Noel Counihan (4 October 19135 July 1986) was an Australian

social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

active in the 1940s and 1950s 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 ...

. An atheist, communist, and art activist, Counihan made art in response to the politics and social hardships of his times. He is regarded as one of Australia's major artists of the 20th century.

Early life

Counihan was born on 4 October 1913 in Albert Park, then a working-class suburb of

. He attended the

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria. Th ...

Choir school (closed in 1929), then

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...

in 1928. He studied part-time under Charles Wheeler at 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 ...

Art School in

during 1930–31, where he met the social realists Herbert McClintock and

Roy Dalgarno Frederick Leslie Roy Dalgarno (2 December 1910 – 1 February 2001) was an Australian social realist artist. Early life, education and training Born in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) in 1910, Dalgarno was educated at Ballarat Grammar School. Fro ...

Career

Social realism, the belief that art should reflect the realities of society under

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

, was the artistic doctrine of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

, and in 1931 Counihan became a confirmed

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and a member of the Party. He helped found the Workers Art Guild, and began

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

, producing linocuts and lithographs for Communist magazine covers and pamphlets as well as designing banners. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

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 Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' from 1945 to 1949 and again from 1952 to 1958. He spent extended periods in hospital with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. With the encouragement of the artist

Yosl Bergner Yosl Bergner ( he, יוסל ברגנר‎; 13 October 1920 – 18 January 2017), also known as Josl, was an Israeli painter. He was born in Vienna, Austria, grew up in Warsaw, Poland, lived in Melbourne, Australia from 1937 until 1948, whe ...

, 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." His 1955 painting ''On Parliament Steps'' won the George Crouch Memorial Prize in 1956. Counihan remained loyal to the Communist Party during its various splits and despite its declining support in the 1970s and 1980s. His 1973 posthumous portrait of

Hugh Gemmell Lamb-Smith Hugh Gemmell Lamb-Smith (31 March 1889 26 December 1951), known as Gemmell, was an innovative Australian educator who landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, on Sunday, 25 April 1915 as a member of the Second Field Ambulance unit, and went on to serve ...

– who had taught Counihan at Caulfield Grammar and, as well, had encouraged his artistic endeavours whilst he was there – largely painted from memory, and commissioned by the Caulfield Grammarians' Association, is on permanent display within the school's "Cripps Centre" on its Caulfield Campus. In 1979, Counihan contributed the entry on footballer Roy Cazaly to Volume 7 of the ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

''.Counihan, Noel
Cazaly, Roy (1893–1963)
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'',

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. Retrieved 15 July 2012.

Death

On 5 July 1986, Counihan died in

aged 72.

Legacy

The Counihan Gallery, managed by

City of Moreland The City of Merri-bek is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre, Melbourne CBD. The ...

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 Noel Gittoes, (born 7 December 1949) is an Australian artist, film producer, director and writer. In 1970, he was a founder of the Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney. After the Yellow House finished, he established himself in Bu ...

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 by artist Simon Perry to commemorate the

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...

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) *''On Parliament Steps'' (1955) *''Sunset Dance'' (1968) *''Image of Lear'' lithographs (1977) *''Face Im'' (1978) *''At the Start of the March 1932'' (1944)

References

External links

Noel Counihan's works
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 ...