QUINN, JAMES (1869-1951)

“The Red Shoes” (1933)
Oil on canvas
120 x 75cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Perth
 
Quinn was a leading Australian Portraitist. He studied part-time under Frederick McCubbin 1887-89, at the Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria Art School under George Folingsby & Bernard Hall 1889–93, then in Paris at the Académie Julian & the École des Beaux-Arts from 1893–1901 under Jean Paul Laurens aided by a National Gallery of Victoria travelling scholarship. He spent time painting at the Etaples art colony in northern France, alongside other Australians including Rupert Bunny & Hilda Rix Nicholas. By 1904, he was a highly successful portrait painter & exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts. His Mère et Fils (of his wife and son), was awarded an honourable mention at the Salon, Paris, in 1912. He was commissioned to paint Joseph Chamberlain, the Duchess of York & the Duke of Windsor. He was accredited official war artist for the First AIF during World War I, painting prominent officers in France, alongside Arthur Streeton, George Lambert, Albert Fullwood & George Bell. In 1919 in London, Quinn painted General Sir John Monash, Commander in Chief of the Australian Corps, now in the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Canberra. This portrait was the model for the Monash Medal awarded each year to an Outstanding Australian for her/his contribution in Leadership, Integrity, & Service to the Australian community and beyond. In 1919, he rejoined the highly conservative Victorian Artists Society & was even president for a year, but his openness to modern art made him no friends & was the basis of a public confrontation with Prime Minister Robert Menzies. However, he continued exhibiting his paintings & taught at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. A commemorative exhibition was held at the Victorian Centre for the Arts in 1980. This fantastic portrait was painted on commission in London, 1933.