Paul Haefliger
| Paul Haefliger | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 February 1914 Frankfurt, Germany |
| Died | March 1982 (aged 68) Bern, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Swiss Australian |
| Education | Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney; Royal Academy School, London |
Paul Haefliger (1914 in Germany – 1982 in Switzerland) was an abstract painter, art critic, writer and printmaker. He was a major figures in the Sydney art world in the 1940s and 1950s and as art critic for Art in Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald he helped mould the standards of Australian art during this period.
Paul Haefliger was born on 8 February 1914 in Frankfurt, Germany of Swiss parents. His father was a businessman and the Honorary Swiss consul general in Frankfurt during the 1930s. His mother was a painter and he had uncles in Bern who were art connoisseurs and collectors of modern art. Haefliger attended school in Germany and Switzerland.
In 1929 he moved to Australia and in the 1930s studied at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. In 1936 He married artist Jean Bellette. From 1936 he travelled to Europe and studied at the Westminster School of Art in London under Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler; the Académie Colarossi and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. His study tours of Japan, India, United Kingdom and Europe, gave him an opportunity to study woodcutting and printmaking.
Paul Haefliger returned to Australia in 1939 and assisted editor Peter Bellew with the magazine Art in Australia. In 1941 he was appointed art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, a position he held until 1957. One of this earliest critiques was of Russell Drysdale's first Sydney exhibition in 1942. Although Haefliger's reviews did not carry his name, most people knew who 'Our Art Critic' was. In 1944 he was called as a witness for the defence in the court case arising from the controversial William Dobell entry in the Archibald Prize Competition in 1943.
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