George Henry Johnson (18 August 1926 – 26 December 2021) was a New Zealand artist who made his name in Australia.

Artistic career

Early career

Johnson studied art under the emigre artist

Theo Schoon Theodorus Johannes Schoon (31 July 1915 – 14 July 1985) was a New Zealand artist, photographer and carver of Dutch descent. Biography Theo Schoon was born at Kebumen, Java in the East Indies, the son of Dutch parents, Johannes Theodorus S ...

, who confirmed an early commitment to modernist art, especially

Geometric Abstraction Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. Although the genre was popu ...

. He graduated from Wellington Technical College in 1947. Johnson took influence from Dutch De Stijl, otherwise known as Neoplasticism. This Dutch art movement was based around architecturally structured pieces, similar to how you may view many of Johnson's works. Growing up, this artistic influence was significant as it was at the height of its popularity during Johnson's most impressionable years.

Move to Australia

Johnson relocated to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, in 1951 where he was soon drawn into contemporary art circles, mixing with Leonard French, Roger Kemp,

Inge King Ingeborg Viktoria "Inge" King (; 26 November 1915 – 23 April 2016) was a German-born Australian sculptor. She received many significant public commissions. Her work is held in public and private collections. Her best known work is ''Forward S ...

, Julius Kane, Peter Graham,

Clement Meadmore Clement Meadmore (9 February 1929 – 19 April 2005) was an Australian-American sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures. Biography Born Clement Lyon Meadmore in Melbourne, Australia in 1929, Clement Meadmore studied aeronautical ...

and others. He held his first solo exhibition there at the age of 30 in 1956, a selection of boldly geometric abstractions that set the art scene buzzing. By this time he was sharing a studio with French and the pair experienced increasing friction from the

Heide Circle The Heide Circle was a loose grouping of Australian artists who lived and worked at "Heide", a former dairy farm on the Yarra River floodplain at Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, counting amongst their number many of Australia's best-known modernis ...

, a rival group of figurative modernists—including

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

John Perceval John de Burgh Perceval AO (1 February 1923 – 15 October 2000) was a well-known Australian artist. Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s. Other members include ...

, Charles Blackman and Robert Dickerson—who were still trying to control the Contemporary Art Society. The latter artists eventually formed the Antipodeans Group, staging an exhibition in August 1959, initially to make a stand against Johnson, French, Kemp and a growing number of non-objectivist followers, although increasingly to express their opposition to American Abstract Expressionism, which they feared was about to overwhelm Australian art. Johnson was represented by the Charles Nodrum Gallery in Richmond. He remained unwaveringly committed to geometric abstraction, producing paintings that were stylistically and intellectually indebted to

Russian Constructivism Constructivism is an early twentieth-century art movement founded in 1915 by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. Abstract and austere, constructivist art aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space. The movement rejected deco ...

Personal life

Johnson was the father of noted Pasifika artist Vanya Taule'alo, and the brother of poet and author Louis Johnson. He died on 26 December 2021, at the age of 95.

References

* Johnson, George H. 'Art and the World Around Us: An Essay on Experimental Art', ''Parent and Child'' (Wellington, N.Z.) Vol. 3, No. 6, August 1957. * Johnson, George H. 'Art Education: A Viewpoint','' Art Craft Teachers' Association Magazine'', (Victoria) No. 16, August 1973 * Zimmer, Jenny, ''George Johnson and ineluctable abstraction'', Art and Australia Vol 24, No.2, Summer 1986. * McCulloch, Allan, ''Encyclopedia of Australian Art'', Hutchinson, Melbourne 1987. * Heathcote, Christopher & Zimmer, Jenny, ''George Johnson: World View'', Macmillan Publishers Australia, Melbourne 2006.

External links

George Johnson
at the Charles Nodrum Gallery
Mount of the Blue Triangle 1986
at the

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat, both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian H ...