1941

In 1941, Geelong Gallery purchased an intriguing and introspective work by a famous Victorian artist. 

With its palette of deep reds and expert rendering of a dressing gown’s smooth silk trims, Self portrait is a striking and self-assured depiction of its subject and creator, Australian artist Ernest Buckmaster.

Buckmaster was born in Hawthorn, Melbourne, in 1897, and worked as a war artist during World War II. An acclaimed portraitist, he won the Archibald Prize in 1932 for his likeness of lieutenant-governor of Victoria, Sir William Irvine.