John COBURN

Born in Ingham, far North Queensland, John Coburn AM studied, lived and taught in Sydney. Painter, printmaker and designer of tapestries, he is perhaps best known for a form of abstract painting based on clear, simple shapes and radiant colour.  

Coburn is widely known and has work hung in many major collections, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. and the Vatican Museum in Rome. He won the prestigious Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1960. He designed Curtain of the Sun and Curtain of the Moon for the Sydney Opera House in 1970. Coburn was Head of the National Art School from 1972-74 and a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1977-80. Coburn was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the arts in 1980.