George Finey

Who was George Finey?

George Edmond Finey was an Australian black-and-white artist born in Parnell, New Zealand, noted for his unconventional appearance and left-wing politics.

While working as an apprentice lithographer at the New Zealand Herald, he was studying part-time at the Elam School of Art, sharing a studio with Unk White.

He served with the New Zealand Army New Zealand Expeditionary Force as an under-age private in France before being appointed as an official War Artist during World War I. After the war, he studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art in London and arrived in Sydney in 1919. In 1921 he was appointed by Alex Sass as a staff artist with Smith's Weekly.

Although he started with humorous sketches, it was for his caricatures that he became famous, initiating in Smith's Weekly a "Man of he Week". The first subject was Archbishop Mannix. He was sacked by Smith's Weekly after a legal tussle over ownership of works he had produced for the paper.

He worked for the Labor Daily for three months before being dropped for his antagonism towards Jack Lang, then with Truth for a few years.