AustLit logo

AustLit

image of person or book cover 11844538766301480.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon John Olsen : An Artist's Life single work   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2014... 2014 John Olsen : An Artist's Life
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'This landmark biography by Darleen Bungey, the author of the celebrated biography of Arthur Boyd, graphically depicts the forces that drove John Olsen to become one of the country's greatest artists. An exhilarating book, both trenchant and tender, it strips away the veneer of showmanship and fame to show the substance of a painter driven by a need to depict his country's landscape as Australians had never seen it before.

'Given access to his uncensored diaries and drawing on years of extensive interviews with both Olsen and those who have known him best, she explores his passionate life and follows his navigation though the friendships, rivalries and politics of the Australian art world. How did a shy, stuttering boy from Newcastle, neglected by his alcoholic father, come to paint the great mural Salute to Five Bells at the Sydney Opera House?

'This biography follows that journey - through Olsen's early experiences in the bush, particularly a formative period at Yass (a time previously unrecorded), to years of cleaning jobs to pay his way through art school, to a milestone time spent in France and Spain - and traces his constant travels and relocations within Australia, including his epic journeys into the outback and to Kati thanda-Lake Eyre.

'From a child who was never taken to an art gallery, who learnt how to draw from comics, we come to see the famous artist in the black beret, the writer and poet, the engaging public speaker, the bon vivant - whose life has been defined by an absolute need to paint.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: to 'The digger'
  • Epigraph: 'What am I? I have a brush, I have colours, I see, I smell flowers. One answer to that question is that we're all different. It throws an enormous mystery before your eyes and your feelings.' – John Passmore

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: ABC Books , 2014 .
      image of person or book cover 11844538766301480.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 528p.
      Description: col. illus.
      Note/s:
      • Published 20/10/2014
      ISBN: 9780733331138

Works about this Work

Captain Olsen : A Revelatory Biography of John Olsen Patrick McCaughey , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 369 2015; (p. 44-45)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
Japanese Attack on Broome Told with Flair Barry Pearce , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 January 2015; (p. 18)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
A Fresh Take on a Sunny Spirit Barry Pearce , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 January 2015; (p. 34-35) The Age , 17 January 2015; (p. 26)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
Darleen Bungey Susan Wyndham , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15-16 November 2014; (p. 30-31)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
'A new biography of artist John Olsen paints a vivid picture of the life of ‘‘Australia’s greatest living artist’’.'
Artist John Olsen's Wandering Lines Traced by New Biographer Darleen Bungey Susan Wyndham , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 November 2014; The Age , 15 November 2014; The Canberra Times , 15 November 2014; (p. 19)
Darleen Bungey Susan Wyndham , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15-16 November 2014; (p. 30-31)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
'A new biography of artist John Olsen paints a vivid picture of the life of ‘‘Australia’s greatest living artist’’.'
A Fresh Take on a Sunny Spirit Barry Pearce , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 January 2015; (p. 34-35) The Age , 17 January 2015; (p. 26)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
Japanese Attack on Broome Told with Flair Barry Pearce , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 January 2015; (p. 18)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
Captain Olsen : A Revelatory Biography of John Olsen Patrick McCaughey , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 369 2015; (p. 44-45)

— Review of John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , 2014 single work biography
Artist John Olsen's Wandering Lines Traced by New Biographer Darleen Bungey Susan Wyndham , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 November 2014; The Age , 15 November 2014; The Canberra Times , 15 November 2014; (p. 19)
Last amended 12 Mar 2019 08:57:40
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X