Woodward was a painter and art teacher. He was born in Birmingham, England, and migrated to Victoria in 1889 for health reasons, planning to establish an art and music academy with his friend W. G. Laver. This plan was abandoned, and in 1894 he became Head of the School of Art and Design at the Bendigo School of Mines, a post he occupied until his retirement in 1921.
Woodward had a strong influence on art training in Victorian technical schools. One of his contributions was the introduction of the teaching of crafts at the Bendigo school. In 1920 he was involved with the formation of the Bendigo Art Society. He was also involved with the development of the Bendigo Art Gallery, which created in his honour the A. T. Woodward Commemoration Prize in 1940. In 1937 he was awarded the King's Commemorative Medal for services to art in Australia.
An exhibition of works of 'Arthur Woodward and his circle' was held at the Bendigo Art Gallery in 2003, and a catalogue of the exhibition, Songs from a Studio, was published.
Major source : Dictionary of Australian Artists Online
http://www.daao.org.au/main (sighted 11.6.08)
