OPERA HOUSE, 1984
JOHN COBURN
oil on canvas
76.0 x 91.0 cm
signed and dated lower right: Coburn ‘84
Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney
Private collection, Sydney
Amadio, N., John Coburn Paintings, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1988, pp. 140–141 (illus.)
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Opera House
In Nadine Amadio's richly illustrated monograph on the artist, John Coburn, Paintings, the work Sydney Opera House 1984 is accompanied by the following text:
'In this small, elegant, but witty painting Coburn has captured the essence of the Sydney Opera House. The fresh, bright colours on a clear blue background have a paper cut-out sense of fun but they also suggest the magical site of the famous building and the windy, boat-filled sparkle of the harbor and the summer sky.
'Here I enjoyed myself abstracting the Opera House from the actual building. I rearranged it a little and reduced it to some quite economic shapes and a simple colour scheme of brown, black, white and blue. Well, actually it's grey rather than white. It seems to be a fairly valid interpretation of the Opera House and while it seems immediately recognizable, it is also an abstract painting.'1
1. Amadio, N., John Coburn Paintings, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1988, p. 140