Australian painter James Quinn was born on 4 December 1869 in Melbourne, the son of a restaurateur. He studied at the National Gallery School, Melbourne, from 1886 to 1893, where fellow students included George Coates , Charles Conder and Arthur Streeton . In 1894, Quinn went to Europe with the assistance of the National Gallery Travelling Scholarship and, while in Paris, he studied at the Académie Julian, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Delécluze.

In 1902 Quinn moved to London where he married fellow art student Blanche Guernier and established a reputation as a portrait painter. He painted many studies of his family, such as Mother and sons 1910 (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney), as well as portraits of fellow Australian artists Tom Roberts and George Bell . His portraits of notable people include the Queen Mother when she was Duchess of York. A lover of good food, wine and conversation, Quinn frequented the Chelsea Arts Club and the Café Royal, where he mixed with Australians including Streeton, Roberts and George W. Lambert .

During the First World War, Quinn was an Australian official war artist in France, responsible for portraits of distinguished Australian servicemen and, in 1919, he was an artist for the Canadian War Records. After the war, he continued to paint portraits in London but in 1935, on the death of his artist son René, he returned to Melbourne. He lived a bohemian life of genteel poverty, teaching for a short while in the mid-1940s at the National Gallery School. Though no modernist himself, Quinn publicly opposed Sir Robert Menzies when, in 1941, Menzies opened an exhibition with derogatory remarks about modern art. James Quinn died of cancer on 18 February 1951 in Melbourne, aged 81.

Writers:

Gray, Dr Anne Note: Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT

Date written:

2004

Last updated:

2011