John Olsen, one of Australia’s most acclaimed artists who was known for his distinctive depictions of landscapes and nature, has died at age 95.
Key points:
- John Olsen received numerous awards, including an OBE in 1977, and continued painting well into his 90s
- Among his acclaimed works is Salute to Five Bells, which hangs in the Sydney Opera House
- A tribute to his long career will be beamed onto the Opera House’s sails next month for Vivid festival
He died surrounded by family on Tuesday evening, the ABC has confirmed.
Born in Newcastle in 1928, the painter’s career spanned more than 60 years, with his work exhibited in galleries across the nation and overseas, and he was a winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes.
Among his acclaimed works is Salute to Five Bells, which hangs in the Sydney Opera House.
After receiving an Order of Australia in 2001, Olsen described art as a form of compulsion, which he started developing at age four.
“Artists are born, not made,” he said.
Olsen received numerous other awards in his long career, including an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1977, and continued painting well into his 90s.
He won the Archibald for self portrait Janus Faced in 2005, the Wynne Prize for The Chasing Bird Landscape in 1969 and A Road to Clarendon: Autumn in 1985, and the Sulman Prize for Don Quixote Enters the Inn in 1989.
Speaking to Australian Story in 2021, Olsen said by his own admission that artists can be selfish — they will do anything to preserve their work and “eliminate anyone who stands in the way”.
“I don’t really mean to hurt people either, but my act is only preservation,” he said.
In 2022 he spoke to AAP about his affinity with rural and remote Australia, having long captured its wild terrain.
“To be an Australian landscape painter is to be an explorer,” he said after donating several of his works to a regional NSW gallery.
“There is so much to look at and observe about the Australian landscape, how it varies from tropical to the coastal fringe, and the interior.
“It’s so multiple. It’s a beautiful animal, that landscape.”
A tribute to his long career will be beamed onto the Opera House’s sails next month during the Vivid Sydney festival.
ABC/AAP