James Peter Quinn (4 December 1869 – 18 February 1951) was an Australian portrait painter born in Melbourne[1]
He studied part-time under Frederick McCubbin 1887–1999 then at the Melbourne National Gallery School under George Folingsby and Bernard Hall 1889–1893, then in Paris at the Académie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1893–1–901 under Jean Paul Laurens aided by a National Gallery of Victoria travelling scholarship.
By 1904 he was a highly successful portrait painter and exhibited with the Royal Academy of Arts. His Mère et Fils (of his wife and son), was awarded an honourable mention at the Old Salon, Paris, in 1912. He was commissioned to paint Joseph Chamberlain, the Duchess of York and the Duke of Windsor.
He was accredited official war artist for the First AIF during World War I, painting prominent officers in France (causing considerable friction with authorities and fellow artists[2]), then from 1919 with Canadian War Records, only returning to Australia in December 1935 after the death of son René. He rejoined the highly conservative Victorian Artists Society, and was even president for a year, but his openness to modern art made him no friends, and was the basis of a public confrontation with Prime Minister Robert Menzies.[1]
In 1937, Quinn was elected president of the Victorian Art School, a position he held until his death in 1951, and taught at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. A commemorative exhibition at the Victorian Centre of the Arts in 1980 enhanced his posthumous reputation.[2]
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A portrait of sculptor Harold Parker hangs in the National Library of Australia.
The collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra includes a number of his war portraits, e.g.,
Art in Australia no.8 1921