Ray Crooke

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox artist | name = Ray Crooke | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|AM}} | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Ray Austin Crooke | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1922|7|12}} | birth_place = Auburn, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2015|12|5|1922|7|12}} | death_place = Palm Cove, Queensland, Australia | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | education = | alma_mater = Swinburne University of Technology | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = {{Marriage|June Bethel|1951|2013|end=died}} | awards = {{awards|Archibald Prize|1969|George Johnston}} | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website =  | module = }} '''Ray Austin Crooke''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (12 July 1922{{spaced ndash}}5 December 2015) was an Australian artist known for his landscapes. He won the Archibald Prize in 1969 with a portrait of George Johnston.

==Early life== Ray Crooke was born in Auburn, Victoria in 1922.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dobson|first=Rosemary|title=Focus on Ray Crooke|year=1971|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=0702207020|page=13}}</ref> He spent time in Townsville, Cape York and other parts of northern Australia joining the Australian Army during World War II, service number VX88344<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crooke, Ray Austin. World War II Service Record |url=https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=6048564 |access-date=17 February 2023 |website=National Archives of Australia}}</ref> between August 1941-July 1946.

==Career== After the war, he enrolled in Art School at Swinburne University of Technology and later travelled to New Guinea, Tahiti and Fiji. In 1949 he travelled to the Torres Strait, returning to Melbourne in 1951 to marry June Bethell.<ref name=":0">[https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/1dejkfd/alma99195293402061 <nowiki>Ray Crooke Diary 1949 [catalogue record], State Library of Queensland</nowiki>]</ref> A diary of his time in the Torres Strait is held by the State Library of Queensland.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Crooke |first=Ray |title=Ray Crooke Diary 1949 (also titled Island Journal) |publisher=Bede Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=0646393839 |location=West End, Qld}}</ref>

His portrait of the novelist George Johnston won the Archibald Prize in 1969, and the University of Queensland owns three of Ray Crooke's portrait paintings: ''Portrait of Xavier Herbert'' (1977), ''Portrait of Professor Emeritus Sir Zelman Cowen, (1919–2011), Vice-Chancellor 1970–1977'' (1977) and ''Portrait of Sadie Herbert'' (1980).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hergenhan|first1=Laurie|title=A tale of three portrait|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:306186/ff8_1_2013_p7_9.pdf|website=Fryer Folios|access-date=3 December 2014|date=July 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208231250/http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:306186/ff8_1_2013_p7_9.pdf|archive-date=8 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> However, he is not known usually for portrait painting. He is known for serene views of Islander people and ocean landscapes, many of which are based on the art of Paul Gauguin. He was responsible for the dust-jacket for ''Poor Fellow My Country'' by Xavier Herbert.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Crooke, Ray | title=Preliminary design for the dustjacket of Xavier Herbert's Poor fellow my country | publication-date=1970 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/80930451 | access-date=3 December 2014 }}</ref>

During the sixties, the Crooks lived in Sydney and Melbourne, making regular trips to Thursday Island, New Guinea, Cape York and Fiji. He frequently exhibited his work at the Johnstone gallery in Brisbane and the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney. For Crooke, the Johnstone Gallery was pivotal to his success, beginning with his first solo exhibition there in 1960, and continuing, largely unabated, ever since. His ''Island Journal''<ref name=":1" /> is dedicated "to the memory of Brian and Marjorie Johnstone", an indication of their influence on his life as an artist.<ref name=":0" />

His painting ''The Offering'' (1971) is in the Vatican Museum collection. Many of his works are in Australian galleries.

"North of Capricorn" was an Australian touring retrospective exhibition in 1997 organised by the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery (Townsville), initiated and curated by Grafico Topico's writer and curator Sue Smith.

He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1993 Australia Day Honours, "in recognition of service to the arts, particularly as a landscape artist".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869850|website=It's an Honour|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=7 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210210542/http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=869850&search_type=simple&showInd=true|title=CROOKE, Ray Austin|archive-date=10 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Crooke died on 5 December 2015 at the age of 93.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/artist-ray-crooke-champion-of-the-tropics-dies-at-93/story-fn9d3avm-1227635815302|title=Artist Ray Crooke, champion of the tropics, dies at 93|work=The Australian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Vale: Ray Crooke AO|url=https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/vale-ray-crooke-ao/|publisher=Queensland Art Gallery|access-date=15 May 2018|date=9 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515134121/https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/vale-ray-crooke-ao/|archive-date=15 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au/obituary.aspx?n=ray-austin-crooke&pid=176811911|title=Ray Austin Crooke's Obituary on The Sydney Morning Herald|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2018-05-15|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515134121/http://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au/obituary.aspx?n=ray-austin-crooke&pid=176811911|archive-date=15 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/artist-captured-the-carefree-people-of-australias-tropical-north-20160101-glxuk3.html|title=Artist captured the carefree people of Australia's tropical north|last=de Silva|first=Greg|date=2016-01-01|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515134121/https://www.smh.com.au/national/artist-captured-the-carefree-people-of-australias-tropical-north-20160101-glxuk3.html|archive-date=15 May 2018|url-status=live|access-date=2018-05-15|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/ray-crooke-captured-australias-tropical-north-on-canvas-as-no-one-else-has-done-20160113-gm4nca.html|title=Ray Crooke captured Australia's tropical north on canvas as no one else has done|date=2016-01-12|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2018-05-15|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515134121/https://www.smh.com.au/national/ray-crooke-captured-australias-tropical-north-on-canvas-as-no-one-else-has-done-20160113-gm4nca.html|archive-date=15 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/fhnkog/slq_alma21118296220002061 Ray Crooke, Johnstone Gallery Archive, State Library of Queensland] * [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1upgmng/slq_alma21278085100002061 Ray Hughes digital story, educational interview and oral history. Johnstone Gallery Archive, State Library of Queensland] * [http://www.artabase.net/artist/1609-ray-crooke Ray Crooke on Artabase. Islanders 1955]

{{s-start}} {{s-ach|aw}} {{s-bef|before=William Edwin Pidgeon}} {{s-ttl|title=Archibald Prize|years=1969<br/>for ''George Johnston''}} {{s-aft|after=Eric Smith}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crooke, Ray}} Category:1922 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Archibald Prize winners Category:Artists from Melbourne Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:Swinburne University of Technology alumni Category:20th-century Australian painters Category:Australian modern painters Category:Australian Army personnel of World War II