Vic O'connor Chronology 1918 – 2010
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Vic O’Connor chronology 1918 – 2010 Vic O’Connor 1996 1918 Victor George O’Connor was born 21 December, Carlisle Street, Preston, to Ada Alice (nee Clear) and Bertie Edward O’Connor. Vic was the fourth child of five children. His childhood spanned the deprivations of post-WW1 and the Great Depression, embedding in him a natural sense of social justice, which was to prevail in his art throughout his life. 1920 Vic attended school Raglan Street, South Preston, then Penders Grove School, Victoria St Northcote. The family moved from Carlisle Street to Gower Street, Northcote. As a boy, from about 9 to 13 years, Vic helped his mother sell slippers at the Victoria Market after school and aton weekends. She had set up a small slipper factory behind the house when Vic’s father was unable to work, due to poor health. The slipper enterprise went broke in the Depression when Vic was about 13. 1930 Aged about 12 to 13 years, Vic went to stay with his Uncle Alf in Mildura and attended Koorlung School. In 1931 aged 13 he then moved back to live with his mother and younger brother Norm at Mount Evelyn, where he started to paint and read widely. He attended Lilydale School. In about 1936 the family moved to Hutton Street, Thornbury. Vic then attended Melbourne High School, completing Leaving Certificate. After leaving school Vic worked for his brother Alf, a solicitor, for a year in his office on Sydney Road, Brunswick. Vic’s father also worked as a clerk for Alf. Vic, aged about 17 or 18, started a law degree at Melbourne University and worked as an articled clerk to Alf. He spent time in the city studying and working and making new friends. Artist David Strachan was impressed with Vic’s art and suggested he exhibit in the newly formed Contemporary Art Society. He also had suggested Vic attend George Bell’s Saturday afternoon classes. In 1939 Vic met Ailsa Donaldson at George Bell’s art classes. Portrait of Ailsa Donaldson c.1940 1939 (June 6-25) The Contemporary Art Society, Inaugural Exhibition, National Gallery, Melbourne. 1940 Vic won a joint first prize of 50 pounds with Donald Friend at the 1941 Contemporary Art Prize exhibition held at the Hotel Australia. In 1941, aged 23, Vic was admitted to practice law. He then went into the army from 1942 to 1944, stationed first at Tocumwal, then Brunswick. He was initially in a machine gun company. Vic had joined the Communist Party of Australia after meeting Noel Counihan in 1941. In January 1942 Vic married sculptor Ailsa Donaldson. Their two children Sean and Megan were born in 1944 and 1946. In 1944 Vic wrote the articles ‘Art and Fascism’ and ‘A criticism of Adelaide’s Angry Penguins’. He also corresponded with noted art historian Bernard Smith regarding the ‘Angry Penguins movement. Bernard Smith acknowledged the importance of Vic’s work in his book ‘Place, Art and Tradition’ as a major Social Realist artist. After the war, in 1946 Vic, Yosl Bergner and Noel Counihan held their first major exhibition, as ‘Three Realist Artists’, which attracted considerable notice and approval. Also in 1946, Vic established the small Dolphin Press with his friend Judah Waten to publish local writing. His artist friend Yosl Bergner travelled to Israel to be part of the new nation. His other close friends, artists James Wigley and Noel Counihan, ventured to Europe in the last few years of the 1940s, witnessing the effect of the war on cities and populations. Vic O’Connor The Pumpkin Seller Linocut 1949 1941 (Oct 14-31) Contemporary Art Society, Hotel Australia 1942 (Aug 4-15) Contemporary Art Society, Athenaeum Gallery 1942 (Dec 8-10) Contemporary Art Society, Anti-Fascist Exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery 1943 (Aug 24-Sep 9) Contemporary Art Society, Velasquez Gallery 1944 Contemporary Art Society 1945 (April 3-13) CEMA Autumn Arts Festival, Velasquez Gallery, Tye Buiding 1946 (July 16-25) Three Realist Artists, Myer Art Gallery ( 194?) Eureka Art Group, first Eureka Art Exhibition 1950 In 1951 Vic, Ailsa and children moved from Kensington to Hutton Street, Thornbury. Vic worked as a solicitor in Sydney Road, Coburg. He continued painting and exhibiting both in one-man shows and in group shows with other realist artists though the 1950s. Significantly, in 1953 he exhibited at Tye’s furniture store with James Wigley and Noel Counihan with over 2,000 people viewing the exhibition in 10 days (opened by Flora Eldershaw). In 1955 Noel wrote critically of Vic’s work in The Guardian, marking a change in their friendship. Vic O’Connor Court scene Oil on Board c.1950 Vic O’Connor Evening the river Pencil 1952 1950 (Oct 2-13) Paintings by V G O’Connor, Ballarat Art Gallery 1953 (Sep 28- Oct 11) Spring Exhibition of Victorian Artists Society 1953 (Oct 6-16) Exhibition Noel Counihan, Vic O’Connor, James Wigley, Tye’s Gallery 1954 (Sept 14-25) Artists for Peace, Tye’s Gallery 1954 (Sep 20 - Oct 3) Spring Exhibition Victorian Artists Society 1954 (Nov 16-26) Exhibition of Paintings, Tye’s Gallery 1955 (Mar 11-19) The Herald Outdoor Art Show 1955 (May 16-27) V G O’Connor Paintings, Victorian Artists Society Galleries [note reviews] 1955 (Nov 22-Dec 1) Fine Arts Week Exhibition, Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau, Melbourne 1956 (Mar 8-17) The Herald Outdoor Art Show 1957 Exhibition by V G O’Connor, Australian Galleries, Collingwood [review] 1958 (June 13-18) Sixth Annual May Day Art Exhibition , Lower Melbourne Town Hall 1959 (Nov 7-18) Festival Art Competition, Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture. In Association with Australian and New Zealand Congress for International Co-operation and Disarmament 1960 In 1960 Vic moved from Hutton Street, Thornbury to Miller Grove, Kew. His legal office was now in Faraday Street, Carlton. In the early 1960s Vera Stanley and their young daughter Sue moved to Sydney where Vic joined them, living in a terrace house in Neutral Bay, then a working class area. Ailsa and Vic divorced in 1965 and in 1968 Vic and Vera married. Vic O’Connor Sydney Harbour from Lavender Bay Pencil 1963 1960 Australian painters including Noel Counihan, Moscow 1963 (June 2-15) Victorian Artists Society Galleries [reviews] 1963 (Sept 19) Victor O’Connor exhibition, Douglas Galleries, Brisbane 1964 (April 19) Queensland Art Gallery 1964 (May 11-20) Centro Italiano d’Arte 4th Exhibition on SS Marconi, Sydney 1964 (June 13-14) Fredericks Showroom Gallery, St Kilda 1964 (July7-Aug) 0 Friends of National Gallery in Victoria, Loan Collection, Georges Gallery 1964 (Aug 9-22) The Realist Group, Victorian Artists Society 1968 (Oct 8-18) VG O’Connor, Australian Galleries, Collingwood [reviews] 1968 (Oct 10-Nov3) The NBN Channel 3 Art Prize, Newcastle City Art Gallery 1969 (Feb 28) Moomba Festival Exhibition, Toorak Art Gallery 1969 (June 23-July 4) Recent Acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery 1970 Vic and Vera remained in Sydney and then, in 1973 to 1974, travelled to the UK and Europe. Vic, Vera and Sue arrived at Southampton on 4 Feb 1973. They lived in Polperro, Cornwall and in Scotland. In September 1974 they travelled to Holland, then France in October and then on to Greece. They returned to Australia via Israel where they visited Yosl Bergner. Vic O’Connor The Old Shopper, Paris Linocut 1970 (March 2-23) Autumn Exhibition, Joseph Brown Gallery [reviews] 1970 (April 7-22) VG O’Connor (including from series Exodus), Australian Galleries, Collingwood 1970 (May 4-18) 150 Years of Australian Drawings, Joseph Brown Gallery 1970 Aug 11- Sept 2) Australian Irresistibles 1930-1970, Bonython Gallery, Paddington 1971 (May 9-21) Art Exhibition CICD Anti-War Centre, Melbourne 1971 (Oct 13-Nov 5) Spring Exhibition, Joseph Brown Gallery 1971 (Nov 9-20) Vic O’Connor, The Cremorne Gallery, Sydney 1972 (March) Vic O’Connor retrospective of drawings and watercolours, Powell St Gallery . [reviews] 1972 (Nov 8-30)) Spring Exhibition, Joseph Brown Gallery 1972 (Dec 10-23) December Exhibition, Toorak Art Gallery 1974 (March 26- April 10) Vic O’Connor, Australian Galleries [reviews] 1974 (May 4- June 9) Usher Gallery, Lincoln 1974 (July 10-Aug 4) Australian Artists in England, Commonwealth Institute London 1975 (from July 8) The Social Realists Exhibition, Latrobe Valley Arts Centre, Morwell 1975 (Sep 16- 27) Sir William Angliss Art Prize Exhibition 1975 (from Oct 27 on ) Vic O’Connor, The Masters Galleries, Melbourne 1976 (April 3-15) V G O’Connor Exhibition, Victorian Artists Society [reviews] 1977 (August 27 – Sept 9) Vic O’Connor Exhibition Victorian Artists Society [reviews] 1977 (Nov 27) Exhibition of important works by Vic O’Connor spanning 30 years, Jewish Folk Centre, Sydney 1977 Neutral Bay Art Gallery Sydney 1979 (Oct) Masters Gallery, Melbourne 1980 In the early 1980s, Vic and Vera moved from Sydney to Dromana and bought the house ‘Woodside’ in 1983 where heVic lived until mid 2010, some 27 years. Vic was aged 64 when they moved into ‘Woodside’ where he set up his studio and continued painting prolifically as well as doing major development of the garden. In the late 1980s he also rented a studio in Greeves Street, Fitzroy which he visited from Dromana and again painted Melbourne’s inner suburbs. In 1988 his work was exhibited in London’s v Gallery as part of the exhibition ‘Angry Penguins and Realist Painting in Melbourne in the 1940s’. This exhibition then toured a number of Australian galleries. In 1987 Vic had his first of many exhibitions at Bridget McDonnell’s Gallery. Bridget subsequently became his main dealer. Vic O’Connor Long Island, Frankston Oil on Canvas 1982 1980 (Dec 3-24) Vic O’Connor, The Bloomfield Galleries,