Ernest Buckmaster

Description

Ernest Buckmaster was born in Hawthorn, Victoria in 1897. In 1913 at the age of 16, Buckmaster became the apprentice of signwriter and amateur artist James Beament. It was under Beament's encouragement that Buckmaster enrolled at the National Gallery Art School in Victoria where he studied painting from 1918 to 1924. He trained under Bernard Hall and William McInnes and during his time at the school was awarded many of the prizes available to students. Buckmaster was appointed to the position of Official War Artist in 1945 to record the Japanese surrender in Singapore. He completed twenty-five paintings which depict the return of order to the lives of both the Singaporeans and the Australian soldiers in a liberated Singapore. Of particular significance were his works illustrating the repatriation of Australian Prisoners of War, as well as the internment of Japanese civilians. Buckmaster focused his energies as a painter on the traditional painterly forms of portraiture and landscape. His defined, block-like brush strokes are reminiscent of the work of Arthur Streeton, and are testament to his preference for traditional artistic practice. Buckmaster was highly and publicly critical of the modern movement taking hold in Australia at the time. Buckmaster was a highly respected artist and received much formal recognition for his art. He received his first major award, the Ramsay prize for paintings from nude, whilst studying in 1922. Following this in 1932 he won the Archibald Prize for his portrait of Sir William Irvine, and in 1941 he won the National Gallery of Victoria's Australian Subject Picture Prize. His work is now held in every state gallery, as well as the National Gallery of Australia and the Australian War Memorial.