Noel Counihan
Encyclopedia
Noel Counihan was an Australia
n social realist
painter
.
Counihan was born in Albert Park
, then a working-class suburb of Melbourne
. He attended Caulfield Grammar School
in 1928. He studied part-time under Charles Wheeler
at the National Gallery of Victoria
Art School in Melbourne
during 1930-31, where he met the social realists Herbert McClintock
and Roy Dalgarno
.
Social realism, the belief that art should reflect the realities of society under capitalism
, was the artistic doctrine of the Communist Party of Australia
, and in 1931 Counihan became a confirmed atheist and a member of the Party. He helped found the Workers Art Guild, and began printmaking
, producing linocuts and lithographs for Communist magazine covers and pamphlets as well as designing banners.
During the Great Depression
Counihan participated in the "free speech" fights in Brunswick
, organised by the Communist Party in response to a Victorian state government law banning "subversive" gatherings. Dozens of members of the Unemployed Workers Movement were arrested, and unemployed meetings at the intersection of Phoenix Street and Sydney Road, Brunswick were dispersed by police. As part of this fight, a young Counihan addressed a crowd from a locked cage on top a truck. Police had to cut him out, to the jeers of the crowd, as he continued speaking.
From 1934 Counihan worked as a cartoonist for various publications, including The Bulletin
and the Communist Party's paper, the Guardian from 1945 to 1949 and again from 1952 to 1958. He spent extended periods in hospital with tuberculosis
during the Second World War
. With the encouragement of the artist Yosl Bergner
, he began to paint. He developed a personal style based on the social realist approach, producing compassionate images of workers and their working lives. Counihan maintained that the artist had a duty to "gather information from the political developments of the time."
Counihan remained loyal to the Communist Party during its various splits and despite its declining support in the 1970s and '80s.
He died in Melbourne
aged 73.
The Counihan Gallery, managed by City of Moreland
Council, is named in his honour. To mark its tenth anniversary Edwina Bartlem curated an exhibition in which contemporary artists created works inspired by the art and ideas of Counihan. The artists included George Gittoes
and Angela Cavalieri.
A short distance away from the Gallery, outside the Brunswick Mechanics Institute on Sydney Road, a Free Speech memorial has been built to commemorate the free speech fights by the unemployed in 1933 and Noel Counihan's part in them.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n social realist
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
Counihan was born in Albert Park
Albert Park, Victoria
Albert Park is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, Albert Park had a population of 5827....
, then a working-class suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He attended Caulfield Grammar School
Caulfield Grammar School
Caulfield Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, Anglican, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as a boys' school, Caulfield began admitting girls exactly one hundred years later...
in 1928. He studied part-time under Charles Wheeler
Charles Wheeler (painter)
Charles Arthur Wheeler OBE, DCM was an Australian painter.Born in New Zealand, he arrived in Australia in 1892.He won the Archibald Prize for 1933....
at the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
Art School in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
during 1930-31, where he met the social realists Herbert McClintock
Herbert McClintock
Herbert McClintock was a social realist Artist born in Perth, Western Australia in 1906, died 1985.Studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School from 1925 to 1927 and again in 1930, where he met fellow social realists Noel Counihan and Roy Dalgarno. Earned a living as a signwriter and...
and Roy Dalgarno
Roy Dalgarno
Roy Dalgarno is a social realist artist, born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1910, died February 2001 in Auckland, New Zealand.-Education and Training:* Secondary education at Ballarat Grammar School....
.
Social realism, the belief that art should reflect the realities of society under capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, was the artistic doctrine of the Communist Party of Australia
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
, and in 1931 Counihan became a confirmed atheist and a member of the Party. He helped found the Workers Art Guild, and began printmaking
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, producing linocuts and lithographs for Communist magazine covers and pamphlets as well as designing banners.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
Counihan participated in the "free speech" fights in Brunswick
Brunswick, Victoria
Brunswick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland...
, organised by the Communist Party in response to a Victorian state government law banning "subversive" gatherings. Dozens of members of the Unemployed Workers Movement were arrested, and unemployed meetings at the intersection of Phoenix Street and Sydney Road, Brunswick were dispersed by police. As part of this fight, a young Counihan addressed a crowd from a locked cage on top a truck. Police had to cut him out, to the jeers of the crowd, as he continued speaking.
From 1934 Counihan worked as a cartoonist for various publications, including The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
and the Communist Party's paper, the Guardian from 1945 to 1949 and again from 1952 to 1958. He spent extended periods in hospital with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. With the encouragement of the artist Yosl Bergner
Yosl Bergner
Yosl Bergner is an Israeli painter.-Biography:Yosl Bergner was born in Vienna in 1920 and grew up in Warsaw.With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonisation was formed in July 1935, to search for a potential Jewish homeland...
, he began to paint. He developed a personal style based on the social realist approach, producing compassionate images of workers and their working lives. Counihan maintained that the artist had a duty to "gather information from the political developments of the time."
Counihan remained loyal to the Communist Party during its various splits and despite its declining support in the 1970s and '80s.
He died in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
aged 73.
The Counihan Gallery, managed by City of Moreland
City of Moreland
The City of Moreland is a Local Government Area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 10 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre....
Council, is named in his honour. To mark its tenth anniversary Edwina Bartlem curated an exhibition in which contemporary artists created works inspired by the art and ideas of Counihan. The artists included George Gittoes
George Gittoes
- Subject matter :With global vision, George Gittoes has set up mobile studios for three decades, creating works in regions of conflict and upheaval around the world...
and Angela Cavalieri.
A short distance away from the Gallery, outside the Brunswick Mechanics Institute on Sydney Road, a Free Speech memorial has been built to commemorate the free speech fights by the unemployed in 1933 and Noel Counihan's part in them.
Selected works
- The Cough… stone dust (1947)
- A Metal Pourer (1948)
- Eureka 1854 -1954 linocuts (1954)
- Sunset Dance (1968)
- Image of Lear lithographs (1977)
- Face Im (1978)
- At the Start of the March 1932" (1944)
External links
- Noel Counihan's works at the National Gallery Victoria -images
- A short video interview with Robert Smith about Noel Counihan
- Teacher's Notes on Noel Counihan