Artist Profiles

Sir John Longstaff
1862 - 1941

ART19522
Sir John Longstaff
Portrait of Lieutenant John (Jack) Longstaff by his father John Longstaff
AWM ART19522

Born at Clunes, Victoria in 1862, John Longstaff studied at the Melbourne National Gallery School under George Folingsby. In 1887 he won the National Gallery of Victoria's first Travelling Scholarship which enabled him to travel to Paris where he studied at Cormon's. An academic artist at heart he exhibited his work at the Paris Salon. In 1894 Longstaff moved to London where he gained a reputation as a fashionable portrait painter. Returning to Australia later that year Longstaff was commissioned to paint portraits of Henry Lawson and the Lord Mayor of Melbourne. In September 1901 he returned to London where his work was regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy.

When war broke out, Longstaff was appointed an Official War Artist and he was sent with the second group of Australian war artists to the front line in May 1918. He was employed to make pictorial records of the AIF in France and in particular to create portraits of the military leaders and any other significant personnel who in the opinion of the commanding officers should be represented. Longstaff also produced studies of military operations and collected data on incidents of the recent German offensive.

The war had already influenced Longstaff before he was sent to the front. In 1916 he painted a posthumous portrait of his son who died in France at the front line. Portrait of my Son is a haunting painting owned by the Memorial; though Longstaff had painted it for himself rather than for public exhibition. Produced using Longstaff's soft brushwork technique, the uniformed man turns away from the viewer appearing almost ghost-like, lending the work emotional undertones.

Longstaff worked in France from May to June and September to October 1918. He returned to London during the summer and was notified of the arrival of any officers on his list from the AIF Headquarters. He was still completing portraits in London in 1920. The Memorial commissioned him to paint additional portraits on his return to Australia in 1920 and again in 1923 and 1924. Several of these as well as two large scenes of Villers Bretonneux and the ANZAC Conference were eventually abandoned.

From 1924 to 1925 Longstaff was president of the Victorian Artists' Society. In 1926 he was elected as president of the Australian Art Association and in 1927 he was appointed a trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1928 he was the first Australian artist to be knighted and in 1933 was awarded the Medal of the Advance Australia Association. He won the Archibald Prize in 1928, 1929, 1931 and 1935.

On 1 October 1941 Sir John Longstaff died in Melbourne at the age of 79, having been considered one of the most important Australian artists of his time. The Memorial holds twenty-five commissioned portraits by Longstaff.