NSW STATE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR JOHN OLSEN, MONDAY 29 MAY 2023 ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Some words from MC Michael Yabsley:

“We are here to honour the memory of Dr John Olsen AO OBE, a man of talent, charisma, generosity, and humility. He was a master of the brush, a truly great explorer and interpreter of everything from beloved massive Australian landscapes to, in the words of his friend, Professor Ross Fitzgerald, “the chaotic splendour of his own kitchen.”

As Prof Fitzgerald wrote about John,  his son Tim Olsen often talked about his childhood memories of “vast canvasses, the smell of gum turpentine, scrapped palettes, oil-stained rags and the unfinished glass of red above the fireplace.”

John’s studio was often a place of fun where solitude would give way, as Ross Fitzgerald wrote to “a mix of earthly pleasures with worldly company”.