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 camp, 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 Became art master at Cranbrook School, Sydney, a position he held until 1967.
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.
Late in 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
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, SH 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’, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1986 Solo exhibition, Painters Gallery, Sydney
1987 Retrospective, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1987 ‘Justin O’Brien and friends’, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1995 ‘The Artists of Hill End’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1995 Solo exhibition, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
1951 Blake Prize for Religious Art
1962 Darcy Morris Memorial Prize
1992 Appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
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
SH 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
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