George Courtney Benson

George Courtney Benson (1886–1960) was an Australian painter, muralist, newspaper critic, cartoonist, and an official war artist during World War I.

Biography George Courtney Benson was born in Collingwood, Melbourne in 1886 to Richard and Mary ( Murdoch) Benson.

Benson was commissioned as an Australian official war artist in April 1918, and after the end of the war worked at the Australian War Records Section in London.

A scrapbook of 140 sketches drawn by Benson during his time in the First World War are now held by the Australian War Memorial.

He designed the commemorative vignette for the first airmail envelopes carried from England to Australia by Keith and Ross Smith in 1919.

In 1931, Benson was commissioned by the University of Western Australia to paint the ceiling beams of Winthrop Hall.

Benson moved to Perth in 1931 and died there in 1960. Castlemaine Art Museum