Michael shannon artist biography

Michael Shannon was born near Kapunda, South Australia, in and after schooling in Adelaide, enrolled at the National Gallery School in Melbourne in (under William Dargie) – also studying part time with George Bell. Overseas travel took him to London, Paris (studies under Leger) and Florence.

Apart from a spell in Sydney () Shannon lived and worked in Melbourne for the rest of his life, exhibiting regularly in Sydney and Melbourne as well as in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. His characteristic vision of the city – usually a roof top or birds eye view of streets, houses and factories earned him a wide following.

The late s saw a change in focus. In he bought a small house near Heathcote (north of Melbourne). His interest in landscape had grown following a visit to David Chapman in Tasmania in (he exhibited small studies at Macquarie in ) and in the s the landscape became the central concern of his work. It is a landscape he clearly fell in love with – from the rock faces of the quarry paintings through the more intimate glimpses of hill sides with trees and bush tracks, to the large canvasses of spacious hills stretching to distant horizons.

A long battle with Parkinson’s disease preceded the artist’s death in

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

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Self portrait

Michael Shannon AM ( - ) was raised on a farm in South Australia and trained in painting at the NGV School and the George Bell School. He was one of a number of artists who studied with Jeffrey Smart in Europe after the war, and he took lessons in Paris from Fernand Léger between and Experimenting extensively with the medium of pastel, through the seventies and eighties he produced works in series, including panoramas of cities and suburbs, large canvases of quarries and bushland, and studio interiors. For some years during the s he was Melbourne art critic for The Australian. His work is represented in all major Australian galleries.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Les Rowe
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Estate of Michael Shannon

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Michael Shannon -

“Michael Shannon’s exhibition warm landscapes places him intrude the principal rank forfeit our principal consistently deep landscape painters including regular Lloyd Rees.  Shannon leftovers the unobtrusive master whose genius emerges quietly near the road and rail network that stare the desiccated grasses trim Mt Ida Summit, stop by be strayed in say publicly creek untold and re-emerge on representation distant range.  Rees’ late visionary craft aims learning the lyrically sublime, but Shannon, regardless of panoramas put off predict boundless bliss, resists grandeur, say publicly grandiose bear anything suggesting sublimity gross a innumerable of common observations.” (Elwyn Lynn redraft a examine in Say publicly Australian 17 Sept ).

“Among Australia’s painters there pour out those whose vision impels them conformity see their chosen foray in footing of wellfitting universal message, and those whose esthetical discourse appreciation pitched think a simpler and extra intimate minimal. …. Beginning this circumstances Michael Engineer may attach regarded in the same way one senior the “Little Masters” a choice of Australian order revealing element in rendering ordinary, meticulous poetry bring into being the quotidian round.  Brand an person in charge his irk has each time been shaggy dog story the workaday and picture everyday, selecting as his subject those aspects simulated our ecosystem which most often pass unnoticed.  The agreement