Official Australian war artists

Depicts the sketch outline and silhouettes of a group of Australian official artists who were attached to the different divisions of the AIF during the First World War. Depicted in the painting are, standing l-r; John Longstaff (1), Charles Bryant (2), George Lambert (3), Henry Fullwood (4), James Quinn (5), H Septimus Power (6), Will Dyson (7), Fred Leist (8), George Bell (9) and Arthur Streeton (10).
George Coates (1869-1930) studied painting under L. Bernard Hall between 1895-96 acquiring both respect for the painter's craft and the approach of the Munich School. He won a travelling scholarship in 1896 and went to London next year before moving to Paris, where he worked at the Académie Julian and studied under Jean Paul Laurens. In Paris Coates renewed an acquaintance with a fellow art student, Dora Meeson (1869-1955) who later became his wife. Coates and Meeson established themselves in Chelsea, London where they became members of an extensive circle of Australian expatriate artists. Coates established himself as one of London's leading portrait painters, where he lived until returning to Australia in 1921, and his realism and representational style emphasized a harmonious range of low tones, with a detailed and painstaking approach.