In June 1935, Robert Johnson held a solo exhibition at the West Australian Newspaper House Gallery in Perth. Forty-eight works were displayed, and the organiser, John Brackenreg, conducted a plebiscite—a people’s choice vote—throughout the duration of the show. Brackenreg declared, “The exhibition has been an unqualified success. Exceptional interest has been shown throughout the three weeks the pictures have been shown in Perth.”

The exhibition was further enhanced by regular newspaper reports detailing the rankings of individual works as votes were tallied. Over 5,000 votes were cast, with the most popular piece being “Pearl of Pittwater”, which is now part of the collection at the Art Gallery of Western Australia—a gift from Mrs. E. H. Barker in 1953.

“The Meadows, Oberon” was also included in the exhibition, ranking fifteenth among the works on display.

The well-known watercolourist and art critic Harold Herbert described Johnson as an honest plein air painter, adhering to the principles laid down by Streeton, Roberts, Ashton, and others, working in the true spirit of Impressionism.

Robert Johnson was born in Auckland in 1890 and arrived in Australia in 1921. He studied at the Elam School of Art in Auckland under Edward Fristrom and Archibald Nicoll. Soon after his arrival in Australia, he found immediate success with local art patrons and was quickly regarded as a promising contemporary artist, ranking highly among Australia's landscape painters.

Years earlier, while serving as a New Zealand artilleryman aboard a troopship in Fremantle en route to the Great War, Johnson resolved to return to Western Australia to paint the landscape. Though he exhibited regularly in Perth, it wasn’t until 1937 that he was able to fulfil that pledge. He returned to the state, disembarking at Albany, and travelled by caravan with John Brackenreg and Arthur Wakefield Bassett through the South West coastal districts, painting and enjoying each other’s company. As an artist, he was particularly struck by the intensity of the Western Australian light.

Johnson won several prizes, including the Queen’s Coronation Medal in 1953. His work is represented in the collections of all Australian State Galleries. In 1936, he was commissioned by the Australian Federal Government to paint a view of Canberra as a gift to the New Zealand government.