Paul Fitzgerald (painter)
| Paul Fitzgerald AM | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Paul Desmond Fitzgerald 2 August 1922 Hawthorn, Victoria |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | National Gallery of Victoria Art School |
| Occupation | Portrait artist |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 Australia
|
| Service/branch | Australian Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Service number | VX126647 |
| Unit | 5 Machine Gun Battalion |
Paul Desmond Fitzgerald AM (born 2 August 1922 in Hawthorn, Victoria) is an Australian portrait painter who has painted more people of distinction than any other living Australian artist.
Fitzgerald was born the second son of Frank Fitzgerald and Margaret née Poynton. Frank Fitzgerald was a journalist with The Age for approximately ten years and about eight years with The Argus. He periodically filled the roles of general reporting, leader writing, political correspondent, art critic, music critic, theatre critic and motoring editor.
A Catholic, Fitzgerald was educated at Xavier College in Melbourne (1933–1939) and studied for five years at the National Gallery School (1940–43 and 1946–47), interrupted for three and a half years in the Army during World War II (1943–46).
When he is painting away from his studio in Melbourne, he usually lives with the subjects of his portraiture. He lived and painted overseas from 1949 to 1957 and visited and worked overseas on commissioned portraits twice each year since 1958 including America, England, Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii and Bermuda. He has also painted throughout Australia.
Fitzgerald has been a finalist for the Archibald Prize for portraiture on multiple occasions including 1958 (with a portrait of Justice R. V. Monahan), in 1962 (with portraits of each of Sir Reg Ansett and Sir Robert Menzies), and in 1972 (with a portrait of Sir Henry Bolte).
In 1997 Fitzgerald was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia and a Knight of Malta. He founded the Australian Guild of Realist Artists, where he is a Life Member of the Council, and was president for seven years. Fitzgerald was a member of "Portraits Incorporated’ in America, is a trustee of the A.M.E. Bale Scholarship and produced the art book ‘Australian Realist and Impressionist Artists’, donating the profits to charity.
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