Charles Blackman was a well known and prolific artist and romantic figurative painter and printmaker who rose to prominence from the 1950s onwards, with fifteen one-man exhibitions between 1950 and 1960 alone. In 1993 a major retrospective of his work was curated for the National Gallery of Victoria, and toured the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Brisbane City Hall & Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. This exhibition reinforced Blackman' contribution to the contemporary Australian art scene.
Though based primarily in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, Charles Blackman also lived and exhibited for a time in London and Paris. His work was described as romantic, poetic, enchanting and melancholic, exploring human relationships, dreams and memories. Blackman himself described it as ‘more feeling than art’.
Charles Blackman has also described himself as influenced and inspired by the works of poets and writers, notably the poetry of John Shaw Neilson, whose works held a great love of words associated with colour and emotion. Neilson's poetry Charles would read to his first wife Barbara Blackman (nee Patterson) who herself was overcoming visual impairment, to embark on her own independent career as a writer and poet.
Charles Blackman is most noted for his School Girl and Alice in Wonderland series.
Born in 1928, Charles Blackman passed away on 20 August, 2018, aged 90.
