18 facts about John Coburn

John Coburn (23 September 1925 – 7 November 2006) was an Australian abstract painter, teacher, tapestry designer and printmaker.

Born in Ingham, Queensland, John Coburn moved from town to town behind his mom and two younger sisters in the look of his bank manager daddy went from branch to branch. His dad died subsequently the guy was 10.

While enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II, Coburn travelled on the subject of the Pacific and Indian oceans as a radio operator. He drew images from these places whilst aboard HMAS Nepal, including Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and others.

Coburn studied art at East Sydney Technical College in 1947. He over and done with his four-year training dissatisfied:

By 1955–1956 Coburn was starting to find his own style. In 1969 he told The Canberra Times :

In 1956 he allied the ABC considering television came in. He specialised in set design and artwork.

Coburn taught art at East Sydney Technical College from 1959–1966 and he future became Head of the National Art School at the College for two years.

He won the Blake Prize for Religious Art twice, in 1960 and another time in 1977 (shared afterward Rodney Milgate). In 1996 he won the Mandorla Art Award.

Major galleries in Australia have collected and displayed Coburn’s works, many of which can now be found in major private and corporate collections, such as the Cbus Collection of Australian Art. For several years, two of his tapestries were hung in the Sydney Opera House, as finished in the Drama Theatre and the (recently renamed) Joan Sutherland Theatre. Seven hang in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. His works are furthermore displayed in the Vatican Museum, Rome.^{[citation needed]}