John Coburn is regarded as one of Australia’s best-known and most recognisable abstract artists. His work continues to be widely collected and celebrated for its exquisite power and mythological narrative quality.

On the surface, Coburn’s paintings embody a harmony of organic forms, rich colour, and compelling flatness. Looking deeper, they channel a spiritual energy through quasi-religious themes and iconographic stories that are at once human, divine, and earthly.

Coburn’s artistic mission was to create a distinctly Australian abstract visual language—one that brought together Western European culture, Roman Catholicism, Aboriginal spirituality, and the natural world. His international influences included Matisse, Miró, Mondrian, Picasso, and Rothko.

His agnostic contemporaries watched with fascination as Coburn pursued his holy abstractions with conviction. Fellow artist Charles Blackman observed: “John Coburn… strives for the ideal. His commitment to the organic shape of his religious feeling has been unfailing.”

Through this lifelong pursuit, Coburn forged a radiant visual theology—one that continues to illuminate the spiritual dimension of Australian art.

John COBURN (1925 - 2006)
'Phoenix' 1971
Gouache on paper
Image Size: 55 x 76 cm
Signed: signed lower right: Coburn;  signed, dated and inscribed verso: John Coburn / Phoenix / Paris 1971
Provenance: C. Dorothy Lewis Irrevocable Trust, New York Doyles, New York, 11 April 2018, lot 19.
Private collection, Singapore Klas Art Auction, Malaysia, 23 September 2018, lot 52.
Private collection, Malaysia.Related Works: Phoenix, 1971, oil on canvas, 79.5 x 98 cm. 

Condition: Excellent
(c) John Coburn / Copyright Agency