Robert Boyed Mitchell (1919 - 2002)

Pollock_after_Rualt_8219 December 1919
Born in Cobar, country New South Wales, the youngest of seven brothers and sisters

Early 1920’s      
Primary School, Leeton


Late 1920s        
Family moves to Bankstown and buys newsagency in Marrickville


1930s               
Both parents die. Newsagency provides Mitchell children with survival



'Jackson Pollock after 'Rualt' (sic),
1982
Mixed Media on Perspex
Mosman Art Collection

1920s-1930’s   
School, Marrickville. Repeats 6th class, no high school formation. Mitchell first encounters art through reproductions in English, American and Australian magazines


1941               
Joins army and volunteers for AIF, 8th division, Signals.
Sees Tom Bass drawing in Salvation Army Tent.
 
1942               
February, POW at Changi, Singapore. First time that he starts drawing. Enrols in art class under Murray Griffin in POW camp


1942            
December, volunteers to be moved to Japan. POW at Takatori Michi, suburb of Kobe. Takes to beauty of Japan immediately: architecture, landscape and cultivation


1945   
After release and return to Australia, fails first attempt to enter East Sydney Technical College to study in the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme


1947 – 1949   
Studies in evening classes at East Sydney Technical College, Strathfield Campus. Fellow students include John Coburn, Jon Molvig, Jean Weir, Bob White, Bert Flugelman, Cynthia Muller, Charles Doutney, Stan de Teliga


1948   
Wallace Thornton introduces Pierre Bonnard to art students: “a shock”


1949   
Exhibits with “Strath Art Group”, Hyde Park. Exhibits at Mosman Art Prize, with “Dee Why Landscape”. Lives in Calder Street, Dee Why


1949   
Leaves Australia with Jon Molvig and friends before final exams


1950  
London, spends April – June 1950 in Cassis, France


1951   
Visits to London, France, Toronto, New York. Disappointed not to see Abstract Expressionism at Museum of Modern Art in New York. Fascinated by Jackson Pollock’s and Willem de Kooning’s work


1951 – 1961    
Lives in Toronto, Canada, with frequent visits to New York. Sends paintings from Canada to Sydney exhibitions.


1952 and 54   
Exhibits in “Strath Art Group”, 4th and 6th annual exhibitions, Hyde Park, Sydney


1961 – 1980   
Lives in London. Interested in Pop art scene


1980s   
Returns to Sydney to live in Neutral Bay. Dedicates himself fully to creating art. Developes mature style. Interviewed by Betty Churcher for her book “Molvig, the Lost Antipodean”, 1984, including references to Robert  Mitchell


1990s   
Continues his art practice, concentrating in late years on small works and photography


19 March 2002   
Dies in Kamilaroi Retirement home, Lane Cove, Sydney, aged 82


eroodition
Photograph by Robert Mitchell, February 1991: "All things considered, there's only Matisse", Picasso, when Matisse died."











Represented

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Mosman Art Gallery, Mosman
Many private collections, Australia


Exhibitions
strath_1948    6 - 24 November: 10th Annual Interstate Exhibition, Contemporary Art Society

1949    "Strath Art Group”, Hyde Park

                      
            Mosman Art Prize, enters “Dee Why Landscape”


1952     “Strath Art Group”,  4th annual exhibition, October, Hyde Park, Sydney

1954    
“Strath Art Group”, 6th annual exhibition, Hyde Park, Sydney







7 February – 20 March 2004: Abstraction and Obsession - The Collage Paintings of Bob Mitchell, Mosman  Art Gallery
, Sydney



Mosman Art Gallery: Collage Paintings of Robert MitchellMosman Art Gallery: Collage Paintings of Robert Mitchell
















November 2004: The Collage Paintings of Bob Mitchell, Ken Done Gallery,
The Rocks, Sydney


Robert Mitchell Exhibition, Ken Done GalleryRobert Mitchell Exhibition, Ken Done Gallery


















10 July - 13 August 2008:
National Art School: Lines of Fire - Armed Forces to Art School

An exhibition celebrating the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme (CRTS) students at the National Art School from 1944,
curated by Deborah Beck and Katie Dyer

National Art School Lines of Fire Exhibition Catalogue CoverRobert Mitchell's POW diaries are exhibited, as well as works from his student time at the National Art School, together with works by fellow students such as Tom Bass, John Coburn, Bert Flugelman, Norman Hetherington, Robert Klippel, Jon Molvig, Tony Tuckson and Guy Warren.

The 80 page
full colour exhibition catalogue presents the artists' works from the war, their time at the National Art School and later works. All works exhibited are listed and many are illustrated, among them Robert Mitchell's works.









Impressions from the Lines of Fire exhibition

National Art School Lines of Fire Guy Warren, Bert FlugelmannNational Art School Lines of Fire Exhibition Opening












Peter Cosgrove, Bert Flugelmann, Guy Warren, Katie Dyer,               
Deborah Beck


National Art School Lines of Fire Mitchell POW diary
National Art School Lines of Fire Robert Mitchell
National Art School Lines of Fire Robert Mitchell

 
Copyright Estate of Robert Boyed Mitchell
Created by Banziger Hulme Fine Art 2007

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