William Frederick Longstaff (25 December 1879 – 1 July 1953) was an Australian painter and war artist best known for his works commemorating those who died in the First World War.

Birth and education

Born in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, Victoria, Longstaff was educated at Grenville College, Ballarat, studying art at the

Ballarat School of Mines The University of Ballarat, Australia was a dual-sector university with multiple campuses in Victoria, Australia, including its main Ballarat campus, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide that were authorized by the university to provide diploma, unde ...

and privately before joining the military and serving in the Boer War as a member of the South African Light Horse. He was the cousin of portrait painter Sir John Longstaff.

Career and the First World War

Upon returning to Australia, Longstaff continued to paint and teach art. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the outbreak of the First World War and was injured in the Gallipoli campaign. In October 1915 he joined a remount unit and served in France and Egypt before being evacuated to England in 1917. In England, he began drawing again and was trained in the art of camouflage. During his time in Egypt, Longstaff had made images of the ANZAC Mounted Division and the other units. Upon his appointment as an Official War Artist in 1918 he produced numerous works during the final campaigns of the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

Post-war

After the war, Longstaff continued his art, turning many of his sketches into paintings. Even after leaving the military, he remained in England, eventually settling in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Beginning the late-1920s, he made return trips to the battlefields of Belgium and France and painted haunting images in a spiritualist style. Among these later works is '' Menin Gate at Midnight'' (1927), arguably his most famous, which depicts the ghostly figures of soldiers marching past the monument. The painting toured Australia in 1928–29. It was viewed by record crowds. The painting is housed in the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. In December 2000 ''Menin Gate at Midnight'' left the War Memorial on loan to the National Gallery of Australia, the first time it had left the memorial since its installation there in 1941.

Death

He died in 1953. 8th August 1918 (Will Longstaff)

Select works

*''8 August 1918'', 1918–19 * ''Breaking the Hindenburg Line'', 1918–19 *'' Menin Gate at Midnight (Ghosts of Menin Gate)'', 1927 *''Immortal shrine (Eternal silence)'', 1928 *''The rearguard (The spirit of ANZAC)'', 1928 * ''Ghosts of Vimy Ridge'' ( Canadian National Vimy Memorial), 1931 *''Carillon'', 1932 *''Drake's Drum'', 1940 *''The Battle of El Alamein, 1942'' ( National Army Museum), 1942 *Portrait of Ivy Tresmand, in

MuseuMAfricA Museum Africa or MuseuMAfricA (formerly known as the Africana Museum) is an historical museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa. History The museum was established in 1933, when the Johannesburg Public Library bought a large quantity o ...

, Johannesburg, South Africa *Portrait of John Anderson Gilruth, veterinary scientist and administrator, in the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longstaff, Will 1879 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Australian painters Modern painters Australian war artists South African Light Horse officers World War I artists People from Ballarat Artists from Victoria (Australia) Military personnel from Victoria (Australia) Australian military personnel of the Second Boer War Australian military personnel of World War I