Edward Officer
{{Short description|Australian artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Edward Cairns Officer
| image = File:Edward C Officer.jpg
| caption = Edward Cairns Officer, c. 1921
| birth_date = 19 Sept 1871
| birth_place = Murray Downs, NSW, Australia
| death_date = 7 July 1921
| death_place = Macedon, Victoria
| occupation = Artist
}}
Edward Cairns Officer (19 September 1871 – 7 July 1921) was an Australian artist and the inaugural president of the Australian Art Association.
{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Peers|first=Juliet|title=Officer, Edward Cairns (1871–1921)|id2=officer-edward-cairns-7884|accessdate=22 July 2012|author-link=Juliet Peers}}
Early life and education
Officer was born in 1871 at Murray Downs, New South Wales, near Swan Hill, Victoria.{{Cite news |last=C |first=A |date=7 January 1933 |title=Australian Artists of the Past: E. C. Officer |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205516365 |access-date=9 March 2025 |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia |pages=18}} He was the third son of Suetonius Henry Officer and his wife Mary Lillias Rigg, a daughter of the Rev. Adam Cairns. His grandfather, Sir Robert Officer,{{Cite news |date=16 July 1921 |title=Death of Mr E. C. Officer |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140173590 |access-date=9 March 2025 |work=The Australasian |location=Melbourne, Australia |pages=29}} was speaker of the Tasmanian house of assembly for many years. Officer was educated at Toorak College and studied art under Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery of Victoria.{{Cite news |date=2 May 1928 |title=The Work of the Late Edward Officer |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202304792 |access-date=9 March 2025 |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia |pages=14}} From there, he went to Paris in 1895 and studied at Julien's.
Career
Officer exhibited at leading exhibitions in Paris and London, including the Paris Salons, and, in 1903, was the winner of the Wynne prize awarded by the national gallery, Sydney.{{Cite news |date=21 May 1908 |title=Edward Officer |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/145889701 |work=The Worker |location=Wagga, Wagga, New South Wales, Australia |pages=27}} In 1912, his painting, "The Woolshed", was purchased under the Alfred Felton bequest for the national gallery, Melbourne. Unable to enlist to serve in World War I, Officer organised the sale of 95 of his paintings{{Cite news |date=7 April 1916 |title=A Patriotic Artist: Mr Edward Officer's Painting |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2107892 |work=The Argus |location=Melbourne, Australia |pages=9}} netting £800 for the Red Cross Fund.{{Cite news |title=Patriotism in Art: Red Cross Receives 800 from Picture Exhibition |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242342980 |access-date=9 March 2025 |work=The Herald |location=Melbourne, Australia}}
At a meeting on 30 August 1912 which founded the Australian Art Association at Melbourne, he was elected its president and held the position for the rest of his life. He was appointed a trustee of the public library, museums and national gallery of Victoria in 1916.
Death
He died at Macedon, Victoria, on 7 July 1921. He was survived by his wife Grace, the daughter of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, whom he had married in 1908.
References
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External links
- {{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Edward Cairns|Last=Officer|shortlink=0-dict-biogN-O.html#officer1}}
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Category:Artists from New South Wales
Category:20th-century Australian painters
Category:20th-century Australian male artists