Bio
George Whinnen (Aust 1891-1950) Bio
George was born in Gawler South Australia George showed an interest in painting, so his uncle F. B. Whinnen a Murray Street grocer made him a gift of a set of paints His family moved to Willaston then to Broken Hill where he took night classes in painting at the technical school George also took further classes at the East Sydney Technical School and in the late 1920’s George was able to make art his full-time occupation and did some further studies under Fred Britton and attended life classes at the Adelaide School of Art George won the Melrose Prize for portraiture in 1929 and 1932 also won prizes for landscapes and seascapes, much of which was painted around Victor Harbor South Australia George created a furore in 1940 when he removed a still life from an exhibition run by the R.S.A.S.A. in a protest against the judges George was president of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts 1940–1950 Also in 1940 he was appointed by the Education Department as teacher of drawing and painting from Life and Still Life The Museum commissioned him to paint a diorama for a major display of Central Australian wildlife His Still Life and Autumn Flowers were once held by the Art Gallery of South Australia.