Justin O’Brien, born 2 August 1917, was the third of the the five surviving children of the produce merchant Maurice O’Brien and his Irish-born wife, Teresa Mary Sherin. At the time, Hurstville, south of Sydney, was a semi-rural small town. In this devoutly religious family, life was dominated by the parish Catholic Church.
When he was six he stayed with relatives in Elizabeth Bay where his aunt Louise gave him art materials. While at school at Christian Brothers Waverley he took private lessons with Edward M. Smith, and at the age of 14 he left school to study with Smith full time. By the time he was 18 O’Brien was teaching art in Catholic schools, while developing his own practice.
He exhibited in the Archibald Prize in 1937, 1938 and 1939. His work attracted the interest of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Art Critic, Peter Bellew, and Peter Dodd, an art teacher. They encouraged him to join the fledgling Contemporary Art Society and the religious painting group, the Fra Angelico Guild.
Much of O’Brien’s artistic development is indebted to his experiences in Europe. His experiences abroad began in 1940 during WWII as part of the Australia Army Medical Corps. First in Palestine and then in German-occupied Greece, where he nursed seriously injured soldiers. Although a majority of his war-time artwork was completed in a prisoner-of-war camp in Torun, Poland, it was in Greece that he witnessed a sight that greatly impacted his artistic style: a mass grave of Greek civilian victims of famine. This experience overwhelmed young O’Brien who, upon his return to Australia, introduced symbolism into his painting to express what he saw in ' the Greek Burial’ (c1945) by employing a bright, simple palate with stylized figures and landscape.
O’Brien’s return from war saw great support from private patrons and Macquarie Galleries, at which he exhibited repeatedly throughout his career. Just as important were the friendships he developed at this time, leading him to exhibit with The Sydney Group, artists who were later mocked by Robert Hughes as the “Charm School”. By 1946 he was living at Meriloola, the grand but slightly decrepit boarding house run by “Chica” Lowe which was the haunt of many actors, dancers and artists; including Donald Friend, Mary Edwards, and Loudon Sainthill.
1946 also saw him appointed art master at nearby Cranbrook School, a position he held intermittently until his final departure for Europe at the end of 1966. Many of the boys became models for his paintings. Most importantly, his influence as teacher and mentor led to some of his students becoming professional artists, including Brian Dunlop, John Montefiore, Martin Sharp Owen Tooth and Peter Kingston.
Over his lifetime of painting, O’Brien’s art embraces and readdresses several motifs including moonlit figures, male bathers, Mediterranean landscapes, and religious scenes. Despite his great admiration of Cezanne, Raphael, Pierro della Francesca, El Greco and the Sienese painter Duccio, his style and use of colour has been attributed as being Symbolist and Fauvist. The intense but unconventional use of religious iconography in his art led O’Brien to be awarded the inaugural Blake Prize for religious art in 1951.
In 1954 O’Brien renounced the Catholicism of his youth, but s spiritual element remained in his art.
From 1948 until 1965 O’Brien paid several extended visits to Greece and Italy. At the end of 1966 he resigned from Cranbrook and in early 1967 resettled in Italy. The following year he was commissioned to create a mosaic for the Basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth. Egidio Scardamaglia, one of his pupils posed for the angel. In Rome Scardamaglia with his wife and daughters became O’Brien’s new family.
His later works reflect the sun-drenched tranquility of his new life. He continued to exhibit in Sydney, at Macquarie Galleries, until his death. In 1982 the art historian Anthony Bradley, who he had taught at Cranbrook, wrote a monograph on his art. In 1987, the year he turned 70, he was honoured with retrospective exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria and the S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney. He was awarded an AM in 1992.
His last years were troubled by bone cancer, and he died in Rome on 17 January 1996
- Writers:
- Skupien, Karolina
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2022
