John Brack
John Brack | |
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Antipodeans Group |
John Brack (10 May 1920 – 11 February 1999) was an Australian painter, and a member of the Antipodeans group. According to one critic, Brack's early works captured the idiosyncrasies of their time "more powerfully and succinctly than any Australian artist before or since. Brack forged the iconography of a decade on canvas as sharply as Barry Humphries did on stage."[1]
Life
During
Style
Brack's early conventional style evolved into one of simplified, almost stark, shapes and areas of deliberately drab colour, often featuring large areas of brown. He made an initial mark in the 1950s with works on the contemporary Australian culture, such as the iconic
In the 1970s, Brack produced a long series of highly stylised works featuring objects such as pencils in complex patterns. These were intended as
Period and themes
Brack's works cover a wide range topics and themes. He often did a series of works on a particular theme over a number of years. His portraits, including self-portraits, and portraits of family, friends and commissions, and his paintings of nudes were produced throughout his career.
- War time drawings (1943–1945)
- Scenes of urban life (Shops, street scenes etc.) (1952–
- Racecourse (1953–1956)
- School, the playground (1959–60)
- Wedding (1960–61)
- Shop Windows (1963–1977)
- Ballroom Dancers (1969)
- Gymnastics (1971–1973)
- Postcards and implements (1976–
- Pencils and pens (1981–
- Mannequins (1989–90)
The Art of John Brack by Sasha Grishin[2] includes a catalogue raisonné of his work to 1990. The catalogue for the exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2000 includes works to 1994.[3]
Exhibitions and auctions
A major retrospective exhibition of Brack's work opened at the
Brack's painting The Bar sold for $3.2 million in April 2006,[5][6] while in May 2007 his painting The Old Time sold for $3.36 million at auction in Sydney, a record for a painting by an Australian artist.[7]
- 2020 'Laughing Child' (1958) was scheduled for auction in Sydney on 24 June 2020.[8] It is a portrait of the artist's daughter Charlotte, aged four and is described as "one of Australian art's most compelling representations of childhood".[9]
- 2009 John Brack: Retrospective Exhibition, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
- 2006–2007 'The Nude in the Art of John Brack', MacClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin
- 1999 'John Brack – Inside and Outside', works in the N.G.A. collection, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- 1998 'John Brack and Fred Williams', Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- 1987–88 'John Brack – A Retrospective', National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- 1981 'Drawings, 1945–79', Monash University Gallery, Melbourne
- 1977 'Paintings and Drawings, 1945–77', Australian National University
- 1977 'Selected Paintings, 1947–77', Royal Melbourne Institute of TechnologyGallery, Melbourne
See also
Notes and references
- ^ Thomas, David. Three of the Players, 1953 Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Deutscher and Hackett. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-19-553199-2
- ^ Ted Gott, A Question of Balance (2000), Heide Museum of Modern Art
- ^ WIN TV news report, 24 August 2007
- ^ The Arts | All the latest Arts news | The Australian
- ^ Record price for painting, bar none – Arts – Entertainment – smh.com.au
- ^ Brack's 'Old Time' sells for $3.36m – Arts – Entertainment – theage.com.au
- ^ Smith&Singer (2020). "JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Laughing Child 1958".
- ^ Wilson-Anastasios, Meaghan (12 June 2020). "Rediscovered John Brack portrait shows a time of chaos and art". The Sydney Morning Herald.
Further reading
- Grishin, Sasha (1990) The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne 2 Vols. (illustrated) ISBN 0195532007(v. 2)
- Hoff, Ursula, Robert Lindsay and Patrick McCaughey (1987) John Brack A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne ISBN 0724101284
- Millar, Ron John Brack, (1971) Lansdowne Press Melbourne. ISBN 978-0-7018-0370-4.
External links
Media related to John Brack at Wikimedia Commons
- Self-portrait 1955 Archived 23 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- John Brack at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Brack Retrospective at NGV May 2009 (Sunday Arts (ABC-TV) on YouTube
- The Sewing Machine 1955 at Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.
- John Brack at OnlyMelbourne
- Images of John Brack's prints at Prints and Printmaking .