Noon And Rest by B. E. Minns, 1928. Watercolour on paper

Description

Benjamin Edwin Minns (1863-1937), watercolourist and black-and-white artist, was born on 17 November 1863 near Dungog, New South Wales, son of Irish-born Bridget Murray, aged 17, who in 1869 married George Minns, farmer.

He was a founder in 1924 and first president (until 1937) of the Australian Water-Colour Institute. He was also a member of the Society of Artists, Sydney, and with Lambert and Longstaff among the artists commissioned by the Art Gallery in 1928 to paint a self-portrait.

A tall, well-built man, Minns was popular with fellow artists and generous in appreciation of their work. He established his home and studio at Gordon, a bush setting on Sydney’s north shore; he was an enthusiastic gardener and keenly interested in photography. A good horseman, he often included animals and birds in his landscapes. Survived by his wife and childless, Minns died suddenly at Taronga Zoological Park on 21 February 1937 and was cremated with Anglican rites. He was posthumously awarded the Sydney sesquicentenary prize for a historical oil painting in 1938.

His watercolours, somewhat neglected after his death, are noted for a lucid and sympathetic handling of wash and show some influence of the fine decorative sense of Conder and of the blue and gold vision of the early Streeton