The Ian Fairweather Project web site is a learning space for scholars and researcher interested in the life and art of artist Ian Fairweather, 1891 -1974. The material on this site was gathered during the making of a documentary about Ian Fairweather by Dr Debra Beattie and Veronica Fury. The 50-minute broadcast documentary was screened on ABC television.
View now on iView1891-1919 The Early Years
Ian Fairweather was born on 29 September 1891 at Bridge of Allan in Scotland. His father, James Fairweather, was Surgeon-General of the 22nd Punjabi Rifles. His mother, Annette, had nine children with Ian the youngest. He spent his first ten years in Scotland raised by his aunts and was reunited with this family in 1901. Schooled at Victoria College in Jersey and Earls Court in London, he developed an interest in adventure, drawing and philosophy. Ian Fairweather joined the army in 1912. He trained as an officer and served in World War One. He was captured in Dour, France becoming a prisoner of war. Following the war, Fairweather resigned from the army and resolved to become an artist.
1920-1948 Developing Artist
In 1920 at aged 29, Ian Fairweather enrolled as a student painter at the Slade School in London where he studied on and off until 1924. He also studied Japanese at the School of Oriental Studies. Over the next couple of decades Fairweather travelled extensively in Europe, Asia and Australia frequently living in extreme poverty. He worked odd jobs but continued to paint as well as studying calligraphy and Chinese. He was sending work to London and elsewhere for sale and exhibition. This period included solo exhibitions at the Redfern Gallery in London and at galleries in the US and Australia.
During World War Two, Fairweather again enlisted initially working at a desk job in Singapore and later serving at a prisoner of war camp in Bangalore. Following his discharge in 1943, Fairweather returned to Australia where he spent the rest of his life, more or less. He spent much of the late 1940s living in Cairns.
In 1947 he sent 130 paintings to London for exhibition but they were too damaged to exhibit. His last show at the Redfern Gallery was in 1948. In that year he sent 4 paintings to Macquarie Galleries in Sydney.
1949-1974 Mature Artist
In 1949, Ian Fairweather had his first solo exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney. Macquarie Galleries exhibited his work until the 1970s. Fairweather left Cairns in 1950, making his way to Darwin. In 1952, he made a solo raft journey from Darwin to Indonesia where he was arrested and deported to England. By 1953, he had returned to Australia. Fairweather went to Bribie Island and constructed a thatch hut where he lived the rest of his life.
It was on Bribie Island that Fairweather produced his mature work. In 1962 his masterpiece Epiphany was first shown. Fairweather died of a heart attack on 20 May 1974. His ashes were scattered on Bribie Island. He couldn’t be buried because there was no cemetery on the Island.