Harold Abbott

Harold Frederick Abbott (14 June 1906 – 8 June 1986) was an Australian portrait painter, an official war artist and an art teacher by profession.

Life and career Abbott was born in 1906 in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield, New South Wales. At the age of seventeen, he started studying part-time art at Sydney Art School. In 1931 he moved to London for two years to study at the Royal Academy, funded by the NSW Society of Artists Travelling Scholarship. In 1934–1940 he was a finalist in the Archibald Prize and in 1940 he won the Sulman Prize. In 1941 he enlisted in the AIF. In 1943 he was appointed a war artist in 2/9th Field Regiment with the rank of lieutenant. Corporal William (old Bill) Green Sergeant Arthur Carson

Finalist in the Archibald Prize 1934: Four works: Miss Ruth Waterhouse; Master Bruce Abbott; Rev. John Edwards, M.A. and J. Armstrong, Esq. 1935: Miss Susan Davies 1936: Three works: Miss Nancy Sinclair; The Hon. Mr Justice Boyce and Mrs Frank Hosking 1937: Self Portrait and runner up: Miss Jeanie Ranken 1939: Five works: Mrs C. de Burgh; Neil McNeill, Esq. [sic]; Robert Gillespie, Esq; Miss Margaret Murray and Mrs R. Abbott 1940: Dr W. Arundel Orchard 1943: Patient Awaiting Plastic Surgery 1945: Sgt. Reg Rattey 1946: Self-portrait 1951: Jakovljevich Dushan

Works in the Art Gallery of NSW recto: Old Italian verso: (seated female nude) (circa 1934) Miss Jeanie Ranken (1937) David (1950)

Finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize 1940: Winner: Vaucluse Interior 1950: The Brothers Gamack