Elwyn Lynn

The recorded working language is English. Employment is recorded with Quadrant. Work by Elwyn Lynn is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Auckland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales and National Gallery of Australia. Distinctions recorded are Wynne Prize.

• Name — Elwyn Lynn • Born — 6 November 1917 • Birthplace — Canowindra, NSW, Australia • Died — 22 January 1997 • Place of death — Sydney, NSW, Australia • Occupation — Artist, author, critic and curator

Elwyn Lynn trained as a teacher, and was a schoolmaster in Sydney Secondary schools until 1968 (mainly English and history). Lynn was self-taught as an artist. Lynn was Curator of the Power Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sydney University from 1969 to 1983. There he built up an international collection, which is now within the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art. Lynn was an art critic at The Australian for many years. He was author of several books, including one about the artist Sir Sidney Nolan. Alongside his career as a painter, which started in the mid-1940s, Lynn was also an outspoken commentator on the visual arts. In the 1950s and 1960s he edited the Broadsheets of the Contemporary Art Society. He worked as a critic for a number of newspapers, including the Sunday Mirror (1963), The Bulletin (1966-1973), Nation (1969), The Australian (1964-1965) and The Weekend Australian. In 1971 he became Advisory Editor of Art International. For a short time he also edited Art and Australia. Lynn was awarded Membership of the Order of Australia in 1975. He won the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1988. In 1989, he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Sydney. In 1994 he received the Emeritus Award from the Australia Council.

• Illustration — 'Cornered' by Elwyn Lynn, 1967 Elwyn Lynn's work was striking, with the use of unconventional painting media and expressive surfaces to construct metaphors for human suffering and endurance. Most of his work was essentially abstract, although a sense of the landscape is often evoked. Emeritus Professor Peter Pinson noted: • The later work of Lynn maintained his interest in damaged and shredding surfaces, and his frequent and adventurousness use of assemblage elements. These late works were also marked by an expressionist vehemence and a daring informality.

Elwyn Lynn participated in over 150 group exhibitions in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Brazil, Indonesia, Poland and Germany. He had over 50 solo exhibitions in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Cologne (Germany). He has collections in the following galleries: • National Gallery of Australia • Art Gallery of NSW • Queensland Art Gallery • Art Gallery of South Australia • Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery • Art Gallery of Western Australia • Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery • Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory • Museum of Contemporary Art • Australian War Memorial in Canberra • Auckland Art Gallery New Zealand • Federation University Art Collection • Castlemaine Art Museum