Historical information

Ernest Buckmaster (1897-1968) was born in Hawthorn. He was not a strong boy and was taken by his grandparents to help on their mixed farm at Box Hill until he was fourteen. He attended the local state school. In 1913 he was apprenticed to James Beament, a signwriter and amateur artist. After he was rejected for military service, Beament encouraged him to join the Victorian Artists Society and to enrol at the National Gallery Art School. On 24 August 1945 he was appointed an official war artist, commissioned to paint the Japanese surrender in Singapore. He completed twenty-five pictures for the Australian War Memorial.
Lothian published his book 'The Art of Ernest Buckmaster' in 1951. REF: ADB entry.
Thomas Carlyle Lothian (1880-1974), publisher and publishers' representative, was born on 7 May 1880 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, eldest child of John Inglis Lothian, bookkeeper, and his wife Lillias Charlotte, née Smith. He arrived in Melbourne in July 1888, John having come to represent the publishing firm of Walter Scott. In 1912, on his father's retirement, he formed the company of Thomas C Lothian Pty Ltd. Following the outbreak of war, he formed the Lothian Book Publishing Co. Pty Ltd (from 1924 the Lothian Publishing Co. Pty Ltd). By 1918 he had published more than half of his total of some 230 titles, including, in 1916, his two most ambitious productions, Elves and Fairies, illustrated by Ida Outhwaite, and The Art of Frederick McCubbin.

Physical description

A black and white photograph of a man, wearing glasses and a suit coat, shirt and tie.