Noel Counihan

• Born 1913-10-04 · Died 1986-07-05

Noel Counihan was an Australian social realist painter, printmaker, cartoonist and illustrator active in the 1940s and 1950s in Melbourne. During 1930–31, he studied part-time under Charles Wheeler at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne, where he met the social realists Herbert McClintock and Roy Dalgarno. In 1931, he became a member of the Communist Party of Australia and helped found the Workers Art Guild. He began printmaking, producing linocuts and lithographs for Communist magazine covers and pamphlets as well as designing banners. From 1934, Counihan worked as a cartoonist for various publications, including *The Bulletin*. He worked for the Communist Party's paper, the *Guardian*, from 1945 to 1949 and again from 1952 to 1958. With the encouragement of the artist Yosl Bergner, he began to paint, developing a personal style based on the social realist approach. Counihan acknowledged George Finey as a major influence on his art. His 1955 painting *On Parliament Steps* won the George Crouch Memorial Prize in 1956.