Robert Mitchell in Exhibition "Lines of Fire - Armed Forces to Art School"
The
National Art School (NAS) presented in July and August 2008 an
exhibition celebrating the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme
students at the NAS from 1944. Lines
of Fire brought together two worlds that seem
completely opposed: the constraints of army life and
the creative freedom of the artists' life.
The
two-part show exhibited work by artists who trained at the National Art
School through
the CRTS grant scheme following their service in the World War II. Many
of them went on to contribute in major ways to Australian art history.
Amongst others, works and material by fellow students of Robert Mitchell's, such as Guy Boyd, John Coburn, Bert
Flugelman, Robert Klippel, Jon Molvig and Tony Tuckson were on view.
Read what the media said about the exhibition in In the Press
You'll find images with works by Robert Mitchell in the Lines of Fire show in CV & Art Shows
Robert Mitchell was an artist
who experienced his first creative inspiration in the most difficult of
circumstances: as a prisoner of war during World War II, drawing his surroundings, and despite adversity, inspired by the beauty of the
country of his captors, Japan.
After the war, Robert Mitchell studied art
at East Sydney Technical College, together with fellow art students
John Coburn, Jon Molvig, Jean Weir, Stan De Teliga. Frank Hinder
was among his teachers and later became a close friend.
A lifetime interested in the avantgarde of art, Mitchell was one of the first Australian artists to embrace Abstract Expressionism, exemplified by the likes of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Robert
Mitchell drew inspiration from a variety of sources: current art
movements, architecture, Japan, but also advertising and fashion. In
his hands, these influences merged into something completely unique and
individual, culminating in his Collage Paintings, evoking the joy, spirit and happiness of creation and life itself.
You are invited to get an insight into the life of an extraordinary artist and his work.
