Arthur von Tossau, Tozart or von Tosseau – take your pick
He was the lightning artist who made a name for himself around the world and managed to surround himself with mystery
Manly
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He was well-known around Manly and much of Australia, New Zealand, England and the US but Arthur von Tossau still managed to surround himself with mystery – much of it self-generated.
At times he called himself Arthur von Tossau and Carl Arthur Neven-Tossau, and he changed Tossau to Tozart during World War I and to Tosseau after the war.
His marriage certificate in 1903 indicates he was born at Hamburg, Germany but his death certificate in 1927 indicates he was born in Canada.
At times he claimed to have been educated at the Imperial Academy in Berlin and the Royal Academy at Konigsberg in former East Prussia.
At other times he claimed he was educated at the British School of Arts.
Von Tossau’s date of birth is equally uncertain – his marriage certificate indicates he was born about 1876 but after he died his wife said he was born in 1872.
It is not known when von Tossau arrived in Australia – or where – but the first mention of him in an Australian newspaper is in Bendigo.
In December 1894, a local newspaper reported that von Tossau had given an impressive display of tricks in the local swimming pool.
By February 1895, von Tossau was showing his tricks at a swimming carnival at Ballarat.
By February 1897, von Tossau was hitting his straps as a performer, when he was advertised as the world’s premier natator (swimmer) and putting on displays of his skill in an aquarium in Melbourne’s Exhibition Building.
Four months later he was performing in Sydney at the Coogee Aquarium, by which time his repertoire comprised 37 different acts, and then in Brisbane.
On December 18, 1897, von Tossau married Agnes Montgomery in Sydney.
Agnes was born in London and appears to have been living with her mother at Darling Point at the time.
Throughout 1898 and 1900, von Tossau toured NSW, Queensland and Victoria.
But while von Tossau’s main act was in the water, he also performed as a sketch artist – or lightning artist – on the stage, completing several artworks in quick time.
In 1901, he toured South Australia, performing as a sketch artist who performed for free because he was paid by companies to endorse them or their products by painting posters advertising their wares.
It was in Adelaide that von Tossau began referring to himself as “London’s Poster King,” although it’s uncertain he’d ever been to London.
From South Australia, von Tossau went to Perth but by January 1903, von Tossau was back in Melbourne, where he attracted so many onlookers to his work in the window of a shop in Bourke St that he was charged by the police with causing an obstruction and fined 10 shillings.
By early January 1904, von Tossau was in Broken Hill, after which he toured South Australia.
November 1905 he was back in Melbourne doing one-man open-air exhibitions at St Kilda, where he leased an area from the local council and performed nightly for five months.
In December 1906, von Tossau began performing in an enclosure on the beachfront at Manly that could accommodate 2000 people and may have been on part of the site previously occupied by Steyne Court, the amusement complex on South Steyne between Victoria Pde and Ashburner St that included a giant water chute that opened in December 1903 but closed in April 1906.
Von Tossau and his wife Agnes quickly took a shine to Manly and got involved in local affairs by raising money for local worthy causes.
When the nurses’ accommodation at the Manly Cottage Hospital was opened in March 1907, von Tossau was a guest of honour.
And when Manly Surf Club held its first surf carnival the same month, von Tossau was one of the organisers.
In April 1907, was back on the road for a tour of regional NSW.
By November 1907, von Tossau was back at Manly, where he performed on a vacant piece of land on The Corso, opposite the end of Sydney Rd, and again the von Tossaus got involved in local affairs at Manly.
By May 1908 von Tossau was in Queensland but by December 1908 he was back at Manly.
When the foundation meeting of Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club was held in late 1908, von Tossau was present and became the club’s first secretary, designed the club’s emblem and helped organise its first surf carnival.
By August 1909 von Tossau was performing in London as Arthur Neven-Tossau, the “Australian Comic Painter,” rather than the London Poster King, and in 1911 he travelled to South Africa.
When World War I broke out in August 1914, von Tossau was in England, but in February 1915, he and his wife, now travelling as Mr and Mrs Tozart, left London by steamer and arrived in Fremantle on March 17.
In Perth, von Tossau performed as part of the Fuller Vaudeville Company, with which he would remain, on and off, until 1922.
He performed “The Vagabond,” an act that he would continue to perform with little variation for many years.
“The Vagabond” might vicariously provide an insight into von Tossau’s state of mind.
The opening scene depicts an artist’s studio, into which enters a tramp in search of food.
He discovers nothing but a set of brushes and some oil paints.
He is a pavement artist and the sight of the implements of his trade is too strong for him and, forgetful of the fact that he is an intruder, he starts to paint.
As he paints, he remembers a picture he has seen in his dreams and this he commits it to canvas, with the result that when the picture is finished, the tramp has painted a beautiful picture.
He also collected money for the “Weekly Dispatch” Tobacco Fund, which was created by the proprietors of one of London’s best-known Sunday papers.
Every sixpence contributed to the fund provided a parcel of 35 cigarettes, 2 ounces of tobacco and some matches to a soldier serving in the war.
In April and May 1915, von Tossau performed in South Australia and Victoria and in June he travelled to New Zealand and performed in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch.
While in New Zealand, von Tossau also collected “Weekly Dispatch” Tobacco Fund and even intimated that he might soon enlist in the Canadian army.
In August 1915, von Tossau and his wife returned to Australia, where he performed in Sydney, followed by a tour of Queensland and regional NSW.
In December 1915, von Tossau and his wife travelled to New Zealand, where von he announced that he was going to Canada to enlist.
Von Tossau and his wife sailed from Auckland on January 25, 1916, bound for Vancouver via San Francisco but they never went to Canada and he certainly didn’t enlist in the Canadian army.
The couple disembarked at Honolulu on February 6 and remained for three months.
On arrival at Honolulu, the couple informed immigration officials that their ultimate destination was England via San Francisco – not Canada.
It appears von Tossau, still travelling under the name Tozart, spent the next five years performing in the United States and was one of the attractions in late 1917 at the New York Hippodrome.
Von Tossau and his wife remained in the United States until December 1921, when they sailed from San Francisco to Wellington, New Zealand.
Von Tossau appeared in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.
By now he had changed the name of his act from “The “Vagabond” to “The Burglar” and he also varied it in a new act called “The Pal.”
Von Tossau and his wife returned to Sydney on March 9, 1922.
From March 18 he appeared in Fuller’s New Theatre in Sydney, performing “The Burglar” and “The Pal.”
After three weeks, von Tossau travelled to Adelaide, where he told a reporter that Tozart was a stage name and that his real name was Arthur Nevin-Tosseau.
Throughout the remainder of 1922, von Tossau performed in Brisbane, Melbourne and in regional cities but in November he returned to Manly and his timing was good – Manly Council had just completed construction of an open-air concert pavilion at the western end of West Esplanade Reserve, on the harbourfront, at a cost of £1000 and von Tossau, calling himself Tosseau, was the first to perform there.
In the presence of a reported crowd of 10,000 people, the concert pavilion was opened by Manly mayor Francis Heaton on November 15, after which von Tossau and his vaudeville troupe took to the stage.
The Sydney newspaper “Smith’s Weekly” said von Tossau “prides himself on being the only man who can persuade people to come in thousands and pay to look at advertisements.”
After ending his 20-week season at Manly, von Tossau toured regional NSW before returning to Sydney and performing on the reserve behind Coogee Beach, where he opened on December 1, 1923.
After his season at Coogee, von Tossau toured regional NSW and Queensland throughout much of 1924 before returning to Sydney and starting a season at Bondi in December.
In mid-1925, von Tossau and his wife drove from Sydney to Cairns in a six-cylinder Buick via the coast, reportedly the first people to have done so, for which they were congratulated by the President of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland.
In September 1925, the Daily Mail newspaper in Brisbane published three long articles written by von Tossau describing the motor trip and what inspired it.
On November 20, 1926, von Tossau returned to the stage in the open-air concert pavilion at Manly.
By May 1927, he was performing in regional towns in NSW but on May 5, von Tossau collapsed and died at the wheel of his car while driving from Bathurst to Dubbo.
Agnes managed to seize the steering wheel and stop the car.
The Government Medical Officer said von Tossau had died of heart failure.
Agnes died in 1966.