"Night Birds" 1955
Oil on Board
38x49cm
Signed Lower Right
Prov: Gift from the artist, formerly held in the artist's collection.
Private Collection Adelaide
Illustrated John Coburn Paintings by Nadine Amadio page 21 and John Coburn The Spirit of Colour by Lou Klepac page 196.
$6,000-8,000
Illustrated: Coburn The Spirit of Colour by Lou Klepac page 196.
“Night Birds was the first abstract painting that I thought worked in any way.” In this simple yet revealing reflection, John Coburn identified the painting that marked the defining turning point of his artistic career. Painted in 1955, Night Birds represents the moment Coburn embraced abstraction, establishing the visual language that would define his oeuvre and secure his place among the leading figures of Australian modernism.
The painting emerged from a period of profound artistic transformation following Coburn’s visit to the landmark French Painting Today exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1953. Until then, he had consciously devoted himself to representational painting, believing that technical discipline should precede artistic innovation. The encounter with contemporary European abstraction proved transformative, encouraging a more symbolic and expressive approach to painting. Looking back, Coburn regarded Night Birds as the first successful expression of this new direction, a work that signalled the beginning of his mature artistic vision.
Viewed today, Night Birds is remarkable not simply because it is an early abstract painting, but because it records the emergence of an entirely new artistic language. Its rhythmic composition, flattened forms and decorative structure reveal the foundations of the visual vocabulary that would later distinguish Coburn’s celebrated paintings, tapestries and stained-glass commissions. The painting captures the rare moment when an artist’s experimentation crystallised into a style that would define an entire career.
