Fairweather, Ian (1891-1974), was a Scottish-born Australian artist and one of the most colorful figures in Australian art. Fairweather was known as a wandering painter of subjects in Indonesia, India, China, and the islands of the South Pacific. His paintings show his interest in Chinese art. Fairweather was also among the first artists to incorporate Aboriginal art into his style. Fairweather worked outside the major art movements of his time, but his paintings had a major impact on abstract painting in Australia.
Fairweather was born on Sept. 29, 1891, in Bridge of Allan, Scotland. During World War I (1914-1918), he was a prisoner of war in German prison camps. He began his art studies in 1918 in the Netherlands. From 1920 to 1924, he studied art at the Slade School in London and studied Asian arts and languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He also traveled widely in Asia. Fairweather settled in Australia in 1943. In 1952, he sailed on a raft from Darwin to Indonesian Timor. On his return to Australia, he made his home in a grass hut on Bribie Island north of Brisbane, where he lived alone in poverty. Fairweather died on May 20, 1974.
