Benjamin Edwin Minns Australia, 1864-1937
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About Benjamin Edwin Minns
Benjamin Edwin Minns was born in N.S.W. in 1864. A painter, cartoonist and illustrator, he studied in Sydney under Lucien Henry, .A. J. Daplyn and Julian Ashton). Minns, whose early drawings appeared in the Sydney Mail, was an associate of Charles Conder, who drew for the same magazine. The freshness of colour and romantic quality of Minn's watercolours were sometimes spoiled by a tendency to be careless about the definition of edges. He drew for the Sydney Bulletin for more than 40 years, and became known throughout Australia for his humorous outback drawings of Aborigines. Minns visited London in 1895 and contributed drawings to Punch magazine, the Strand and the Bystander.
Benjamin Minns is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1966 of 1,232, of which 854 (69%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $86,250 for Study of a Lady Seated in Edwardian Dress with Sydney Harbour in the Background sold by Goodmans Auctioneers in November 2000. This year one work has been offered for sale. Works by Benjamin Minns are held by the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia and a further six major public national galleries (see list below).
Benjamin Edwin Minns is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 687
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 344
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
No, ineligible. The artist has been deceased for more than 70 years.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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