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George Courtney Benson
George Courtney Benson (1886–1960) was an Australian painter, muralist and cartoonist, and an official war artist during World War I.[2] BiographyGeorge Courtney Benson was born in Collingwood, Melbourne in 1886 to Richard and Mary (née Murdoch) Benson.[1] He studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1903.[2] Benson enlisted in the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force in September 1914 and saw active duty in the Mediterranean.[3] He took sketches of the landscape prior to the allied invasion at Gallipoli.[4] Benson was commissioned as an Australian official war artists in April 1918, and after the end of the war worked at the Australian War Records Section in London.[3][5] A scrapbook of 140 sketches drawn by Benson during his time in the First World War are now held by the Australian War Memorial.[6] He designed the commemorative vignette for the first airmail envelopes carried from England to Australia by Keith and Ross Smith in 1919.[7] In 1931, Benson was commissioned by the University of Western Australia to paint the ceiling beams of Winthrop Hall.[2] He carried out further mural commissions in Perth, while also working as a critic and cartoonist for The West Australian newspaper.[2] Benson applied for a second commission with the Australian War Memorial at the beginning of the Second World War, but was declined due to his age (he was in his 50s at the time).[3] Benson instead enlisted in the Citizen Military Forces and worked as a camouflage officer until 1943.[3] Benson was a long-standing member of the Melbourne Savage Club from 1913 to 1936.[8] Benson moved to Perth in 1931 and died there in 1960.[2] CollectionsReferences
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