Lot 7. JOHN COBURN (1925-2006)

"Sentinel" April 1957

Oil on Board
90x121cm
Signed Lower Right
Prov: Tom Gleghorn Collection
Private Collection Adelaide

Frame size: 99x129cm

Condition: Painting is in lovely condition with no visible faults or concerns to report. Original framing has minor wear/marks to corners, edges or mount, but is in good overall presentable condition.

$20,000-30,000

Painted in April 1957, Sentinel belongs to one of the most significant periods in Coburn’s artistic development. During this formative year he began moving away from conventional representation, reducing the Australian landscape into flattened geometric forms that balanced abstraction with a lingering sense of place. Reflecting on these early paintings, Coburn later observed that they could be read equally as landscapes or as abstract arrangements of form, revealing the emergence of the symbolic visual language that would define his career.

The painting’s provenance from the Tom Gleghorn Collection suggests that Sentinel was painted for, and possibly exhibited in, the landmark 1957 exhibition shared by John Coburn, Tom Gleghorn and Robert Dickerson at David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney. The exhibition marked a pivotal moment in Coburn’s career, with the "Setting Sun" acquired directly by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, providing early institutional recognition of his developing abstract vision. Later that year Coburn held his first solo exhibition, making 1957 a defining chapter in his artistic journey. Whether acquired during or immediately following the exhibition, Sentinel stands as a rare and important example from the very beginning of the remarkable career of one of Australia’s most celebrated modern artists.

Few artists have shaped the course of Australian abstraction as profoundly as John Coburn AO. Over a career spanning more than five decades, he developed a distinctive symbolic language of simplified forms, radiant colour and spiritual imagery that established him as one of Australia’s foremost modern painters. His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and every Australian state gallery, while major commissions for the Sydney Opera House and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. reflect the international recognition he achieved during his lifetime.