B. 1897 – 1968 

Born in Hawthorn, Melbourne, Ernest Buckmaster was a prodigious artist. After he was rejected for military service, he joined the Victorian Artists Society and enrolled at the National Gallery of Art School, where he studied under Bernard Hall and W. B. McInnes. 

Buckmaster’s artistic career was illustrious. He showed at the VAS every year (with the exception of 1931) between 1919 and 1943, held an exhibition with Janet Cumbrae Stewart at the Australian Art Association, and was a founding member of the Australian Academy of Art. In 1945, he was made an official war artist and deployed to Vietnam. 

A critic of modernism, Buckmaster never deviated from his chosen techniques or convictions. He hung in the Archibald Prize a remarkable 72 times between 1924 and 1966, winning it 1932 with a portrait of Sir William Irvine. As well as across state collections, his work hangs famously adorns the dining room of Melbourne's heritage listed hotel, The Hotel Windsor. 

To read a more in-depth biography of the artist, click here.