Charles Blackman
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Charles Blackman (born 12 August 1928) is an Australian artist.
Blackman, born in Sydney, left school at thirteen (some sources say fifteen) and worked as an illustrator with the Sydney Sun newspaper while attending night classes at East Sydney Technical College (1943-46). He came to notice following his move to Melbourne in the mid-1940s, where he gained the support of critic and art patron John Reed and became known for his 'Schoolgirl' and 'Alice' series. Blackman married the poet, Barbara Patterson in 1951.
In 1959 he was a signatory to the Antipodean Manifesto, a statement protesting the dominance of abstract expressionism. He was part of this Antipodeans Group. His work is associated with dreamlike images tinged with mystery and foreboding. In 1960-64 he travelled overseas after winning the Helena Rubenstein Scholarship, settling in Sydney on his return. He has won many prizes and distinctions, culminating in a major retrospective in 1993 and an OBE for services to Australian art in 1997.
A portrait of Charles Blackman by Jon Molvig won the Archibald Prize in 1966.
[edit] Bibliography
- Heathcote, Christopher (1995). A Quiet Revolution: The Rise of Australian Art, 1946-1968. Melbourne, Vic: Text Publishing, 267p. ISBN 1875847103.
