Biography
Archibald Bertram Webb (b. Kennington, Ashford, Kent, UK 1887-d. Perth, Australia 1944) studied at St Martin's School of Art, London and at the City and Guilds of London Art School. He was a freelance illustrator and commercial artist in 1905-14 for such periodicals as the Critic, of which his father was editor, the Pall Mall Magazine, Photography and Focus, John Bull and Sketch. He emigrated to Australia in 1915, with his wife Ada Olive Barrett, because of the effects of rheumatic fever. They settled in Perth where he was appointed head of the art department at Perth Technical School in 1926 until 1934 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. They returned to England in search of a cure and he exhibited 58 watercolours, lithographs and woodcuts at the Fine Art Society, London. He produced posters for the Great Western Railway Co. and designed wallpapers for John Line & Sons Ltd. Back in Perth by 1937, he opened his own art school and exhibited with the Perth Society of Artists and his work was included in exhibitions in Sydney, organized by the Australian Academy of Art and the National Art Gallery of New South Wales.
