Guide to the Papers of Noel Counihan, 1931-1994

 

Collection context

Summary

Collection number:
MS 9107
Creator:
Noel Counihan
Extent:
6.19 metres and (33 boxes, 1 folio box, 1 map folio)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Noel Counihan, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Part available for research; part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection documents aspects of Counihan's career from the 1930s to 1994, and includes extensive series of correspondence (personal, business, family and posthumous), together with articles, reviews, catalogues and invitations connected with his various artistic and writing activities. Also featured in the papers are appointment diaries, published and photographic copies of Counihan's artwork (especially cartoons and caricatures), typescript memoirs, a manuscript history of Russian art, articles and speeches by or about the artist, and a few photographs and books about his life and career.

Without doubt the richest component of the collection lies in the correspondence, which dates back to the 1930s, and includes many contacts maintained by Counihan's wife until 1994. Numbering amongst correspondents are family, artists, writers, dealers, models and gallery owners, as well as purchasers of Counihan's work who became friends. In terms of content the letters reflect not only Counihan's own artistic output, but also important figures with whom he associated, and their artistic and political milieux. Counihan was a close friend of a number of prominent artists and writers such as Judah Waten and Alan Marshall, and maintained correspondence with other intellectuals including Frank Hardy, Nettie Palmer, Dymphna Cusack, H.C. Coombs and Manning Clark. Counihan's own letters are particularly revealing, with Smith describing him as someone who 'wrote constantly and self-reflectively to his family and friends, particularly in later life, and in his letters he gives highly personal accounts of his daily activities, of family life, and of his art'.

Biographical Note:

Noel Counihan (1913-1986) was a painter, cartoonist and illustrator of national standing noted for his socialist-realist style and radical outlook, whose reputation continued to grow after his death. He travelled extensively overseas and his art has been widely exhibited in Australia, Europe and Russia, as well as receiving permanent representation in a number of Australian galleries, including the National Gallery of Australia. A communist, his passionate concern with civil rights and free speech often led to conflicts with authorities.

Date Event
1913 Born Jack Noel Counihan, Albert Park, Melbourne, 4 October
1930 Studied, National Gallery Art School, Melbourne
1930s Worked as freelance pencil portraitist and press caricaturist
1931 Joined Young Communist League; founding member Workers Art Club, Melbourne
1932 Unemployed, supported by dole payment
1935-36 Working trip through regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland with Judah Waten, drawing portraits and caricatures
1938 Drew town identities in Broken Hill, NSW followed by solo exhibition where two works purchased by the Broken Hill Art Gallery; foundation member of the Contemporary Art Society, Melbourne
1939-40 Freelance work in New Zealand but deported for involvement in anti-conscription movement
1942 Secretary, Artists' Unity Congress; exhibited in Contemporary Art Society anti-fascist exhibition, Melbourne
1943 Spent five months recovering from tuberculosis
1944 Drew miners at Wonthaggi coal fields, including studies made underground
1945 Awarded prize in 'Australia at War' art exhibition
1945-49 Staff artist for <em>The Guardian,</em> Melbourne
1947 Miners series linocuts
1948 Lithographs of metal workers; awarded Albury Prize
1949-52 Travel studies and freelance artist in the United Kingdom, France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and The Netherlands
1950-52 Worked for World Trade Union Movement, London
1951 Exhibitions London, Warsaw
1952-58 Returned to Melbourne as staff artist for <em>The Guardian</em>
1954 Exhibition Copenhagen
1956 Four month visit to Italy, USSR and London
1956, 1957 Twice winner of the Crouch Prize, Ballarat
1958 McCaughey prize winner; awarded Victorian Artists Society drawing prize
1959 Bronze medallist, International Graphics competition, Leipzig
1960 Accompanied social realist exhibition to Moscow, Leningrad
1961-63 Council member of Victorian Artists' Society
1967 Initiated <em>The Broad Sheet</em> with Udo Sellbach and Ian Turner; participated in anti-war exhibition, Melbourne and Adelaide
1969 Exhibitions of drawings and prints Poland, USSR; also visited Mexico, New York, England, Ireland, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and India
1973 Semi-retrospective exhibition National Gallery of Victoria and Commonwealth Gallery, London
1973-78 President, Print Council of Australia
1974 Occupancy, Australian studio, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; show at Marjorie Parr Gallery, London and participated in 'Australian Artists in Britain' (Flinders bicentenary celebrations), Lincoln; also visited Yugoslavia, Greece, Istanbul
1978 'Noel Counihan, Faces and Figures' exhibition at Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre
1979 'Noel Counihan, 1944-79', Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1980 Visited Opaul, France
1981 Opaul series lithographs; suffered heart attack and stroke
1984-85 Visited England, France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand
1986 Died 5 July, Melbourne
1988 Work represented in 'The Face of Australia' and 'The Great Australian Art Exhibition' bicentennial art shows
1991 Retrospective exhibition 'Images of Working Life'
Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

In addition to the large body of papers amassed by Noel Counihan during his lifetime, his widow Pat continued to maintain records of exhibitions, books, correspondence and articles concerning her husband's art and career after his death in 1986. The resultant collection, which bears her numerous annotations, was extensively drawn upon by Bernard Smith for his biography Noel Counihan : artist and revolutionary (1993). Following publication of his study, Smith helped coordinate the transfer of the Counihan Papers to the Library, which were received in a single consignment in 1996.

Indexed terms

Names:
Noel Counihan

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn68604).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Noel Counihan, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: