1917      Born in Hurstville, NSW
1932-36 Studied painting privately under Edward Smith
1936-39 Taught in eleven convent schools in Sydney. Joined the Fra Angelicos Painting Guild. Attended first meeting of the Contemporary Art Society in Sydney
1937-39 Exhibited in the Archibald Prize
1940       Enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps. Was sent to Palestine and then Greece. Taken prisoner in Greece and after seven months in Athens was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Poland. Here he ran art classes and painted with materials supplied by the Red Cross
1944        Returned to Australia and with Jesse Martin held a joint exhibition of works done in prisoner-of-war camps, at the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1945        Joined the Sydney Group of Artists. Moved into the house 'Merioola' in Sydney, also occupied by a number of others involved in the arts
1946-67 Became Art Master at Cranbrook School, Sydney
1947       Exhibited with the Merioola Group then left Sydney for two year study tour of Europe. Travelled in England, France and Italy with Peter Dodd who taught him much of dynamic symmetry and colour theory
1949        Held solo exhibition at the Hanover Galleries, London, and then returned to Australia
1953        Included in the Arts Council of Great Britain Exhibition to celebrate the Coronation in London
1959         Commissioned to paint series 'Stations of the Cross', St Francis Xavier Cabrini Hospital Chapel, Malvern, Victoria
1964         Lived on the Greek Island Skyros for four months
1967         Resigned from teaching post at Cranbrook School and returns to Greece living first on Lesbos then Skyros Island
1967         Goes to Rome where he lived until his death in 1996
1968         Commissioned to design a mosaic to represent the Southern Hemisphere in the Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth, Israel
1972-74  Worked in the Tuscan landscape
1980         Travelled to Turkey
1989         Spent several months in Sydney receiving treatment for cancer. Did a number of  drawings in the house of fellow artist Margaret Olley
1990s       Continued to live in Rome and exhibit regularly in Australia
1996         Died in Rome

Selected Exhibitions

1944        Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1945, 46 The Sydney Group, David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney
1947       Solo exhibition, David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney
1947       The Merioola Group', Myer Mural Hall, Melbourne
1947       The Merioola Group', David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney
1949        Solo exhibition, Hanover Galleries, London
1950        Solo exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1951        Unesco group exhibition, Musee d’art Moderne, Paris
1951        Unesco group exhibition, Australia House, London
1952        Sydney Painting', Finneys Gallery, Brisbane
1953        Solo exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1953        Group exhibition for Coronation, New Burlington Galleries, London
1955        Group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Artists, Adelaide
1956        Solo exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1956        Group exhibition, SS Orcades Orient Line, Auckland, Honolulu, Vancouver & San Francisco
1957        Twelve Australian Artists', New Burlington Galleries, London
1957        Group exhibition, Canberra Art Club Gallery, Canberra
1957        Sydney Painting', Victorian Artists’ Society, Melbourne
1959        Solo exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1960        Group exhibition, Royal South Australian Society of Artists, Adelaide
1960        Contemporary Australian Artists', Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland
1960        Group exhibition, Raffins Gallery, Orange
1961         Solo exhibition, South Yarra Galleries, Melbourne
1963         Antipodean Vision', group exhibition, Tate Gallery, London
1965, 68, 72 Solo exhibitions, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1974         Solo exhibition, South Yarra Galleries, Melbourne
1974, 78  Solo exhibitions, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1978        Quadriennale, Rome
1979         The Alan Renshaw Bequest, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1979          Australian paintings and some important prints, Joshua McClelland Print Room, Melbourne
1980, 82   Solo exhibitions, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1983          Solo exhibition, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
1984          Solo exhibition, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
1986          'Modern Australian Paintings', Charles Nodrum, Melbourne
1986          'Merioola and After', S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1986          Solo exhibition, Painters Gallery, Sydney
1987          Retrospective, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1987          'Justin O'Brien and friends', S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1995          'The Artists of Hill End', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1995          Solo exhibition, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

Awards

1951           Blake Prize for Religious Art
1962           Darcy Morris Memorial Prize
1992           Appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Collections

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Artbank
Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum
City of Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria
S.H. Ervin Gallery National Trust of Australia, Sydney
Manly Art Gallery
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, Newcastle
Newman College Melbourne University
Rockhampton City Art Gallery, Rockhampton
St Francis Xavier Cabrini Hospital
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
University of New South Wales, Sydney
University of Sydney Art Collection, Sydney
Pinacotheca Vaticano, Modern Art Section, Rome

Source:
Christine France, 'Justin O'Brien: Image and Icon', Craftsman House, Sydney, 1997

KR