'It was a place he could escape to': Dickson home of artist George Foxhill for sale

Upon knocking on the abstractly painted door of the Foxhill family home in Dickson, you get the sense that you are about to enter the home of a visionary.  

You are greeted by a living room painted a bold shade of pink and walls throughout adorned with masterful works of Expressionist art.

Off the kitchen is the laundry, an unassuming passageway of sorts, leading to a beautifully kept garden and an artist’s studio where a certain industry icon has spent many painstaking hours painting his great works.

The studio was the place where artist George Foxhill could let his creativity run free.

“I think it was a place he could escape to. When he was in the studio, no one went in,” said son Kurt.

“He was painting in the studio well into his late ’80s. He had a great body of work – hundreds and hundreds.”

George Foxhill, formerly Georg Fuchsberger, called 16 Lowrie Street home from the late ’50s until his death in 2011.

He was a renowned artist whose works have been featured in solo exhibitions not only in Canberra and Australia, but Germany, Austria, and the US.

The Austrian-born artist lived in the home with his wife Rosa and Kurt.  The family of three immigrated to Australia in 1956 from Europe.

After a brief stay in Melbourne,  Foxhill was offered a job in Canberra as a painter and they moved to the nation’s capital, living in Queanbeyan at first before moving to the government-issued Dickson home.

“At the time the only work my dad could get was painting houses. He did an art degree in Europe but needed to make money for the family so he painted houses,” said Kurt.

“While painting houses he did an art course in Melbourne by correspondence. He started painting more and more and was able to support himself by painting creatively and holding exhibitions.”

Kurt said his father really enjoyed figurative paintings and “loved to paint people”.

“He wasn’t a great fan of landscapes,” he added.

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George Foxhill fought in World War II in the Eastern Front where he spent some time in a prisoner of war camp. Kurt said he rarely spoke about it but said it was reflected in some of his darker paintings.

Rosa stood by his side firmly the whole time and would cook a big lunch every day for George to enjoy after he spent the morning in the studio.

Kurt described his mother as “very much the traditional hausfrau”. He went on to say he interprets the painting on the studio’s exterior to be a metaphor for his mother always supporting and “holding his father up”.

In contrast to the rest of the home, the kitchen is modest and over the years has seen many great European feasts lovingly cooked for the family.

Kurt said his childhood home was “always filled with art and the aromas of good food”.

“In the old days, it was a community-based street. We knew all the neighbours and their kids, and we used to play out on the street,” he said

“Everybody who was in the area knew each other and we would have tea and coffee together all the time. It was a lovely community.”

Foxhill was an artist to the end. As he spent his final days in Clare Holland House, he continued to sketch and those sketches are some of Kurt’s most treasured possessions.

Kurt has made the heartbreaking decision to sell the family home of more than 60 years, as Rosa, 92, has just moved to a nursing home.

“It’s been a very difficult decision to sell and I have a lot of emotion about it, both up and down,” he said.

“It was hard emptying the house and all the personal belongings, but we have hung onto as much as we can.”

He said it would be wonderful if another artist were to purchase the home to continue his father’s legacy.

“It would be great for the house to stay as it is. It will be interesting to see who buys it – it would be perfect for an artist or someone creative who is searching for a home that’s a little different,” he said.

“In a way, if apartments are to be built here, it would be lovely to have a little house like this still exist.”

The home will be auctioned at 5.30pm, on Wednesday, November 21.