Tiger man

Daniel Moynihan was born in Melbourne and studied at Preston Technical College 1964-65 and RMIT 1966-67 under Tate Adams and Udo Sellbach. He has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions since 1967. From 1968-73 he made paintings and etchings full-time. 1980-87 he made etchings in the former studio of George Baldessin. In 1983-84 he lived in Paris as part of a residency at the Power Studio, Cité Internationale des Arts, where he made etchings at the Atelier Lacouriére, Frélaut (Paris). He returned to Paris in 1988 and 1993, making lithographs at Atelier Devreus-Gerbaud St Christobel de Rodieres in 1993. From 1991-92 he restored the extant etching plates of Fred Williams' estate and in 1997 the estate plates of George Baldessin.

Moynihan's interest in Tasmanian tigers started in the early 1970s; this was sparked by an interest in Australian flora and fauna, and also after he encountered colonial lithographs by Gould of Tasmanian subjects. The tiger first appeared in a painting by Moynihan in 1972. 'Tiger man' was based partly on drawings made while Moynihan was in Paris of a handicapped man he saw on the Metro. It was also influenced by the street life of New York (which he has visited on a number of occasions), and a performance of 'Richard III' by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Melbourne in 1986. The plate was made while Moynihan was artist-in-residence at Chameleon Artists Co-op in Hobart in 1986, and printed by him at the former George Baldessin studio, Melbourne. He had access to the archives of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, where he drew specimens of the Tasmanian Tiger. A painting, now in the artist's possession, was made after the etching. Moynihan returned to Chameleon for a brief period in 1998.

Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, 'Australian prints from the Gallery's collection', AGNSW, 1998