society members will do their bit to redress this neglect.
Link: https://australiana.org.au/journal/article/?article=1118
Betty June and Kerry Lee 1949
Subjects: Betty June (Nevin) Williams with daughter Kerry Lee, Hobart 1949
Photographer: unattributed, no imprint, taken in a Hobart street, possibly by Leicagraph Co. Goodwill Stores
Provenance: by descent, condition good, yellowing, watermarked "KLW NFC 2025"
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection.
DO NOT COPY or REPRODUCE.
RELATED POSTS main weblog
