Edwin Russell Tanner b. 1920 Pengam, South Wales, UK

  • Artist (Painter)
Painter and engineer, won a commemorative medal for painting at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Tanner also did preliminary work towards a MA degree in Philosophy at Monash in 1969.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1999
Name
Edwin Russell Tanner
Birth date
31 December 1920
Birth place
Pengam, South Wales, UK
Death date
1980
Death place
None
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
Residence
  • 1966- 1967 Europe
  • 1957- 1966 Melbourne, Victoria
  • 1950- 1955 Hobart, Tasmania
Other Occupation
  • engineer
Arrival
  • 1923
Active Period
  • 1951- 1980
Languages
  • English
Training
  • 1951- 1955 Hobart Technical College, Tasmania
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • Legacy data. Source 'unknown'

Painter and engineer, was born in Pengam, South Wales on 31 December 1920 and migrated to Australia with his family when he was three. He left school during the Depression aged 13 and worked at the BHP Port Kembla Steel Works. He began attending night classes in building construction in 1937 and taking correspondence courses in mathematics at London University. After completing his studies in structural and civil engineering, he moved to Hobart where he was appointed engineer in charge of power station designs with the HEC 1950-55. He studied part-time at Hobart Technical College under Jack Carington Smith in 1951-55, winning the Tasmanian Sesquicentenary Prize silver medal in 1954 and formally graduating in 1956, then did a part-time BA at the University of Tasmania in 1955-57. He won a commemorative medal for painting at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and did preliminary work towards a MA degree in Philosophy at Monash in 1969.

Tanner moved to Melbourne in 1957 to work as a chief engineer and later as a consulting engineer in private practice. He travelled to Europe in 1966-67 and also travelled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, UK, Ireland and the USA.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1999
Last updated:
2011
associate of
Jack Carington Smith
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
Collections
Recognitions
Tasmanian Sesquicentenary Prize
1954
Award
Melbourne Olympic Games
1956
Award
Commemorative medal for painting
Note: Silver Medal
Citations:
  • Tanner, E., (July 1957), Professional Engineers, (Place: The Professional Engineer, vol. 11, no. 7)
  • Horton, M., (1975), Australian Painters of the 70s, (Place: Ure Smith)
  • Tanner, E., (June 1957), Professional Engineers, (Place: The Professional Engineer, vol. 11, no. 6)
  • Reid, B., (December 1971), Maker and Sign maker - some aspects of the art of Edwin Tanner, (Place: Art & Australia, vol. 9, no. 3)
  • Horton, M., (1969), Present Day Art in Australia, (Place: Sydney, New South Wales)
  • Harwood, G., (1986), Edwin Tanner, (Place: Art Bulletin of Tasmania, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart)
  • Campbell, J., (1983), Australian Watercolour Painters 1780-1980, (Place: Adelaide, South Australia: Rigby)
  • Bonython, K., (1970), Australian Painting 1960-1970, (Place: Adelaide, South Australia: Rigby)
  • Backhouse, S., (1988), Tasmanian Artists of the 20th century, (Place: Hobart, Tasmania)
See also:
  • Engineers, 1954, o/c ill. Backhouse, p. 202