Charles W Lander George McKenney

The image reproduced here is presumed to be Charles W Lander’s portrait of George McKenney (1891-1972), which was entered into the Archibald Prize in 1945.

Born George Edward Mackinney, he later changed the spelling of his name to McKenney, although the title of the Archibald work was originally spelled McKenny.

McKenney was a photo process engraver who worked at the Sydney Mirror newspaper. It is not known how Lander came to paint his portrait; however, the connection is likely to have been through work as Lander was also a colour etcher.