Works donated by Scurry included in this catalogue
* Scurry Charles Summers {1884} Loc? [SC]
Scurry Cole’s Wharf 1853 {1884} SLV [DR]
Scurry Sandridge Pier 1853 {1884} SLV [DR]
Scurry View on the Yarra 1853 {1884} SLV [DR]
* Scurry (?) View from Flagstaff Hill 1853 {1884} Loc? [DR]
Also probably by Scurry:
Plaster bust of William Lanne (Lanney), presented by Wiliam Lynch in 1891 (now held by Museums Victoria): see Casts – II. Busts & heads (II.71)
Scurry was already active as a sculptor in England before migrating to Melbourne (by 1853). He was a founding member of the Victorian Artists’ Society in 1856, when he showed several sculptures. After working on sculpture for the new Parliament House in Melbourne (assisting Charles Summers), he went into partnership with J.S.Mackennal (1832-1901; the father of Bertram Mackennal). Scurry continued to lead an active career as a sculptor in Melbourne until the mid 1880s.
Besides the works listed above, Scurry is also recorded in AR 1884 as having donated three reproductions (chromo-lithographs) of drawings by William Mulready, and plaster casts of a a “small female torso” from the Townley collection, and a bust of Laocoon; for details, see Casts – I. Statues etc. (I.52) and Casts – II. Busts & heads (II.70). Another plaster bust (II.11), of Sir Redmond Barry, may have been a copy of Scurry’s plaster bust for the Supreme Court of Victoria (1884).
The SLV also holds portrait drawings by Scurry of his brother Frederick and himself, dated 1853-4 (H5032-33), apparently acquired after 1904/5. His plaster relief, The Shearer (1881), was acquired for the NGV in 1996.
Refs.
For Scurry (not listed in either Bénézit or AKL), see Kerr Dictionary (1992), pp.711-12, and https://www.daao.org.au/bio/james-scurry/biography/ (updated 1992), also listing a number of his other works
For The Shearer, see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/58613/ (reproduced)