Robert Litchfield Juniper, AM (7 January 192920 December 2012) was an Australian artist, art teacher, illustrator, painter, printmaker and sculptor.

Early life

Juniper was born in the wheat-belt town of

Merredin, Western Australia Merredin is a town in Western Australia, located in the central Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt roughly midway between Perth and Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Kalgoorlie, on List of road routes in Perth, Western Australia, Route 94, G ...

. He studied commercial art and industrial design at

Beckenham School of Art Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

, England. After returning to Western Australia he painted, taught and exhibited in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He was particularly championed by Rose Skinner, a local exhibitor. He was a long-term resident of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and at different stages in its history involved with the Darlington Arts Festival.

Teaching

Juniper taught art at Perth College and Hale School in the 1950s, and at Guildford Grammar School in the 1960s. In the 1960s his excursions into the Australian outback with Ian Parkes was the inspiration for the subject matter a large part of his abstract style of art. He designed the coat of arms for the Commonwealth Law Courts in Perth, in 1992. His works are held in numerous collections, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Gallery ...

and Parliament House, Canberra

Exhibitions

Juniper was given many solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas, including a major retrospective in 1999 at the Art Gallery of Western Australia,

. He was represented for many years by Gomboc Gallery. Right up until shortly before his death at the age of 83, he continued to paint regularly, with increasing 'hands-on' assistance from his wife and remained both a highly productive artist and an inspiration and mentor to many other Australian artists.

Late work

Juniper was commissioned to work on a feature window in the restored Bunbury Catholic Cathedral. This work was completed in 2011.

Death

In 2002, Juniper suffered a stroke that robbed him of the use of his left hand. He became ill in October 2011 when fluid gathered on his lung. Juniper died at his

home on 20 December 2012 at the age of 83.

Awards

*1954, 57, 59, 60, 62 Perth Prize for Contemporary Art *1966 T. E. Wardle Invitation Prize *1975

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

*1979 Wynne Prize *1984 Honorary Doctorate,

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, Perth *1988 Kingfisher Prize, New South Wales *1998 State Living Treasures Award, Ministry for Culture and the Arts, Western Australia *2003

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

of Federation for service to Australian landscape painting and contemporary art *2004 Awarded medal for services to art, The Painters and Sculptors Association of Australia *2011 Appointed Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to the visual arts, particularly as an Australian landscape painter and contemporary artist

Personal life

Juniper was married three times and had four children, all by his first wife, Robin-Ann (née Brennan): Sato (previously Linda); Ben (Benedict); Sam (previously Damian) and Bec (Rebecca). They all live and work as professionals in various fields in Western Australia. He had 11 grandchildren and step-grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His second wife is Amanda (née Silburn) and his third wife is Patricia (née Lowe).

Printed works

* Todd, Trevor (1977) ''Mason Judy'', illustrated by Robert Juniper. Sydney : Methuen of Australia * (1982) ''Asphodel'' llustrated byRobert Juniper,

ext by Ext, ext or EXT may refer to: * Ext functor, used in the mathematical field of homological algebra * Ext (JavaScript library), a programming library used to build interactive web applications * Exeter Airport (IATA airport code), in Devon, England ...

Lilla Cole. Fremantle, W.A. : Fremantle Arts Centre Press (pbk.)

References

* Gavin Fry (2009) Robert Juniper, Sydney: The Beagle Press (with an introduction by Lou Klepac) * Lynn, Elwyn,(1986) ''The art of Robert Juniper'' Seaforth, N.S.W: Craftsman House * McNamara, Phillip (2000) ''Robert Juniper : mining the load of Juniper's art''. Review of retrospective mentioned above in 1999. in Art and Australia, June 2000, p. 532-533, * O'Brien, Philippa (1992) ''Robert Juniper'' Roseville East, N.S.W : Craftsman House

External links

* The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 1996 – Robert Juniper, available online, https://web.archive.org/web/20070129063426/http://www.moranhealthcare.com.au/art/1996/juniper.html, 6 July 2005 * http://www.artlink.com.au/articles.cfm?id=79 - review at time of retrospective

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juniper, Robert Litchfield Australian artists 1929 births 2012 deaths People from Merredin, Western Australia Staff of Hale School Guildford Grammar School Recipients of the Centenary Medal Members of the Order of Australia Wynne Prize winners Darlington, Western Australia