Justin O'Brien
(Australia, Italy 02 Aug 1917–17 Jan 1996)
- Title
- A Spaniard
- Other titles:
- The Polish prisoner
Self portrait
Portrait of a Prisoner of War - Place of origin
-
Toruń →
Poland
- Year
- 1943
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on cardboard
- Dimensions
-
49.8 x 33.2cm board; 61.3 x 44.7 x 3.2cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated u.r. corner, black oil "O'BRIEN/ 1943".
- Credit
- Gift of the Margaret Hannah Olley Art Trust 2012
- Accession number
- 193.2012
- Copyright
- © Estate of Justin O'Brien
- Location
- 20th & 21st c Australian art
- Further information
Justin O'Brien enlisted in the army in May 1940 – joining the 2/5 Australian General Hospital (AGH) as a medical orderly – and departed Sydney that October bound for the Middle East. In April 1941, following the German invasion, the 2/5 AGH was deployed to Greece. After the fall of Crete, the division was captured and taken to Kokkinia, above Athens, where O'Brien witnessed the appalling brutality of war.
In December 1941 he was transported by cattle train across Europe to Stalag XXA at Toruń (Thorn) in Poland. At the camp O'Brien joined the theatre troupe and set up an art class, where his students drew and painted one another. Fellow POWs included the painters Jesse Martin and Austen Deans, with whom he studied work by Post-Impressionist masters through books available in the camp's library. 'A Spaniard', was painted during O'Brien's internment in Poland, with the lessons of Cezanne and Van Gogh firmly established through his use of broken colour and impasto brushwork.
- Bibliography (5)
-
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Natalie Wilson (Australia) (Author), Justin O'Brien: the sacred music of colour, Sydney, 2010, 29, 35, (colour illus.), 157.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Deutscher Fine Art, Australian art: colonial to contemporary 1780s-1990s, Melbourne, Aug 1996, 52 (colour illus.). titled 'Portrait of a Prisoner of War'; lot no. 66
Anthony Bradley (b.1936) (Author), The art of Justin O'Brien, Sydney, 1982, 14, 32, 33 (colour illus.), 105. plate no. 2
‘Repatriated war prisoners’ art’ by Paul Haefliger, pg. 10., The Sydney Morning Herald 01 Mar 1944, 01 Mar 1944, 10. Review of 'An exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jesse Martin and Justin O’Brien', Macquarie Galleries, 1944.
Macquarie Galleries (Australia, estab. 1925, closed 1993) (Author), An exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jesse Martin and Justin O'Brien, Sydney, 1944. titled 'A Spaniard'; cat.no. 28; priced 18 guineas
- Exhibition history (2)
-
An exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jesse Martin and Justin O'Brien (1944), Macquarie Galleries, 01 Mar 1944–13 Mar 1944.
Justin O'Brien: the sacred music of colour, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18 Dec 2010–27 Feb 2011.
