Each signed 'Coburn' lower right
Signed and inscribed verso 'John Coburn/ autumn/ 1994/ Oil'
Provenance: The Royal Pines Resort, Queensland. Commissioned directly from the artist in 1994 

Influenced by Matisse, Rothko and Miro, Coburn’s art is motivated by the natural world and by his own personal spirituality. The Seasons is arguably one of the most important motifs of Coburn’s career. Encompassing both the natural and the spiritual, the Seasons appear in all decades of Coburn’s work, culminating in a series of nine monumental tapestries commissioned in 1988 by the Christensen Fund, which were woven in Aubusson, France. The present four paintings represent the individual seasons of nature and parallel the ‘growth, development, transformation and renewal of the spirit.’1 As Alan Rozen suggests 'it is through his integrity in relating his religion to nature and nature to religion', that Coburn achieves his raison d’etre. 2

Memories of the landscape of his childhood are predominant in all the Seasons of Nature paintings. As Coburn told Nadine Amadio; 'They derive from my childhood when I was growing up in Queensland in the tropical vegetation.' 3 Each of the present paintings, which were commissioned by the Royal Pines Resort in 1994, is a seasonal garden of delight; Spring has a clarity and brightness that suggests warm spring air and new life, Autumn glows with rich golden hues, Winter suggests a withdrawing and pulling back of life forces, and Summer is an exultant celebration of life and regeneration.

1 Amadio, N., John Coburn’s The Seasons Tapestries, The Christensen Fund, 1988, p.3.
2 Rozen, A., The Art of John Coburn, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1979, p.9.
3 Amadio, N., John Coburn’s ‘The Seasons’ Tapestries, The Christensen Fund, 1988, p.12.