Ernest Edward Moffitt b. 1871 Bendigo, Vic

  • Artist (Printmaker) , (Draughtsman) , (Painter)
Melbourne artist/young man about town, who died early - memorial book could well be the first monograph written on an Australian artist.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1996
Name
Ernest Edward Moffitt
Birth date
1871
Birth place
Bendigo, Vic
Birth note
1871 according to Andrew Baxter [elsewhere 1870]
Death date
1899
Death place
None
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Printmaker)
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
  • Artist (Painter)
Residence
  • 'Charterisville', Eaglemont (Ivanhoe), Melbourne, Vic
Other Occupation
  • Scholar
  • Musician
  • Illustrator
  • Painter
Active Period
  • 1890- 1899
Languages
  • English
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • Black and white artists

painter, illustrator, musician and scholar, was born in Bendigo, Victoria. He was one of the second group of artists at Charterisville. A close friend of Norman and Lionel Lindsay , he too worked in pen and ink and made etchings; he also showed watercolour views of Melbourne at the Victorian Artists’ Society in 1893-98. A member of the Cannibal Club, it was he who 'discovered’ Fasoli’s Cafe, subsequently a celebrated Bohemian rendezvous. He designed the title page for Marshall Hall’s Hymn to Sydney 1897. An 1890s cartoon sketch of Marshall Hall is in the National Gallery of Australia’s collection of the artist’s ephemera. Was he related to the cartoonist Herbert Moffitt ?

Ernest Moffitt died young; the memorial book published in his honour was of art-historical significance.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1996
Last updated:
2007
associate of
Norman Lindsay
1879
Artist
associate of
Lionel Lindsay
1874
Artist (Photographer), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Roy Frederick Leslie Dalgarno
1910
Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Leon Pole
1871
Artist (Industrial / Product Designer), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Victorian Artists' Society
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Cannibal Club
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
Collections
Art Nouveau
5 February 1981- 4 March 1981
Exhibition (exhibited at)
City of Ballaarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Vic (and touring)
Victorian Artists' Society
1893- 1898
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Vic
Citations:
  • Radford, Ron, (1981), Art Nouveau in Australia, (Place: City of Ballaarat Fine Art Gallery, Balarat, Vic)
  • McCulloch, A., (1984), Encyclopedia of Australian Art, (Place: Second edition, Melbourne)
  • Lindsay, Lionel, (1899), A Consideration of the Art of Ernest Moffitt, (Place: Atlas Press, (reprint), Melbourne, Vic)
  • Moore, William, (1934), A Story of Australian Art, (Place: Sydney, NSW : Angus & Robertson (facsimile edition 1980))
See also:
  • Marshall Hall's Hymn to Sydney 1897