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. He studied commercial art and industrial design at Beckenham School of Art, England. After returning to Western Australia he painted, taught and exhibited in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. 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. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

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 1960s, and at Guildford Grammar School in the late 1960s & early 1970s. 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 Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

, 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 import ...

, the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

, the Queensland Art Gallery and

Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the Legislature, legislative body of Politics of Australia, Australia's federal system of government. The building also houses the core of the Executive (government), execut ...

Exhibitions

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

. 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 University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, 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 g ...

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 Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

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 byLilla Cole. Fremantle, W.A. :

Fremantle Arts Centre Press Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing Western Australian writers and writin ...

(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 1929 births 2012 deaths People from Merredin, Western Australia Staff of Hale School Guildford Grammar School Members of the Order of Australia Wynne Prize winners Darlington, Western Australia 20th-century Australian painters Australian modern painters

Early life

Teaching

Exhibitions

Late work

Death

Awards

Personal life

See also

Printed works

References

External links

Further reading

Notes