Jan Senbergs ( lv, Jānis Šēnbergs; Latvia, 1939) is an Australian artist and printmaker of Latvian origin.

Life and work

World War II forced Senbergs sand his family out of Latvia to Germany and eventually to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in 1950. As a young adult Senbergs was educated at Richmond Technical School, where he learnt technical and free drawing, going on to become a

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

printer once he left school at 15. The skills he learnt as an apprentice were defining in the beginning of his career in the 1960s and 1970s, when he became, arguably, one of the best silkscreen printmakers in Australia. Senbergs moved on from screen printing to the industrial cityscapes and ports of Melbourne, the mined landscapes of Tasmania and the Antarctic wilderness. Spanning his 50 plus year career he has covered figuration, surrealism, expressionism and abstraction in his prints, paintings and drawings. Senbergs has had many career highlights, including receiving the Helena Rubinstein Travelling Scholarship in 1966, representing Australia at the

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial (Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

in Brazil in 1973 and being commissioned for a large-scale mural for the High Court of Australia, Canberra in 1980. He has had various important roles in his career including member of the Visual Arts Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

from 1984 to 1987, Trustee of the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

from 1984 to 1989 and in 1989 he was appointed the Visiting Professor – Chair of Australian Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, Boston, USA.

Exhibitions

Senbergs started exhibiting in the early 1960s in

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 ...

, at Argus Gallery, and in Sydney, at

Rudy Komon Rudolph John Komon MBE (21 June 190827 October 1982) was a Viennese-born Czech-Australian art dealer, gallery director, benefactor and wine connoisseur. He had a great influence on the burgeoning artistic life of Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. ...

Gallery, and has continued to exhibit regularly across Australia, as well as internationally. He has held over 45 solo shows and participated in nearly 70 group shows throughout his 50 plus year career. Senbergs has had many survey exhibitions, including ''Imagined Sites – Imagined Realities'' at the

Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is set ...

in 1993, ''Jan Senbergs Drawing'' at

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 ...

in 2006, which went on to tour regional Australia in 2007, and ''Jan Senbergs: From Screenprinter to Painter'' at the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

in 2008. Senbergs has also exhibited considerably overseas, starting early on in his career with ''Young Australian Painters'' in 1965 in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and continuing with ''Australian Prints Today'' at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in Washington DC in 1966 and ''Australian Prints'' at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London in 1972. Early in his career Senbergs was included in various Biennials, such as the ''International Biennale of Graphic Art'' in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in 1966, the ''Bradford Print Biennale'', in Bradford, United Kingdom and the ''International Print Biennale'', in

both in 1968. Most notably he was chosen to represent Australia at the

São Paulo Biennial SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in 1973. He held a solo show at the Australian Print Workshop in Melbourne and featured in the ''Blue Chip XV: The Collectors’ Exhibition'' at Niagara Galleries and ''Mixtape 1980s: Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style'' at the

in 2013. In 2016, he was exhibited in ''Jan Senbergs: Observation - Imagination'' at the National Gallery of Victoria.

Collections

Senbergs' work is featured in prominent galleries and museums across Australia as well as overseas. He is featured in major state galleries such as

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

and

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

. Internationally, Senbergs is included in the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, the Museum of Fine Arts,

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

and Washington DC, as well as numerous regional, university, college, corporate and private collections throughout Australia and the USA.

Awards

Senbergs has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the

Dobell Prize The Dobell Drawing Prize is a biennial drawing prize and exhibition, held by the National Art School in association with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation.The prize is an open call to all artists and aims to explore the enduring importance ...

from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1995 and th
Kedumba Drawing Prize
in 1991. He received an Honorary Award in the Doctor of Arts Honoris Causa from the

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

in Melbourne and was the recipient of th
Helena Rubenstein Travelling Art Scholarship
in 1966. In 2003 he was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in recognition of his "service to the Australian visual arts as a painter whose work has been exhibited in, and forms part of, national and international galleries and collections".

References

External links

Images of Senbergs' prints held by the National Gallery of Australia

Images of Senbergs' prints held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Transcript of Interview by James Gleeson with Senbergs April, 1979, National Gallery of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senbergs, Jan 1939 births Living people Australian printmakers Australian art Latvian emigrants to Australia Latvian World War II refugees Australian painters Members of the Order of Australia