Ray Austin Crooke (12 July 19225 December 2015) was an Australian artist known for his landscapes. He won the Archibald Prize in 1969 with a portrait of George Johnston.

Early life

Ray Crooke was born in Auburn, Victoria in 1922. He spent time in Townsville, Cape York and other parts of northern Australia joining the Australian Army during World War II, service number VX88344 between August 1941-July 1946.

Career

After the war, he enrolled in Art School at

Swinburne University of Technology Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access ...

and later travelled to New Guinea, Tahiti and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. His portrait of the novelist George Johnston won the Archibald Prize in 1969, and the University of Queensland owns three of Ray Crooke's portrait paintings: ''Portrait of Xavier Herbert'' (1977), ''Portrait of Professor Emeritus Sir Zelman Cowen, (1919–2011), Vice-Chancellor 1970–1977'' (1977) and ''Portrait of Sadie Herbert'' (1980). However, he is not known usually for portrait painting. He is known for serene views of Islander people and ocean landscapes, many of which are based on the art of Paul Gauguin. He was responsible for the dust-jacket for ''

Poor Fellow My Country ''Poor Fellow My Country'' is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Xavier Herbert. At 1,463 pages, it is the longest Australian work of fiction ever written, and the longest single-volume novel to have been written in the E ...

'' by Xavier Herbert. His painting ''The Offering'' (1971) is in the

Vatican Museum The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...

collection. Many of his works are in Australian galleries. "North of Capricorn" was an Australian touring retrospective exhibition in 1997 organised by the

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery Perc ''(pronounced purse)'' Tucker Regional Gallery is a heritage-listed public art gallery in the Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Located on the corner of Flinders and Denham streets, the Gallery has a collection of o ...

(Townsville), initiated and curated by Grafico Topico's writer and curator Sue Smith. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1993 Australia Day Honours, "in recognition of service to the arts, particularly as a landscape artist". Crooke died on 5 December 2015 at the age of 93.

References

External links

Ray Crooke , Johnstone Gallery Archive, State Library of Queensland

Ray Hughes digital story, educational interview and oral history. Johnstone Gallery Archive, State Library of Queensland

Ray Crooke on Artabase. Islanders 1955
1922 births 2015 deaths Archibald Prize winners Australian painters Artists from Melbourne Members of the Order of Australia Swinburne University of Technology alumni {{Australia-painter-stub