Jack Courier

Courier was born in 1915 in Elwood, Victoria. As a young man he took various jobs including work as a salesman in country towns.{{Citation |last1=Blackman |first1=Barbara |title=Interview with John Courier, artist |date=1989 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/221332806 |language=English |oclc=221332806 |access-date=2022-07-13 |last2=Courier |first2=Jack}}

He studied at the school established by George Bell and Arnold Shore at 443 Bourke Street, Melbourne, which became a centre for modernist art in Melbourne.{{Citation |last=Williams |first=Fred |title=Bell, George Frederick Henry (1878–1966) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bell-george-frederick-henry-5192 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en |access-date=2022-07-13}}{{Citation |last1=Moore |first1=Felicity St. John |title=Classical modernism: the George Bell circle. |date=1992 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37096859 |place=Melbourne, Vic. |publisher=National Gallery of Victoria |language=English |oclc=37096859 |access-date=2022-07-13 |last2=National Gallery of Victoria}} He exhibited with the George Bell Group in 1949 and with the Melbourne Contemporary Artists in 1952.{{Cite news |last=""The Age" Art Critic" |date=14 October 1952 |title=Art Notes : Impressive Display of Contemporary Work |pages=2 |work=The Age}} An early review by The Age art critic of the exhibition of the George Bell Group in their annual exhibition at the Victorian Artists' Society's Gallery, Albert Street, East Melbourne, noted that his painting The Red Chair was, and one by Peter Cox, were works "by younger men that impress".{{Cite news |last="The Age" Art Critic |date=18 October 1949 |title=Art Notes |pages=2 |work=The Age}}

Like other Australian printmakers, including Fred Williams, Ian Armstrong, Janet Dawson and Robert Grieve, Courier went to study abroad.{{Cite book |last1=Grishin |first1=Sasha |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69676613 |title=The art of Grahame King |last2=King |first2=Grahame E |last3=Bright |first3=Libby |date=2005 |publisher=Macmillan Art Publishing |isbn=978-1-876832-59-9 |location=South Yarra, Vic. |pages=34 |language=English |oclc=69676613}} From 1950 to 1951 he travelled in Europe, then funded by a British Council Bursary returned to England 1954–1956 to study painting, drawing, lithography with Lynton Lamb and Ceri Richards and also etching at the Slade School. On his return to Melbourne, he set up the first printmaking department at Prahran Technical School. Not long after his return he exhibited paintings, drawings and lithographs made in London at Peter Bray Gallery in March 1957. The Age art critic wrote of "the newcomer" as;

"an artist of Integrity and personal feeling. Working in the subdued English light he has evolved a low-toned, misty style in his oils, which leaves him little tonal range. But within the limits he allows himself he can create an effect of depth and space which enriches his quiet canvases [...] The color is deliberately unobtrusive, but it Is an organic part of these works," going on to remark on his skilful draughtsmanship to conclude that "he is almost certainly an artist to watch."{{Cite news |last="The Age" Art Critic |date=19 March 1957 |title=Art Notes : Shows of paintings - past and present |pages=2 |work=The Age}}

"Jack Courier is a Melbourne artist who went to London and more-or-less starved there while he studied at the Slade School. He emerged therefrom with a technical equipment sufficient to enable him to produce lithographs and drawings of bits of old London with a line which is often heavy and unfeeling, but sometimes light and expressive. His oils have an elusive quality about them as if painted in the twilight."{{Cite journal |date=3 April 1957 |title=Artbursts : Melbourne galleries |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-680601559 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=78 |issue=4025 |pages=25–6}}

Courier taught at Caulfield Technical College where he introduced the teaching of lithography,{{Cite book |last=Stocky |first=Catherine |url=https://vcrc.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/bib/P00001219.htm |title=Jack Courier - master lithographer. Thesis |publisher=Melbourne University |year=2006 |edition=Master of Arts, Art History And Screen Studies |location=Visual Cultures Resource Centre |language=English}}{{Cite book |last1=Courier |first1=Jack |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/653970903 |title=Jack Courier (1915-2007): lithographs. |last2=Stocky |first2=Catherine |last3=Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum |date=2009 |publisher=Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum |location=Castlemaine, Vic. |language=English |oclc=653970903}} at Prahran College, and Swinburne Technical College. He also taught silk screening and drawing at Pentridge Gaol.

Courier was a foundation member of the Print Council of Australia and exhibited with them, including in touring shows.

Later in life Courier married painter Mary McLeish, a member of the Women Painters and Sculptors society.{{Cite news |date=1955-03-29 |title=Talk About : Paints pictures she won't sell |pages=11 |work=The Argus |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71641760 |access-date=2022-07-13}} The couple exhibited together and she was frequently a finalist in the Archibald Prize. Mary's daughter was Barbara Courier McLeish (born 1936).{{Cite news |date=1954-12-31 |title=Party Time |pages=7 |work=The Herald |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243429024 |access-date=2022-07-14}}

• 1957, 19–28 March: Peter Bray Gallery
• 1966, from 30 January: Exhibition of paintings and prints by Jack Courier. North Adelaide Galleries{{Cite web |title=Jack Courier : Exhibitions |url=https://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/search/?q=Jack+Courier&num_results=20&view=list&order_by= |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au}}
• 1991, 28 November – 18 December: Eastgate Gallery{{Cite book |last=Eastgate Gallery |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/781543843 |title=Works on paper: November 28th - December 18th 1991. |date=1991 |publisher=Eastgate Gallery |isbn=978-1-875517-05-3 |location=Hawthorn, Vic. |language=English |oclc=781543843}}
• 2009: Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum
• 1963, May: Landscapes. Concurrent with solo show by wife Mary McLeish. Australian Galleries, Collingwood{{Cite news |last=Shore |first=Arnold |date=21 May 1963 |title=Art Notes |pages=5 |work=The Age}}
• 1989: Jack Courier, lithographs and oils. Eastgate Gallery
• 2003: Lithographs and gouaches by Jack Courier. The Rotunda, Hong Kong

• 1952, Melbourne Contemporary Artists annual exhibition. Victorian Artists Society, East Melbourne
• 1992: Classical Modernism: The George Bell Circle. National Gallery of Victoria
• 1970, March: Leveson Street Gallery, North Melbourne{{Cite news |last=Galbally |first=Ann |date=25 March 1970 |title=Prints that impress |pages=2 |work=The Age}}

• National Gallery of Australia{{Cite web |title=Jack Courier |url=https://nga.gov.au/template/search-the-collection/ |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=National Gallery of Australia |language=en}}
• Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Art Gallery of South Australia{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Jack Courier |url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/creators/jack-courier/9052/www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/creators/jack-courier/9052/ |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Art Gallery of South Australia |language=en}}
• National Gallery of Victoria{{Cite web |title=John Courier |url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/4563/ |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=National Gallery of Victoria}}
• Castlemaine Art Museum{{Cite web |title=Jack Courier (b.1915, d.2007) |url=https://collection.castlemainegallery.com/persons/144/jack-courier-b1915-d2007 |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Castlemaine Art Museum Collection Online |language=en}}
• Latrobe Valley
• Mildura
• Warrnambool

1975: Alice Springs Prize (print acquired)

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Category:1915 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:20th-century Australian painters

Category:Australian printmakers

Category:20th-century Australian lithographers

Category:People from Elwood, Victoria

Category:Businesspeople from Melbourne

Category:Artists from Melbourne

Category:20th-century male artists