Jeff Makin

BORN 1943 Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia

Jeff Makin is a full-time artist, art critic and is recognized as one of Australia’s leading landscape painters. Makin is best known for his paintings en plein air of the Australian and European landscape. He has held numerous senior academic appointments while maintaining a flourishing artistic practice.

Jeff Makin’s artwork has long explored the picturesque and the sublime in nature, rooted in a specifically Australian locality. The You Yangs, the Grampians, Mt Buller, Wannon Falls and the Yarra Valley are all locations that Makin has visited intermittently throughout his career, in search of capturing those intangible qualities that form the essence of the land.

Landmarks by their very nature are immediately identifiable, partly through constructed imagery created through mediums such as painting, which become integral to our perception of them.

Jeff Makin is represented in all National, State and most Regional and corporate collections in Australia. In 2007 a boutique hotel in East Melbourne was named in his honour. Jeff Makin has been a finalist in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Tattersalls Art Prize in Brisbane.

EDUCATION

1994-95 M.A. (Research), Deakin University, Geelong
1962-66 Diploma (Painting), National Art School, Sydney
Tertiary Teacher Training, Sydney Teachers College, Sydney
1961 Julian Ashton’s School of Art, Desiderus Orban Studio, Sydney

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS

1997-Current Art Critic, Herald Sun, Melbourne
1996-97 Director, National Art School, Sydney
1986-91 Principal Lecturer, Post Graduate Studies, Fine Art, RMIT University, Melbourne
1990 Artist-in-residence, Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK
1983-86 Principal Lecturer, Post Graduate Studies and Deputy Head, Fine Art, RMIT University (Bundoora Campus), Melbourne
1973-82 Senior Lecturer, Painting, School of Art & Design, Prahran College of Advanced Education, Melbourne
1978 Visiting Artist, Gloucestershire, School of Art & Design, UK
1972-82 Art Critic, Herald Sun, Melbourne
1971 Lecturer in Painting, PCAE, Melbourne
1968-70 Lecturer, National Art School, Sydney

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016 Harvey Galleries, Sydney
2011 Landmarks, Astras Galleries, Marina Mirage, Gold Coast
2010 The Journey, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Landmarks, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
Red Centre, Art Equity, Sydney
2007 A Graphic Survey, Port Jackson Press Print Room, Melbourne
2007 Etchings of Tasmania, Colville Street Art Gallery, Hobart
2006 Terre Australis, Art Equity, Sydney
2006 En Plein Air, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
2006 Jeffrey Makin: Drawings, Stonnington Stables Museum of Art, Deakin University, Melbourne
2005 The Tasman Series, Art Equity, Sydney
2004 Australia Felix, Suite of ten etchings launched in conjunction with Australian
Conservation Foundation in World Environment Week, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
2003 Australia Felix, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2002 Print Survey, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
Jeffrey Makin: genii loci, Stonnington Stables Gallery, Deakin University, Melbourne
Jeffrey Makin: Australia Felix, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne
Lister Calder Gallery, Perth
Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
2000 BMG Gallery, Adelaide
1999 Robin Gibson, Sydney
BMG Gallery, Adelaide
Solander Gallery, Canberra
1998 Cook’s Hill Gallery, Newcastle
1997 Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
1995 BMG Gallery, Adelaide
Greythorn Gallery, Melbourne
1994 Phillip Bacon, Brisbane
Greythorn Gallery, Melbourne
1993 Greenhill Galleries, Perth
John Paul College, Brisbane
1992 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Melbourne Art Fair, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Schubert Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
1991 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Realities Gallery, Melbourne, Adrian Slinger Gallery, Brisbane
1990 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1989 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane, Realities Gallery, Melbourne, Greenhill Galleries, Perth
1988 Britain-Australia Bicentenary, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
Realities Gallery, Melbourne, Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney
1986 Perth Festival Exhibition, Quentin Gallery, Perth Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney, Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1985 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
1984 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane, Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney, Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1982 Gallery 52, Perth, Still Life 1978-82, Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane, Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
1981 Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney
1980 Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
1979 Objects 1978-79, Prahran College Gallery, Melbourne, Places 1978-79, Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
1977 Profile 5, University of Melbourne Art Gallery, Melbourne, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1976 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Solander Galleries, Canberra, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
1974 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1973 Sweeney Reed Gallery, Melbourne
1972 Llewellyn Galleries, Adelaide
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1971 Osborne and Polak Gallery, Melbourne
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1970 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
Strines Gallery, Melbourne
1969 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1968 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1967 Watters Gallery, Sydney

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne
2010 Autumn Collection, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Winter Collection, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Autumn Collection, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2009 New Figuration, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Winter Collection, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2007 International and Australian Works on Paper, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Winter Collection, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2005 Thirty, celebrating thirty years of limited edition fine art publishing, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
2002 First Birthday Group Show, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Earth, Fire, Water, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
1992 Australian Modernism: The Complexity and the Diversity, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne
1991 Group Exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Green Arts, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1989 Chicago International Art Exposition, Navy Pier, Chicago, USA
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
The Kingfisher Prize Exhibition, Gallery 460, Gosford, NSW
1988 Los Angeles Art Fair (Realities Gallery), L.A., USA Painter’s Vision, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Aspects of Art, Israel/Australia
1984 The Australians (curated by Memory Holloway), C.D.S. Gallery, New York
1983 McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
1982 Aspects of the Landscape, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne; Shepparton Arts Centre, Victoria; Benalla, Art Gallery, Victoria
1981 Joseph Brown Spring Exhibition, Melbourne
1979 McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1975 Artist’s Artists, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1974 Darnell De Gruchy Invitation Prize, Brisbane, Fifty Years of the National Art School, Bonython Galleries, Sydney, Joseph Brown Spring and Autumn Exhibitions, Melbourne
1972,74,78 Georges Invitation Art Prize, Melbourne

SELECTED AWARDS & COMMISSIONS

2010 Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize 2010, Finalist
Calleen Art Award, Finalist
2009 Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize 2009 Finalist
2008 Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize 2008, Finalist, Glover Prize 2008 – Finalist
2003 Lake Eyre and Beyond, Deague Family Art Foundation commissioned 10 artists to travel, produce work and participate in a documentary regarding this trip to Lake Eyre
1995-98 Australian Government Post-Graduate Research Scholarship, Deakin University, Melbourne
1993 Commonwealth Savings Bank: Triptych – A Romantic Trilogy, three 2.5m x 3m canvases, World Trade Centre, Sydney
1992 Federal Airports Corporation: Two large scale paintings in VIP Lounge, International Airport, Sydney
1991-92 Hilton International, Brisbane: Mural – Waterfall, 11m x 4m
1990 Tattersall’s Club Art Prize, Brisbane
1987 Victorian Ministries for Transport and the Arts – public art project ‘Transporting Art’: Desert Tram
1985 Gold Coast Purchase Prize, Queensland
1980 School of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne: Portrait of Professor James Steel
1979 National Bank of Australasia: Tapestry woven by the Victorian Tapestry
Workshop
1976 Townsville Pacific Festival Purchase Award, Queensland, Rockhampton Art Prize, Queensland
1971 Gold Coast Purchase Prize, Queensland
1968 Southern Cross Art Prize, Sydney
1966 Drummoyne Graphic Prize, Sydney
1965 Mirror-Warratah Art Prize, Sydney
1964 Art Progression Scholarship, National Art School, Sydney

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS
Fields, Caroline – Forward, Makin, Jeffrey – notes on drawing, Jeffrey Makin: Drawings published for the exhibition at Stonnington Stables Museum of Art, 2006
Bonython, Kym, Australian Painting 1970-75, Rigby, Adelaide, 1976
Bonython, Kym, Australian Painting 1970-80, Rigby, Adelaide, 1980
Carmichael, R., Makin, J. and Wolseley, J., Orienteering: Painting in the Landscape, Deakin University Press, Geelong, 1982
Chanin, Eileen, Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, Roseville, NSW, 1990
Crawford, Ashley and McGregor, Ken, William Creek and Beyond, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2002
Drury, Neville, Images in Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, Roseville, NSW, 1990
Germaine, Max, Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand, Lansdowne Editions, Sydney, 1979
McCulloch, Alan, The Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, Hutchinson, Melbourne, 1967
McCulloch, Susan, The Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, Allan and Unwin, Sydney 1994
McGrath, Sandra, Brett Whitely, Bay Books, Sydney, 1979
McGregor, Ken, William Creek and Beyond, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2002
McGregor, Ken and Makin, Jeff, Teeming With Life: The Graphics of John Olsen, McMillan, Melbourne, 2005.
McKenzie, Jane, Drawing in Australia, MacMillan, Sydney, 1986
Nicholls, Lara, The CBUS Collection of Australian Art: advisor Dr Joseph Brown AO 2004
Olsen, John, Drawn from Life, Duffy & Snellgrove, Melbourne, 1997
Sturgeon, Graham, Australia, the Painter’s Vision, Bay Books, Sydney, 1987
Thomas, David, Jeffrey Makin – Genii Loci, Stonnington Stables Museum of Art, Deakin University, Melbourne, 2002
Who’s Who in Australia, Information Australia, Melbourne, 1998
Zimmer, Jenny, Australia Felix: Landscapes by Jeffrey Makin, Macmillan, Melbourne, 2002

JOURNALS & MAGAZINES
Allen, Traudi, Studio International, vol 199, No. 1015, 1986/87, p. 36
Astbury, Leigh, ‘Marketing the Last Frontier’, Studio International, vol. 199, No. 1015, 1986/87
Beaumont, Mary Rose, Art Review, 29 Jan 1988
Bromfield, Dr. David, ‘Aspects of Landscape’, Gallery 52, Art Network, Spring 1983
Brown, Phil, ‘A Waterfall Affair’, State of the Art, Issue 2, 1992, pp. 46-47
Collier, Caroline, ‘Paintings from Australia’, Studio International, March 1984
Dodd, Terri, ‘Scaling the Heights of Art’, Australian Artist, No. 103, Jan 1993, cover & pp. 42-48
Griffiths, Anna, ‘Transport of Delight’, Design World, No. 13, 1987, pp. 30-33
Griffiths, Anna, ‘Splash’, Design Ink, No. 11, Dec 1992, pp.48-53
Hill, Peter, ‘The Flinders Ranges’, Alba, No. 8, 1998 pp. 34-36
Lane, Jessica, ‘Jeff Makin: a Heidelberg Spirit’, Antiques and Art, May/June, 1968
Lynn, Elwyn, ‘Profile 5 Exhibition’, catalogue essay, University of Melbourne Gallery, May 1977
Lynn, Elwyn, ‘Australian Letter’, Art International, March/April, 1982
Lynn, Elwyn, ‘Jeffrey Makin’, Watters Gallery Bulletin, 1968
Milington, John, ‘Jeffrey Makin, in the Top End!’, Antiques and Art, July-Nov 1991, p. 43
Siebert, David, ‘Jeffrey Makin, An Artist of International Significance’, Art National, Sep 1984
Siebert, David, ‘Waterfalls’, Oz Art Report, Issue 2, 1992, pp. 42-45
von Joel, Mike, Artine, Vol. 3, No. 10, 1988, pp. 20-21

NEWSPAPER REVIEWS
Bell, Pam, ‘A Fresh New Look’, Australian, 13 June 1977
Brown, Phil, Brisbane Courier Mail, 6 Sep 1991
Brown, Phil, ‘Masterpeice Commissioned’, City News, 19 Dec 1991
Brown, Phil, ‘Hilton Waterfall Unvelied’, City News, 16 Jan 1992
Carmichael, Rod, Sun News Pictorial, Melbourne, 4 March 1997
Crawford, Ashley, ‘Escape from the Traditional View of the Landscape’, Age, 15 August 2002
Dutkiewicz, Adam, ‘Makin Shows his True Colours with Landscape’, Advertiser, Adelaide, 17 May 1995
Follent, Sarah, ‘In Pursuit of an Individual Line’, Australian, 14 June 1984
Galbally, Ann, Age, 6 Oct 1971
Gill, Harb, ‘Into Thin Eyre’, Herald Sun, Weekend Magazine, 13 July 2002
Gleeson, James, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 Nov 1971
Lancashire, Rebecca, ‘Heidelberg Still Casts its Spell’, Age, 28 Oct 1991
Langer Gertrude, ‘Landscape Keeping Pace’, Brisbane Courier Mail, 6 June 1977
Langer, Gertrude, Brisbane Courier Mail, 23 Oct 1979
Lazar, Amanda, ‘Painting Needs More than a Gut Reaction’, Age, 4 December 1976
Lynn, Elwyn, ‘Soul Brothers Surge Ahead’, Australian, 11 Aug 1984
Lynn, Elwyn, ‘Conjuring with Four Masters in Full Flight’, Australian Magazine, No. 14, 14-15 May 1988
Lynn, Elwyn, ‘Champs Canvass Art with Punch’, Weekend Australian, 23-24 March 1991
Lynn, Elwyn, Australian Weekend Review, 4-5 April 1992
McCaughey, Patrick, Age, 10 Oct 1973
Millar, Ronald, Sun News Pictorial, 10 October 1973
Olsen, John, Sun News Pictorial, 1 Dec 1976
Rooney, Robert, ‘The Landscape Confrontation’, Age, 23 Melbourne 1980
Smith, Sue, ‘Landscape painter joins the masters’, Courier Mail, 26 Nov 1992
Snell, Ted, ‘Glowing Landscapes a Joy to View’, Western Mail, 10 July 1982
Stowell, Jill, ‘Icons Fall into Place’, Newcastle Herald, 22 Sep 2001
Warren, Alan, Sun News Pictorial, 6 Oct 1971
Wallace-Crabbe, Robin, Canberra Times, 28 Oct 1968

COLLECTIONS

Artbank
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Art Gallery of WA, Perth
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
Banker’s Trust, Sydney
Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria
Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
BHP Collection, Melbourne
Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Brisbane
Castlemaine Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
CBUS Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne
Chelsea Art Club, London
Coles Myer Collection, Melbourne
Dalby Collection, Queensland
Deakin University Art Collection, Victoria
Edinburgh University Collection, Scotland
Flinders University, Adelaide
Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria
Gold Coast City Collection, Queensland
ICI Collection, Melbourne
La Trobe University Collection, Melbourne
Macquarie Group Collection
McClelland Gallery, Victoria
Medibank Collection, Melbourne
Monash Medical Centre Foundation – Fine Art Collection, Melbourne
Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Bank of Australasia Collection of Modern Art, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Parliament House Collection, Canberra
Pegasus Gold Corporation, Washington DC, USA
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
R & I Bank, Perth
Rockhampton Art Gallery, Queensland
Rothschild Bank Collection, London
Sale Regional Art Centre, Victoria
Savage Club Art Collection, Melbourne
Stuart College of Advanced Education, Adelaide
Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Victoria
Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane
Townsville Art Gallery, Queensland
Victorian Premier’s Department Collection, Melbourne
University of Melbourne, Melbourne