CANTICLE OF THE SUN II, 1974

Part 1: Important Fine Art
Melbourne
28 November 2012
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23

JOHN COBURN

(1925 - 2006)
CANTICLE OF THE SUN II, 1974

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

91.5 x 91.0 cm

signed lower right: Coburn
signed, dated and titled verso: CANTICLE OF THE SUN II / JOHN COBURN / SYDNEY 1974

Estimate: 
$30,000 - 40,000
Provenance

Private collection, Sydney

Related works

Canticle Of The Sun, 1965, oil on board, 162.0 x 152.5 cm, formerly Harold E. Mertz Collection, United States of America, illus. in Rozen, A., The Art of John Coburn, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1979, p. 45, pl. 11
Canticle Of The Sun II, 1967, oil on canvas, 74.5 x 85.0 cm, inscribed with title verso and dated '1/67'

Catalogue text

John Coburn's paintings sing with colour through forms that give them voice. Music flows through his art, celebrating the joy of creation as in Canticle of the Sun II, 1974. The sun played a central role in his art, its vibrant image presented as the source of light and life. This is seen in such diverse works as the oil paintings Dark Descent, 1966 in the collection of the Newcastle Art Gallery, and In Praise of the Sun, 1966, the 1967 Aubusson tapestry version being in the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Curtain of the Sun, 1970 in the Sydney Opera House, presents a brilliant culmination of the motif, a masterpiece of colour and design. A little later, in the Tree of Life Series of 1973 the image takes on even deeper religious meaning.

In 1965 Coburn, inspired by St Francis of Assisi's joyous song of praise of 1224, painted Canticle of the Sun. As its visual recreation, Coburn seems to have drawn particularly on the following lines from the first verse:

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.1

The 1965 painting was acquired by the American collector, Harold E. Mertz, eventually gifted by him to the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, United States of America, before its eventual repatriation. Its appeal was so great that Coburn completed two further versions - a smaller one in 1967 and our painting of 1974. Each is strikingly similar, differing subtly in detail, of the yellow grid and particularly the biomorphic forms and colours. The radiant sun pulsates with life-giving flames of light across the fertile bands of 'Mother Earth' and 'Sister Water'. Trees, plants and other living forms echo each other in joyous response and heraldic splendour.

1. St Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Sun, Wikipedia encyclopedia translation

DAVID THOMAS