Mining Town 2002
Oil on Canvas
70x84cm
Signed Lower Right
Prov: Private Collection Adelaide
$12,000-15,000
Among the distinctive figures of Australian post-war abstraction, John Coburn developed an artistic practice encompassing painting, drawing, printmaking, tapestry and graphic design. Born in Ingham, Queensland, in 1925, Coburn studied at East Sydney Technical College following his service in the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War. By the late 1950s, he had established an individual visual language characterised by simplified organic forms, symbolic imagery and carefully considered relationships between colour and composition.
Although painting remained central to his practice, Coburn explored a variety of mediums throughout his career. His drawings frequently provided the foundation for larger compositions, while screenprinting and lithography allowed him to develop his abstract imagery through the graphic qualities of line, shape and colour. His interest in textiles led to an important association with the tapestry workshops of Aubusson, France, culminating in his designs for the monumental Curtain of the Sun and Curtain of the Moon, commissioned for the Sydney Opera House and completed in 1973. These works demonstrated the adaptability of his artistic language across different mediums and scales.
Coburn’s imagery drew upon the Australian landscape, natural forms and spiritual symbolism, subjects that remained consistent throughout his career regardless of medium. Awarded the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1960 and again in 1977, he developed a body of work that occupies a distinctive position within Australian modernism. His paintings, works on paper, prints and tapestries are represented in major public and private collections throughout Australia and internationally.
