McInnes, William Beckwith

A biography has been written by Margot Tasca- William Beckwith McInnes: An Artist’s Life, and published in 2022.

McInnes was one of Australia’s most highly sought after portrait artists of the 1920s and 1930s. He painted many celebrities, prime ministers and prominent people of the time, and won seven Archibald Prizes, including the first four prizes awarded.

He also painted the First Opening of Parliament in Canberra in 1927.

He was a former student, teacher and director of the Melbourne Gallery Art School (which was originally situated in the State Library).

He and his family lived in Alphington, former farmland near the Yarra River.