Born to the ArtHalifax artist John O’Brien is arguably the most talented Canadian marine painter – he certainly was the cream of the Maritime artists plying that trade in the 19th century. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1831 to Irish immigrant parents, legend has it that John O’Brien was born at sea. Whether or not he actually was is unclear, but he certainly was born to his chosen profession – painting.
O’Brien’s family moved to Halifax shortly after John’s birth. Halifax of the early 19th century was a bustling seaport, bursting at its seams with sailors, soldiers, new immigrants and all the hustle and bustle that implied. John started painting in his teens, and his father displayed his works in the window of his barbershop. This brought young John attention, and more importantly, commissions.
Primarily self-taught, O’Brien eventually studied painting in London. His tutelage under the academic painter J.W. Carmichael however was perhaps more useful for securing new commissions on his return to Halifax, as he was already quite an accomplished painter before he went to Great Britain. O’Brien’s skill is most apparent in his treatment of skies and water – the choppy seas, for instance, in the painting Plymouth, Barque, or the wonderful blue sky with its sense of vastness and warm light in The ARAB, Brigantine, and the MILO, Brig, off Halifax Harbour.
John O’Brien died in Halifax in 1891.
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The ARAB, Brigantine, and the MILO, Brig, off Halifax Harbour, 1856
ARAB
O'Brien, John, 1856
Oil on canvas
58.5 x 78.9 cm
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS. Gift of Judith A. and Alex W. Doyle, Sidney, BC,1999
1999.25 |  |
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