The Meeting c1982

JUSTIN O'BRIEN (1917-1996)

The Meeting c1982

oil on canvas
46.0 x 33.0 cm
signed upper right: O'BRIEN.

Provenance:
Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane (label attached verso)
Art Galleries Schubert, Queensland (label attached verso)
The Hewitt Collection, Queensland
Private collection, Queensland

Related Works:
The Meeting, c1982, pen and sepia ink, gold leaf on paper, 46.5 x 34.0 cm, illus. in Pearce, B. and Wilson, N., Justin O'Brien: The Sacred Music of Colour, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2000, pp.123-4, 161 (illus. p.124)

Estimate: $32000 - 40000

When one ponders the art of Justin O’Brien, one immediately thinks of the biblical allusions he is so well-known for. O’Brien was born into a deeply religious Catholic family and although he grappled with his faith throughout his life and the belief system of the Church, its stories and ancient symbolism continued to inform many of his paintings. O’Brien drew on these themes to explore human nature; the way people relate to each other, God, and the world in which they live. Fittingly, he was the inaugural winner of the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1951.

O’Brien’s paintings are often replete with bright colour and illumination as well as an easiness of form reminiscent of Renaissance painting and its contemporaneous scriptural manuscripts. 

The Meeting is not an overtly religious work, however the landscape and costumes are indicative of O’Brien’s biblical influences. The two women are depicted in the long, flowing robes of centuries passed, deep in conversation, one seemingly comforting the other with a reassuring hand. This speaks to all accounts of O’Brien as a caring and compassionate man. There is an overwhelming sense of peace and calm in this work, conveyed through the hazy stillness of the scene, the village boys naked and very much a part of the dry desert landscape, paused and trying to catch a hint of the ladies’ exchange.

Anna Groden BA (Hons); MA (Art History)