1856, Sturkö, Sweden – 1918, Brisbane 

Carl Magnus Oscar Friström is an important figure in the history of art in Queensland, as a co-founder of the Queensland Art Society in 1887 and as a member of the Society’s first committee. Born in Sweden, he was the son of a school teacher and a self-taught artist. His presence was first recorded in Brisbane in 1884, when he worked with the photographer DH Hutchison as part of the Elite – Hutchison, Friström and Co.’s Photo Studio, where he coloured and over-painted photographic portraits. At this time, Friström also conducted private art classes and taught photographic retouching. Friström lived in Adelaide for a time between 1894 and 1895, but returned to Brisbane where he became a member of the Queensland National Art Gallery’s Advisory Committee and president of the Queensland Art Society in 1918.