// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Edward Officer a good cop? He's an arresting figure.
Edward Cairns Officer | |
|---|---|
 Edward Cairns Officer, c. 1921 | |
| Born | 19 September 1871 Murray Downs, NSW, Australia |
| Died | 7 July 1921 (aged 49) Macedon, Victoria |
| Occupation | Artist |
Edward Cairns Officer (19 September 1871 – 7 July 1921) was an Australian landscape painter and president of the Australian Art Association.
Early life and education
[edit]Officer was born in 1871 at Murray Downs, New South Wales, near Swan Hill, Victoria.[1][2] He studied art under Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery of Victoria[2][3] and studied at Julian's in Paris,[4] in 1895.[2] In 1908, he married Grace, daughter of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald.[4]
Australian Art Association
[edit]Officer was elected the inaugural president of the Australian Art Association, which broke away from the Victorian Artists Society[5] and held its first exhibition in 1913.[1][6][4] Edward Officer became its Secretary in 1914,[7] but resumed the presidency, replaced after his death by Norman Macgeorge.
Unable to enlist to serve in World War I,[2] in 1916 Officer organised the sale of 95 of his paintings[8] netting £800 for the Red Cross Fund.[9]
In 1920, Officer, as President of the Association, in a letter to The Argus, represented its opposition to the import duty then being imposed on art from abroad, remarking that "This year it happens that many of the Australian artists who have made names for themselves in England and Europe will come to us with exhibitions of their work, and will be, as Mr [Arthur] Streeton was, confronted with this ridiculous duty."[10]
Subsequently, the Association's deputation in June to the Customs Minister discovered that he had conceded, and that works of Australian artists and art students residing less than five years abroad would be free of import duty.[11]
Officer exhibited with the Association annually at its shows held at the Melbourne Athenaeum and during the 1919 exhibition, the members dined at J. Richardson's 'Café Francais' at 257 Little Collins St.[12] to honour their President, Edward Officer and to toast soldier artists.[13] New Gallery in May 1928 held a posthumous retrospective of his work, [14] the opening of which was attended by John Longstaff, Clewin Harcourt and Rupert Bunny.[15]
Officer died at Macedon, Victoria, on 7 July 1921.[4][2]
Collections
[edit]The Art Gallery of New South Wales holds two landscape by Officer[16]
Gallery of paintings by Edward Officer
[edit]
Edward Officer On a bush track, oil on board, signed lower right, 47 x 55cm
Edward Officer (1904) untitled, oil on board signed and dated lower left
Edward Officer Cairns Australia, (before 1922) Market Gardens, Southern France. Oil on canvas laid on board. Signed lower right
Edward Officer (1906) Kallara. Oil on canvas, 37x75.5cm
Edward Officer (n.d.), (the wood stack), oil on canvas on board, 45 x 54cm
Edward Officer (n.d.) The Dandenongs, towards Lilydale oil on canvas 83cm x 83cm
E Officer (n.d.) Lake Scene, oil on board 36.5 x 44.5cm
References
[edit]- 1 2 Peers, Juliet. "Officer, Edward Cairns (1871–1921)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 C, A (7 January 1933). "Australian Artists of the Past: E. C. Officer". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. p. 18. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ↑ "The Work of the Late Edward Officer". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. 2 May 1928. p. 14. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "Death of Mr E. C. Officer". The Australasian. Melbourne, Australia. 16 July 1921. p. 29. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ↑ "Australian Art: New Association". The Argus, Melbourne. 2 September 1912. p. 15. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ↑ "Edward Officer". The Worker. Wagga, Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. 21 May 1908. p. 27.
- ↑ "Australian Art". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 21, 190. Victoria, Australia. 25 June 1914. p. 10. Retrieved 12 February 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "A Patriotic Artist: Mr Edward Officer's Painting". The Argus. Melbourne, Australia. 7 April 1916. p. 9.
- ↑ "Patriotism in Art: Red Cross Receives 800 from Picture Exhibition". The Herald. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ↑ "The Tariff". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 22, 983. Victoria, Australia. 31 March 1920. p. 11. Retrieved 13 February 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Australian Artists". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 039. Victoria, Australia. 5 June 1920. p. 19. Retrieved 13 February 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ Sands and McDougall's Directory of Victoria for 1915. Melbourne: Sands & McDougall. 1915. p. 1458.
- ↑ "Artists' Dinner". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 22, 843. Victoria, Australia. 18 October 1919. p. 23. Retrieved 13 February 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "The Work of the Late Edward Officer". The Age. No. 22, 798. Victoria, Australia. 2 May 1928. p. 14. Retrieved 19 February 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Melbourne". The Australasian. Vol. CXXIV, no. 4, 139. Victoria, Australia. 5 May 1928. p. 14 (Metropolitan Edition). Retrieved 19 February 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ Officer, Edward (1908). "On the plains of the Darling". Art Gallery of New South Wales.
