Author(s): FRY GAVIN

Art

Robert Juniper, along with his exact contemporaries Fred Williams and John Olsen, belongs to a generation of artists who created a new and contemporary vision of Australia in the second half of the twentieth century. During a career spanning almost six decades, Juniper has established himself as one of the most original and lyrical interpreters of the Australian landscape, especially that of Western Australia which has been his main inspiration. Born in Merredin, Western Australia in 1929, Juniper spent the war years in England where he studied art and established his direction as a painter. He was fortunate to have some exceptional teachers at the Beckenham School of Art, who not only introduced the students to the work of some of the great names in modern art, but brought original works to the school by Klee, Soutine and other masters for the students to study. After returning to Western Australia in 1949, Juniper began to paint in his spare time while working at a commercial art firm, where the art director, a practising artist himself, took an interest in Juniper s work. He encouraged him to exhibit his first oil painting in the annual Perth Society of Artists exhibition in 1951. With the vivid memories of his childhood spent in the Merredin district, where his father was employed in mending the Kalgoorlie pipeline, Juniper slowly evolved his unique personal style which, never entirely figurative, endeavoured through colour and texture to capture his personal experience and deep feeling for the landscape of Western Australia, in which figures often appear to drift through the works as if through a dream. Winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious Wynne Prize twice, Juniper s paintings and sculpture are to be found in all major public and private collections. His work has been included in major exhibitions such as the Whitechapel Gallery (1961) the Tate Gallery (1963) and other important travelling exhibitions. Although there have been three previous books on Juniper s work, this is the most comprehensive study to date, with more than 150 colour plates and more than 30 photographs. The insightful text by Gavin Fry follows the fascinating life of this artist and explores how Juniper s work has developed to the point where he is acknowledged as one of Australia s leading artists.