Writings by Noel Counihan, 1930s-c. 1990

Component identifier:

Series 8

Content Summary:

In addition to his artistic output, from early in his career Counihan was a regular contributor of articles and reviews to a number of Australian and overseas newspapers and journals. As a freelance writer, he submitted numerous pieces on aspects of Australian art, as well as preparing the regular 'Art affairs' column for The Guardian, 1962-67 and the Tribune, 1967-68.

This series includes handwritten draft notes and typescript manuscripts of Counihan's many writings, including rough notes and typed memoirs of his childhood and adolescence. In the early 1960s Counihan began researching and writing a history of Russian art which resulted in a manuscript but was never published. Also featured here are proposals signed by Australian artists in 1941 for an 'Artists' Congress' to oppose fascism.

Immediate source of acquisition:

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.

Names:

Noel Counihan

Contents

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