John O'Brien (1831–1891) was a Canadian marine artist. He excelled at ship portraits combined with dramatic storm scenes.

Career

John Daniel O’Connell O'Brien (named for the Irish “Liberator,” Daniel O’Connell) is believed to have been born in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

but his parents moved to Halifax when he was a baby. In his youth, he worked as a sign painter and as a ship portraitist. He emerged as a self-taught artist in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

in 1850 and advertised himself as a professional in 1853. In 1857, he studied in England with the English landscape artist

John Wilson Carmichael John Wilson Carmichael (9 June 1799 – 2 May 1868) was a British maritime and landscape artist who painted in oil and watercolours. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne and later in London, he was a household name in his lifetime, and his work remai ...

, where he learned to colour photographs as well as to paint stormy skies. His journey, which also included time in France, was paid for by a group of Halifax business owners. Upon his return to Halifax, the artist began documenting the increasingly busy naval activity of the city's growing harbour. His career flourished as Nova Scotia's shipping industry grew and his many notable paintings include a portrait of the famous clipper

Stag A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) a ...

and dramatic storm portraits of the warship HMS Galatea. At the height of his career in 1859, he suffered a partial loss of vision. His career underwent a decline in the 1870s, when he produced very few works, but revived in the 1880s when he returned to easel painting, producing almost half of his known 53 works in the studio.

Selected collections

*Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; *National Gallery of Canada; *Sobey art collection. *Maritime Museum of the Atlantic."Recently Discovered Paintings on Display at Maritime Museum", Nova Scotia, Deptof Tourism, Culture and Heritage, February 14, 2008
/ref>

References

External links

*
"O'Brien, John Daniel O'Connell" entry in ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography''O'Brien at the Art Gallery of Nova ScotiaO'Brien at the National Gallery of Canada"John O'Brien" in ''Halifax Art & Artists: An Illustrated History''
by Ray Cronin, published by the Art Canada Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, John 1831 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Canadian marine artists Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation New Brunswick 19th-century Canadian male artists

Career

Selected collections

References

Further reading

External links