16 December 2003

Opening at the Shepparton Art Gallery on Thursday 8 January 2004 is an exciting new exhibition on the work of a little known Australian artist Colin Colahan. Shown with rave reviews and enormous crowds at Xavier College, Melbourne recently, the exhibition is the first fully inclusive retrospective exhibition of this acclaimed Australian artist, comprising drawings, paintings and sculpture across seven decades of his life in Melbourne, France, England and Italy.

Born in 1897 at Woodend, Victoria, Colahan was a talented draftsman and painter who had work published in “The Bulletin”.  He studied at the National Gallery School under Bernhard Shaw and Frederick McCubbin.  He was later connected to Max Meldrum who challenged the ideals of the Heidelberg School. 

Colahan moved to London in self imposed exile in 1935 to escape the scandal surrounding the death of his then girlfriend, Mollie Dean, in 1930.  Even though he was eventually discounted as a suspect, he never worked in Australia again.  He spent most of his working life in London, working as a war artist through World War II and then concentrating on commissions after the war.  The last decades of his life he worked in Italy continuously until five years before his death in 1982. 

The works are stunning to view and the Shepparton Art Gallery would like to acknowledge the role of Xavier College in organising the exhibition and generously agreeing to a repeat showing at Shepparton. 

The exhibition will continue until 8 February.  Director of the Castlemaine Art Gallery, Peter Perry, an acknowledged expert on the work of Colin Colahan, will speak on Colahan’s life and work at the first Friends of the Gallery Coffee Morning for 2004 on Wednesday 4 February at 10.00 am.  Admission for members of the Friends is free, and for non members, $2.00.

General admission to the Shepparton Art Gallery is free and it is open seven days a week from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. The gallery is located in the Eastbank Centre, 70 Welsford Street, Shepparton, phone (03) 5832 9861. The Eastbank Caf‚ is open 8.30 am – 4.00 pm Monday to Friday and 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturday and Sunday.