ON DISPLAY in
AUSTRALIAN ART
EXPRESSIONISM & SOCIAL REALISM
Go to level
2
SEE WHAT'S NEARBY
(accurate to +/- 18 hrs)
Noel COUNIHAN
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 1913 – Canterbury, Victoria, Australia 1986
- Movements: Aotearoa New Zealand 1939-40
- England, Europe 1949-52
The new order
1942 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Painting, oil on composition board
Primary Insc: signed and dated l.l., oil "Counihan .42"
61.7 h x 80.1 w cm
Purchased 1971
Accession No: NGA 71.200
MORE DETAIL
Noel COUNIHAN
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 1913 – Canterbury, Victoria, Australia 1986
- Movements: Aotearoa New Zealand 1939-40
- England, Europe 1949-52
The new order
1942 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Painting, oil on composition board
Primary Insc: signed and dated l.l., oil "Counihan .42"
61.7 h x 80.1 w cm
Purchased 1971
Accession No: NGA 71.200
Exhibition History
-
- 1993
-
- Art on the Waterfront
- Australian National Maritime Museum
-
- 1989
-
- Angry Penguins and Realist Painting in Melbourne in the 1940s
- Nolan Gallery
-
- 1989
-
- Angry Penguins and Realist Painting in Melbourne in the 1940s
- Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Orange Regional Gallery
- Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
- Warrnambool Art Gallery
LESS DETAIL
Noel Counihan believed that art should have a social mission and that it could be used as a tool to expose political corruption, the hypocrisy of the church and the inequalities in society. The Nazi soldiers are shown from behind — faceless, as anonymous symbols of oppression. They are symbols for all military oppressors. The victims, an elderly bearded peasant who has been shot and a decapitated woman, are symbolic of the civilian human sacrifice throughout the ages. Counihan drew on a particular historical circumstance to make a comment which has a timeless and universal significance.
Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010
From: Anne Gray (ed), Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002
