The Prisoner 1969
Black chalk on paper
105 x 75 cm
Signed and dated '69, June 2; also titled and inscribed Chalk on reverse
Provenance: Peter Nahum, London
Exhibited: Noel Counihan, Exhibition of drawings and prints, USSR and International Books and Press Club, Warsaw, 1969; Noel Counihan, Paintings, drawings and prints, 1943 to 1973, National Gallery of Victoria, catalogue no. 64; Noel Counihan Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Commonwealth Art Gallery, 1973, no. 66
Literature: refer Noel Counihan, Artist and Revolutionary, Bernard Smith, Oxford University Press, 1993, page 428. He stressed that he was also concerned with the theme of the prisoner. The gaols “of Spain, Mexico, Greece, South Africa, and other lands are filled with political prisoners, isolated for their principals’. However ‘many of the rest of us carry our private gaols around with us-our individuality so restricted and confined by modern life’.
This was drawn in Paris in June 1969 when Pat and Noel spent a 4 month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts. It was included in an Exhibition of drawings and prints, in Poland at the International Books and Press Club, Warsaw; and USSR, 1969
Item #6751
Sold