Night

Born in Ingham, far North Queensland, John Coburn AM studied, lived and taught in Sydney. Painter, printmaker and designer of tapestries, he is perhaps best known for a form of abstract painting based on clear, simple shapes and radiant colour.  

This tapestry was woven in France, where Coburn lived for three years from 1969. The Aubusson Provence in France has a tapestry tradition dating back to the 14th Century.  

Coburn is a fascinating figure in Australian post-war art due to his long interest in the spiritual in art. Most notable was his use of the perfection of the geometric circle as a metaphor for the perfection of God. 

Coburn held almost a hundred solo exhibitions throughout his career and there are a number of books devoted to his work. Coburn is widely known and has work hung in many major collections, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. and the Vatican Museum in Rome. He won the prestigious Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1960. He designed Curtain of the Sun and Curtain of the Moon for the Sydney Opera House in 1970. Coburn was Head of the National Art School from 1972-74 and a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1977-80. Coburn was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the arts in 1980.