John O'Brien (marine artist)

John O'Brien (1831 – 1891) was a Canadian marine artist.

O'Brien is believed to have been born at sea as his Irish family emigrated from County Cork.  He emerged as a self-taught artist in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the 1850s. O'Brien excelled at ship portraits and dramatic storm scenes.  His career flourished as Nova Scotia's shipping industry grew and among his many notable paintings include a portrait of the famous clipper Stag and dramatic storm portraits of the warship [[HMS Galatea (1859)|HMS Galatea]]. O'Brien studied with English landscape artist John W. Carmichael from 1857 to 1858. At the height of his career in 1859, he suffered a partial loss of vision.  His career suffered in the 1870s, when he produced very few works, but revived in the 1880s.

ReferencesJohn O'Brien (1831-1891), by Patrick Condon Laurette, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, (1984)
"Ship Portraits Sail into View", The Beaver'', March 21–27, 2008

External links
Dan Conlin “Ominous Sky: The Stormy Career and Work of Marine Artist John O’Brien: 1831-1891”, Nashwaak Review, Vol. 22-23 (2010), 493-506.
"O'Brien, John Daniel O'Connell" entry in Dictionary of Canadian Biography
O'Brien at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
O'Brien at the National Gallery of Canada

Category:1831 births
Category:1891 deaths
Category:19th-century Canadian painters
Category:Artists from Nova Scotia
Category:Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia
Category:Canadian marine artists
Category:People from Halifax, Nova Scotia