John Brack Paintings & Artwork for Sale | John Brack Art Value Price Guide

May. 07, 2025
JOHN BRACK, STUDY FOR HAND BALANCE, 1973
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) STUDY FOR HAND BALANCE, 1973 conté on paper 66.0 x 45.5 cm signed and dated lower right: John Brack 1973 PROVENANCE Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private collection, Victoria, acquired from the above in 1975 Private collection, Adelaide EXHIBITED John Brack: Paintings and Drawings, Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney, 10 – 28 November 1973, cat. 16 John Brack Drawings/George Baldessin Etchings, Desborough Galleries, Perth, 27 January – 9 February 1974, cat. 14 John Brack: Recent Paintings, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 24 February – 11 March 1975, cat. 18 LITERATURE Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, cat. p182, vol. 2, pp. 62, 221 (illus.) ESSAY The following excerpts are from Grishin, S., T he Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. I, pp. 121 – 22: ‘…The series of gymnasts of 1971 and 1972 consists of ten oil paintings and eight conté drawings. Thematically, it presents a logical progression from the ballroom dancing series – the concern with senseless ritual as recreational activities is converted into difficult and testing labour. In its formal language, however, there are signs of a fundamental change. A constant preoccupation in Brack’s art is identity. This can be traced back to a youthful interest in books on physiognomy as well as a later study of Nigel Dennis’ Cards of identity with its questions of ‘re-identification’ and ‘personal distinctiveness’... Up to this point, Brack’s images of still-life objects – scissors, knives and forks – were kept separate from figure compositions, although he did imbue these still life objects with a symbolic existence. In the gymnast series, the stick-like figures start to lose a little of their human identity and increasingly become formal elements that symbolically convey humanity as observed from a distance. The whole setting is reduced to a minimum – the featureless floors and walls of the gymnasium, with a few lines on the bare floorboards marking off the extent of the playing arena. They are very sparse compositions where the figures remain the dominant elements but no longer occupy most of the picture space. The origins of the gymnast motif probably can be traced back to Brack’s observation of his own children when they were young, although when he commenced the series his youngest daughter was almost twenty and all the gymnasts in the first series are boys. Implied in this association is the artist's concern that angst is being pushed down onto our children: ‘... a series of pictures dealing with children doing gymnastic exercises, the idea here is related to balancing and falling, but not absolutely collapsing – you know, the world is going on in a series of stumbling lurches, but not absolutely collapsing... it is not the abyss, it is stumbling, but it is not the abyss.’1 The first series of gymnasts is largely preoccupied with exploring a number of premeditated ambiguities intended as a visual metaphor commenting on the complexity of life... there is a statement about balance and imbalance, movement and stability, unity and discord, implying in the antinomical sense that at the moment of greatest balance there exists the greatest potential for imbalance, that ascent implies descent, and so forth. These slight, almost sexless figures cast against the naked floorboards are involved in part of a ritual as complex as life itself. Having attained, for a brief moment, a state of triumph, they hover as if frozen on the pinnacle of their success, precariously balancing, tottering on the brink of collapse without actually collapsing…’ 1. John Brack on John Brack, Lecture, Australian National University, Canberra, 1977, p. 7 © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 07, 2025
JOHN BRACK, SEVEN ON THE TABLE, 1990
Est: $400,000 - $600,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) SEVEN ON THE TABLE, 1990 oil on canvas 106.5 x 137.0 cm signed and dated lower right: John Brack 1990 inscribed with title and date on artist's label verso: SEVEN ON THE TABLE / 1990 bears inscription on frame verso: SEVEN ON THE TABLE PROVENANCE Private collection, Melbourne, acquired directly from the artist in February 1998 EXHIBITED John Brack, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, 7 September 1991, cat. 6 John Brack: selected paintings 1950s to 1990s, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria, 15 June – 14 July 1996 A Question of Balance, John Brack 1974 – 1994, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 1 April – 28 May 2000 LITERATURE Gott, T., A Question of Balance, John Brack 1974 – 1994, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2000, pp. 36 (illus.), 37, 47 ESSAY John Brack is renowned as the artist who most succinctly captured the character of twentieth century Australian life. His iconic paintings including The bar, 1954 and Collins St, 5p.m., 1955 (both National Gallery of Victoria), together with the ballroom dancing series of the late 1960s, are eternally popular with successive generations of viewers and now, more than fifty years on, also tinged with nostalgia for our recent past. While Brack’s imagery was often interpreted as satirical social commentary, his primary motivation was quite different. As he explained, ‘What I paint most is what interests me most, that is, people; the Human Condition… A large part of the motive… is the desire to understand, and if possible, to illuminate… My material is what lies nearest to hand, the people and the things I know best.’1 Throughout a career that spanned more than five decades Brack’s work evolved both stylistically and technically, as well as witnessing distinct changes of subject matter, however this focus on the human condition remained a consistent theme. Ironically, in the mid-1970s the human figure disappeared almost entirely from Brack’s imagery, replaced in ensuing series by various inanimate objects, from museum postcards, umbrellas, pens, pencils and playing cards, to wooden artists’ manikins and Pinocchio dolls. Using these everyday props to construct subtle visual metaphors, Brack’s new approach ‘[permitted] him to express the whole complexity of social interconnections’2 and his perspective on the perennial forces of human nature was transformed from the local to a broader universal view. Brack turned seventy in 1990 and many of the works made around this time show the artist reflecting on his own experience of life as well as looking forward. As Helen Brack recalled, ‘John was getting older, and so he was starting to think of the future – not his future but the future… (He realised) that it was the same again – we’d very much seen this, been there. That was the beginning of his making an image for perpetuation… There is an optimism at the end of John’s life that wasn’t there earlier.’ 3 In this context, the acrobatic manikins and wooden Pinocchio dolls that tumble, leap and wrestle across Seven on the table, 1990 reflect the carefree confidence, energy and freedom of youth. This was the first occasion that Brack included the figure of Pinocchio in his painting, inspired by a conversation with his grandson about a children’s film that was followed by coincidental sightings of these painted wooden dolls in shop windows. As Ted Gott has explained, ‘the linking of the imagery as a motif for boyhood was natural and fluid. Seven on the table shows us little boys playing, tumbling and ‘roughing it up’. It celebrates Brack’s relationship with the first boy in his family, after a lifetime spent surrounded by the female element (a wife, four daughters, and granddaughters). The Pinocchio motif stands for the male force in life, for the unstoppable nature of all small boys’ playing and fighting.’4 The field occupied by the playing figures is a circular marble table depicted in a sparse interior of timber floorboards and a bare wall behind. While the focus is on the manikins and Pinocchio dolls, every detail of the painting reflects the meticulous finish that characterised Brack’s work from this time. Produced in his studio, the late paintings were the result of intense preparation and technique. Setting up elaborate tableaux using fishing line and tape to suspend props when necessary, he would create a model from which a detailed preparatory drawing was made. He also used fine brushes and glazes to minimise the appearance of brushstrokes and heighten the sense of pictorial realism in these works, aiming to engage viewers so that they could focus on the meaning of the imagery rather than being distracted by expressive painterly bravura.5 John Brack has long been recognised as a towering figure within twentieth century Australian art, one of the few artists of his generation who addressed the reality of life as it was lived in the cities and the suburbs. As Patrick McCaughey observed however, ‘even if he may look direct, accessible and easy to read… the imagery retains an ambiguous and enigmatic quality. Paintings infer hidden meanings; references just beyond the grasp or consciousness of the viewer.’6 1. John Brack, cited in Reed, J., New Painting 1952-62, Longman, Melbourne, 1963, p. 19 2. Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, p. 140 3. Helen Brack, cited in Gott, T., A Question of Balance: John Brack 1974 – 1994, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, 2000, p. 34 4. ibid, p. 37 5. Grishin, op. cit., p. 132 6. McCaughey, P., ‘The Complexity of John Brack’ in Lindsay, R., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 7 KIRSTY GRANT © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 07, 2025
JOHN BRACK, FLOWERS AND LEAVES, 1958
Est: $250,000 - $350,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) FLOWERS AND LEAVES, 1958 oil on canvas 65.5 x 46.0 cm signed and dated lower left: John / Brack 58 bears inscription verso: Leaves & Flowers PROVENANCE Australian Galleries, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Australian Galleries Second Anniversary Exhibition, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 3 – 12 June 1958, cat. 4 LITERATURE Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, cat. o82, vol. 2, p. 12 ESSAY Being interviewed by Robert Hughes in 1959, John Brack declared, ‘National style is a thing of the past… I couldn’t care less about Australian Myths and Legends. I suppose bushrangers are very beautiful, but they bore me.’1 Emphasising his perspective on the type of subject matter that was relevant to a local, contemporary audience, Brack continued, ‘there’s only one true sort of Australian painting… and it consists of truthfully reflecting the life we see about us.’2 As a painter of modern life, Brack found the subjects of his art in his immediate surroundings, the suburbs and the city of Melbourne. His best-known paintings of 1950s Australia, such as The new house, 1953 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) and the iconic Collins St, 5p.m., 1955 (National Gallery of Victoria), are full of acute observations of contemporary living, seemingly humorous and ironic – and from an early twenty-first century perspective, certainly also nostalgic. Such images were primarily motivated however, by Brack’s intense interest in people and the human condition. His early resolution to produce an essentially humanist art that engaged directly with the present was supported by his reading of authors including Rainer Maria Rilke, who advised to ‘seek those [themes] which your own everyday life offers you’ and Henry James, who found inspiration for his stories in random events and snippets of overheard conversations.3 As Brack explained, ‘I believed… that you had to decide whether you were going to… take no notice of events or whether you were going to be engaged. Temperamentally, it was obvious I had to be the latter.’4 Brack’s practice of identifying subject matter that was close at hand inevitably resulted in images with a distinctly local flavour – recognisable to anyone who grew up in mid-twentieth century Australia, and especially in Melbourne. Elements of autobiography appear throughout his oeuvre, as do works which continue traditional categories of Western art including portraiture, the nude and still-life. During the 1950s, he addressed the theme of the still-life, focussing on everyday domestic items which were isolated and described in his characteristically cool and analytical style – think, for example, of The hairbrush, 1955 (private collection), or The breakfast table, 1958 (Art Gallery of New South Wales). He also painted simple cut flowers just as you might find them arranged in a vase in a mid-century suburban home. Between 1955 and 1959 Brack produced fourteen floral still life paintings, among others, depicting carnations, chrysanthemums and gerberas, along with Pot plant, 1957 and in 1958, turning his attention to flowering gums in a trio of related paintings. Brack once said that he found the process of painting flowers relaxing and these works, typically small in scale, speak to the simple enjoyment of setting up an arrangement in the studio, observing its overall shape as well as individual details, and describing the scene in paint. Nevertheless, in each painting Brack’s approach appears to respond to the characteristics of the specimen he is depicting; crisp hard-edges and a minimal background for Solandra, 1955 (National Gallery of Victoria) for example, in contrast to a more painterly style for Flowers (Shasta daisies), 1959 (National Gallery of Victoria) which are shown against a loose, textured background that echoes the free-form quality of the blooms and their long, leafy stems. In Flowers and leaves, 1958 there is a strong focus on form and colour. While the composition is balanced, with the glass vase centrally placed on a small circular table, there is a dynamic visual interplay between the irregular angularity of the branches, with their striking burgundy seed pods, and the organic curves of the lilies. The outlining of objects in black (or very dark) paint which was a hallmark of Brack’s painting during these years, defines the plant forms against a pale background which highlights the vibrant greens, dark burgundy and brown of the plants. By 1958, Brack had joined the stable of Australian Galleries, one of the few commercial galleries in Melbourne, which had been established two years earlier by Tam and Anne Purves. Flowers and leaves was shown in the Second Anniversary Exhibition alongside several other paintings by Brack, as well as works by other artists including Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, Mary Macqueen and Fred Williams. Purchased from that exhibition, it has remained in the hands of the same family ever since. 1. John Brack, cited in Hughes, R., ‘Brack: Anti-Romantic Gad-Fly’ in The Observer, 21 March 1959, p. 182 2. ibid. 3. See Grant, K., ‘Human Nature: The Art of John Brack’ in Grant, K., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2009, p. 92 4. Brack, J., ‘Brack on Brack’, Council of Adult Education, Discussion Group Art Notes, Melbourne, ref. no. A401, 1957, p. 1 KIRSTY GRANT © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 07, 2025
JOHN BRACK, ICELAND POPPIES, 1954
Est: $400,000 - $600,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) ICELAND POPPIES, 1954 oil on canvas 81.5 x 48.5 cm signed and dated lower right: John Brack 54 bears inscription on gallery label verso: POPPIES / JOHN BRACK PROVENANCE Australian Galleries, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in September 1956 EXHIBITED John Brack, Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne, 8 – 17 March 1955, cat. 12 LITERATURE Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, cat. o39, vol. 1, p. 47, vol. 2, p. 6 ESSAY Iceland poppies, 1954 is the first of a small group of still life paintings that John Brack made during the 1950s. With the exception of three paintings of flowering gums, Brack depicted familiar, domestic cut flowers – carnations, gerberas, chrysanthemums, daisies and so on – which had long been favoured by studio artists as subject matter that is easily-accessible and infinitely varied. Described with the directness and graphic clarity that characterised Brack’s art at mid-century, these floral specimens express distinctive and sometimes anthropomorphic personalities. The stark angularity of Solandra, 1955 (National Gallery of Victoria), for example, echoes the hard-jawed women who feature in early 1950s paintings like The veil, 1952 (private collection), while his Christmas lilies, with their spidery tendrils recalling an underwater predator, appeared to a contemporary critic as having an ‘air of quiet peril.’1 By contrast, the Iceland poppies depicted here are delicate and graceful, their long fine stems bending gently under the weight of the flowers. Brack has studied the poppies closely, carefully describing the fine hairs that line the stems, as well as the subtle tonal variations between the colour of the petals and the stamen. Like a botanical artist who documents the various stages of a plant’s growth, Brack shows us fully enclosed poppy heads and another which is just beginning to open among this joyous bunch of golden-hued flowers. While Brack once said that he found the process of painting flower pieces a good way to relax, the still life aligned with other subjects in his art at the time, including portraiture and the nude, which acknowledged traditional genres of Western art.2 In part, this reflected Brack’s knowledge of art history – an essential touchstone and important source of inspiration throughout his career – but importantly, such subject matter also presented him with the opportunity to consider images from the past in the context of the life of the present. As an artist who was fascinated by human nature and behaviour, this was a theme which held great appeal. The bar, 1954 (National Gallery of Victoria) is one of the most important paintings within Brack’s oeuvre and it exemplifies his practice of utilising art historical references as a means of analysing and commenting upon aspects of contemporary life. The contrast between this depiction of the six o’clock swill in a dour 1950s Melbourne pub and Édouard Manet’s A bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882 – a painting which Brack regarded as one of the great nineteenth-century works of art – needs little explanation. When The bar was first shown in Brack’s solo exhibition at the Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne in March 1955, Alan McCulloch wrote in the Herald that it had ‘stylistic strength and arresting qualities of perception and characterization.’3 Continuing, he declared that ‘rarely indeed is it possible to view a local one-man exhibition with unreserved enthusiasm. [This] exhibition… is an exception. Here is an approach to painting which is stylistically “pure” and an approach to “subject” which is exceptionally intelligent.’4 The major work in the exhibition, The bar was displayed alongside a number of studies and related works. As Brack scholar, Sasha Grishin, has explained, this was a practice that the artist introduced at the time ‘as a means through which the viewer might gain access to the complexity of the major paintings.’5 Alongside two preparatory drawings for this painting Brack also showed two oils, Men in the bar and Iceland poppies. His depiction of the poppies changed considerably between the present work and their representation in The bar: where relatively naturalistic imagery based on careful observation was his initial approach, the poppies behind the bar have been simplified and stylised in line with the rigidity of their surroundings. They are distinguished from the austere interior however by their bright colours (yellow and white) – a reminder, perhaps, of the beauty of the natural world within an otherwise artificial environment. Although at first glance, Brack’s still life paintings might appear as nothing more than depictions of familiar blooms, as his wife, the artist Helen Maudsley, has explained, he was very aware ‘that visual analogy is part of the language of art’ and consequently, there is often another layer of meaning to be found.6 Speaking about The bar and the poppies, Brack explained, ‘The bar is not a particular one, but a synthesis of several. Once the general atmosphere was established in my mind, details had to be assembled from here and there. Iceland poppies for instance were indicated, the blooms which symbolise suburbia. Their colour too and fragility tended to reinforce the idea by contrast. Actually most bars have no flowers at all.’7 1. Millar, R., John Brack, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1971, p. 22 2. Brack, J., ‘Brack on Brack’, Council of Adult Education, Discussion Group Art Notes, Melbourne, ref. no. A401, 1957, p. 1 3. McCulloch, A., ‘Style and Subject’, Herald, Melbourne, 9 March 1955, p. 22 4. ibid. 5. Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, p. 47 6. Brack, H., ‘This Oeuvre – The Work Itself’ in Grant, K., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2009, p. 12 7. John Brack, op. cit., p. 4 KIRSTY GRANT © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 30, 2025
John Brack, Australian 1920-1999, A standing nude with Chinese screen, lithograph, drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate, 39 x 27.8 cm. (15.3 x 10.9 in.), Frame: 63 x 56 cm. (24.8 x 22.0 in.)
Est: $500 - $700
John Brack Australian, 1920-1999 A standing nude with Chinese screen lithograph, drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate printed in an edition of 200. Originally intended for the unbound publication: John Brack Nudes. Fifteen original lithographs (Melbourne Lyre Bird Press. 1982. Only 15 copies of the publication were released, the example from unbound sheets sourced from the estate of Brack's art dealer Rudy Komon unsigned and untitled as issued Provenance: Rudy Komon Estate Douglas Stewart FIne Books
For-Auction
Apr. 30, 2025
John Brack, Australian 1920-1999, Seated Nude with hair in a bun, lithograph, drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate, 41 x 29 cm. (16.1 x 11.4 in.), Frame: 70 x 55 cm. (27.5 x 21.6 in.)
Est: $500 - $700
John Brack Australian, 1920-1999 Seated Nude with hair in a bun lithograph, drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate printed in an edition of 200. Originally intended for the unbound publication: John Brack Nudes. Fifteen original lithographs (Melbourne Lyre Bird Press. 1982. Only 15 copies of the publication were released, the example from unbound sheets sourced from the estate of Brack's art dealer Rudy Komon unsigned and untitled as issued Provenance: Rudy Komon Estate Douglas Stewart FIne Books
For-Auction
Apr. 30, 2025
John Brack, Australian 1920-1999, Seated Nude, lithograph, drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate, 41 x 29 cm. (16.1 x 11.4 in.), Frame: 65 x 53 cm. (25.5 x 20.8 in.)
Est: $500 - $700
John Brack Australian, 1920-1999 Seated Nude lithograph, drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate printed in an edition of 200. Originally intended for the unbound publication: John Brack Nudes. Fifteen original lithographs (Melbourne Lyre Bird Press. 1982. Only 15 copies of the publication were released, the example from unbound sheets sourced from the estate of Brack's art dealer Rudy Komon unsigned and untitled as issued Provenance: Rudy Komon Estate Douglas Steward FIne Bools
For-Auction
Mar. 23, 2025
BRACK John (1920-1999), Seated Nude II, 1982., Lithograph 13/50, 44x30cm
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
BRACK, John (1920-1999) Seated Nude II, 1982. Signed lower right. Lithograph 13/50 44x30cm
Davidson Auctions
Mar. 19, 2025
John Brack Decorative Print,
Est: $100 - $150
Untitled (Seated Nude) lithograph unsigned 41.5cm x 29cm
Aalders Auctions
Mar. 10, 2025
John Brack, (1920-1999), Adagio, 1967, lithograph on paper, 42 x 26 cm
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
John Brack (1920-1999) Adagio, 1967 lithograph on paper edition: 174/200, numbered, signed and dated below image '174/200, John Brack, '67'
Shapiro Auctioneers
Dec. 10, 2024
JOHN BRACK, (1920 - 1999), Adagio, 1967, lithograph, ed. 174/200, 42 x 26 cm (frame:61 x 42 cm)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) Adagio, 1967 lithograph, ed. 174/200 signed "John Brack" and dated "67" lower right, Numbered "174 / 200" lower left
Lawsons
Nov. 26, 2024
JOHN BRACK, SEATED NUDE WITH SCREEN, 1982 - 83
Est: $300,000 - $500,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) SEATED NUDE WITH SCREEN, 1982 - 83 oil on canvas 130.0 x 97.0 cm signed and dated lower left: John Brack 1982/3 inscribed with title on artist's label attached verso: 'SEATED NUDE WITH SCREEN' PROVENANCE Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne Joan Clemenger AO and Peter Clemenger AO, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1983 EXHIBITED John Brack, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, 21 May - 11 June 1983, cat. 9 John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 10 December 1987 – 31 January 1988, cat. 105 The Nude in the Art of John Brack, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin, Victoria, 17 December 2006 – 25 March 2007, cat. 15 John Brack Retrospective, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, 24 April – 9 August 2009, then touring to The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2 October 2009 – 31 January 2010 (label attached verso) LITERATURE Lindsay, R., John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, pp. 73 (illus.), 134, 141 Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 1, p. 160, vol. 2, cat. o275, pp. 36, 171 (illus.) Klepac, L., Australian Painters of the Twentieth Century, Beagle Press, Sydney, 2000, p. 168 (illus.) Lindsay, R., The Nude in the Art of John Brack, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin, 2006 (illus., n.p.) Grant, K., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 187 (illus.), 225 ESSAY Like all artists of his generation, John Brack was well-versed in the history of Western art and it remained an essential touchstone throughout his career. A survey of his painting reveals references to significant historical works by artists as diverse as Boucher, Seurat and Buffet, which provided inspiration as he borrowed from earlier masters and challenge as he pitted himself against them. His iconic painting, The bar, 1954 (National Gallery of Victoria), for example, appropriates both the subject and composition of Édouard Manet’s famous depiction of A bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882 (Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London). In Brack’s characteristic way however, the Post-Impressionist’s clever visual trick of depicting the scene in front of the barmaid reflected in a mirror is used to describe the subject as he witnessed it in 1950s Melbourne – a drab image of dour-faced workers who are urgently drinking their fill before the imminent early closing of the pub rather than the gay opulence of 1880s Paris. Working within the traditional genres of painting, Brack explored the still-life, portraiture and the nude in his art. Landscape as a theme however, is largely absent from his oeuvre, and indeed, when his friend and fellow artist, Fred Williams, announced that he intended to make the Australian landscape the focus of his art, Brack was sceptical, doubting its relevance as a subject for contemporary painting. Always underlying Brack’s approach – and explaining his avoidance of landscape as a subject – was an enduring interest in the human condition. As he said, ‘What I paint most is what interests me most, that is, people; the Human Condition, in particular the effect on appearance of environment and behaviour… A large part of the motive… is the desire to understand, and if possible, to illuminate… My material is what lies nearest to hand, the people and the things I know best.’1 In the context of the nude, Brack described this focus on human nature in the following way: ‘When I paint a woman… I am not interested in how she looks sitting in the studio, but in how she looks at all times, in all lights, what she looked like before and what she is going to look like, what she thinks, hopes, believes, and dreams. The way the light falls and casts its shadows is merely… a hindrance unless it helps me to show these things.’2 Embarking on his first sustained series of paintings of the nude during the mid-1950s, Brack sought to test the development of his work through a return to the rigour and discipline of life drawing and placed an advertisement for a model in the newspaper. Questions about how he might make a new and meaningful contribution to the genre were answered by the single response he received, from a thin middle-aged woman whose appearance demanded a radically different approach that was far removed from the sensual nudes of earlier artists such as Rubens and Gauguin. Brack quickly realised that ‘there is absolutely nothing whatsoever erotic in an artist’s model unclothed in a suburban empty room’3, and produced a series of striking paintings including Nude in an armchair, 1957 (National Gallery of Victoria) and The bathroom, 1957 (National Gallery of Australia), that boldly challenged expectations of the subject. While some lamented the skinny, sexless appearance of the model, art critic Alan McCulloch wrote that in pitting himself against tradition Brack had successfully demonstrated that ‘he [was] on all occasions master of the medium.’4 The nude returned as a major subject within Brack’s oeuvre during the 1970s and 80s and in these works a restrained sensuality and pleasure in depicting the female form is apparent. The contrast between the uncomfortable tension of the 1950s nudes and paintings like Seated nude with screen, 1982 – 83, where the subject looks out at the viewer completely at ease with her nakedness, seems to reflect the changes in social mores that had taken place in the intervening years and the increased informality of the late twentieth century. These differences might also point to the development of Brack’s own confidence and artistic maturity. In the mid-1950s he was at the beginning of his career with a handful of solo exhibitions to his name, still defining his visual language and establishing his artistic persona. In 1968, with the help of a monthly stipend from his Sydney dealer Rudy Komon, Brack had resigned from his position as Head of the National Gallery School in Melbourne and for the first time in his life was able to paint full-time. The ensuing decades witnessed regular solo exhibitions, private commissions, as well as other public affirmations of his art. Like all of the nudes from this time, Seated nude with screen was painted in Brack’s studio and features its distinctive timber floorboards and unadorned walls, as well as a Persian carpet, which is rendered in characteristically intricate detail. Helen Brack interprets these carpets as symbolising the world of men and in the context of images where the subject is always female, this has a particular relevance.5 In addition to highlighting what the artist perceived as the differences between the sexes, this pictorial device also illustrates the counterbalance they provide each other.6 In this painting, the centrally-placed figure is prominent within the composition, and the all-over pale tone of her bare skin contrasts with the dark colours and decorative detail of the carpet. Brack has also paid particular attention to the model’s hair, carefully describing its elaborate braiding and the bun that is neatly coiled on top of her head. The model’s clothing often features in these paintings, discarded and casually draped nearby. Here, the figure’s overcoat – presumably hanging on a hook which is attached to the folded screen in the background – assumes a strangely anthropomorphic character and suggests the presence of another figure in the room. What ultimately prevails in this painting however, is what Patrick McCaughey astutely described as Brack’s ‘paramount… sense of observed reality.’7 Joan and Peter Clemenger purchased this painting from Brack’s 1983 exhibition at Tolarno Galleries in Melbourne and, apart from being displayed in several subsequent museum exhibitions – including both the 1987 and 2009 retrospectives at the National Gallery of Victoria – it has graced the walls of their home ever since.8 1. Brack, J., cited in Reed, J., New Painting 1952 – 62, Longman, Melbourne, 1963, p. 19 2. Brack, H., ‘This Oeuvre – The Work Itself’, in Grant, K., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2009, p. 16 3. Brack, J., Interview, Australian Contemporary Art Archive, no. 1, Deakin University Media Production, 1980, transcript, p. 6 4. McCulloch, A., ‘Classical themes’, Herald, 13 November 1957, p. 29 5. See Lindsay, R., The Nude in the Art of John Brack, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin, 2007, n.p. 6. See Helen Brack cited in Gott, T., A Question of Balance: John Brack 1974 – 1994, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, 2000, p. 23 7. McCaughey, P., ‘The Complexity of John Brack’ in Lindsay, R., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 9 8. See Exhibition history noted above in the caption for this lot. KIRSTY GRANT © Courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 13, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) La Traviata 1981 lithograph, ed. 36/150 65 x 49cm (image); 85.5 x 64.5cm (frame)
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) La Traviata 1981 lithograph, ed. 36/150 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 81 titled lower centre editioned lower left 65 x 49cm (image); 85.5 x 64.5cm (frame) PROVENANCE: The Australian Opera Collection 1982 (label verso) The Collection of Reginald Maurice Berkley, Victoria Thence by descent EXHIBITIONS: Summer Collection: Group Exhibition, Nanda Hobbs, Sydney, 18 January - 4 February 2023 (another example) LITERATURE: Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 2, pp. 78, 262, cat. no. pr47 (illus., another example) OTHER NOTES: Other examples of this print are held in the collections of Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong; and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Nov. 13, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Nude in Profile 1978 lithograph, ed. 232/300 65 x 47.5cm (image); 76 x 57cm (sheet); 87 x 68cm (frame)
Est: $1,200 - $1,800
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Nude in Profile 1978 lithograph, ed. 232/300 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 78 titled lower centre editioned lower left 65 x 47.5cm (image); 76 x 57cm (sheet); 87 x 68cm (frame) PROVENANCE: Corporate collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: Another example of this print is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Nov. 13, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude I 1982 lithograph, ed. 25/50 39 x 28cm (image); 70 x 55.5cm (frame)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude I 1982 lithograph, ed. 25/50 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 82 editioned lower left 39 x 28cm (image); 70 x 55.5cm (frame) PROVENANCE: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 27 June 2010, lot 209 Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. RELATED WORK: John Brack, Seated Nude with Screen 1982-83, oil on canvas, 130 x 97cm, Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 16 August 2023, lot 3 © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Nov. 13, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Untitled (Standing Nude) 1982 lithograph, ed. 1/50 39 x 28cm (image); 73.5 x 58cm (frame)
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Untitled (Standing Nude) 1982 lithograph, ed. 1/50 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 82 editioned lower left titled on gallery label verso 39 x 28cm (image); 73.5 x 58cm (frame) PROVENANCE: Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne (label verso) Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: Another example of this print is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Nov. 13, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Adagio 1967 lithograph, ed. 97/200 41 x 25.5cm (sheet, reveal); 55 x 39cm (frame)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Adagio 1967 lithograph, ed. 97/200 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 67 editioned lower left 41 x 25.5cm (sheet, reveal); 55 x 39cm (frame) PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. RELATED WORK: John Brack, Adagio 1967-69, oil on canvas, 183 x 114.5cm, Menzies, Melbourne, 22 November 2018, lot 42 © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Nov. 13, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Third Daughter 1954 etching, ed. 8/11 17 x 12cm (image); 48 x 37.5cm (frame)
Est: $3,000 - $4,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Third Daughter 1954 etching, ed. 8/11 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 54 editioned lower left 17 x 12cm (image); 48 x 37.5cm (frame) PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent LITERATURE: Butler, R., Printed Images by Australian Artists 1942-2020, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2021, p. 202 (illus., another example) OTHER NOTES: Another example of this print is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Oct. 14, 2024
John Brack, (1920 - 1999), La Traviata, 1981, Colour lithograph on Paper, 66 x 49 cm
Est: -
John Brack (1920 - 1999) La Traviata, 1981 Colour lithograph on Paper 119 / 150 Provenance: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney (purchased 1990). Private Collection, Sydney
Bargain Hunt Auctions
Aug. 28, 2024
JOHN BRACK, THREE JOCKEYS, 1956
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) THREE JOCKEYS, 1956 ink and watercolour on paper 34.0 x 52.0 cm signed and dated upper left: John Brack 56 PROVENANCE Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne Douglas Carnegie and Margaret Carnegie AO, New South Wales, acquired from the above Allan D. Christensen, California and Perth Private collection, Perth, acquired from the above in 1981 EXHIBITED John Brack: The Racecourse Series, Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne, 5 – 15 November 1956, cat. 15 John Brack: The sport of kings and other paintings, Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane, 27 March – 8 April 1957, cat. 6 LITERATURE Shannon, M., ,The art collectors 4: Margaret Carnegie,, Art and Australia, vol. 4, no. 1, June 1966, pp. 34, 36 (illus.) Catalano, G., The Years of Hope: Australian art and criticism 1959 – 1968, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1981, p. 53 (illus.) Lindsay, R., John Brack, A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, pp. 118 – 119 Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 2, cat. p51, pp. 47, 201 (illus.) ESSAY Working two days a week as the art master at Melbourne Grammar School from mid-1952, John Brack was able to dedicate significant time to working in the studio. The following years witnessed a succession of solo exhibitions which included paintings that would, in time, rank among his most beloved and iconic. Men’s wear, 1953 (National Gallery of Australia) and The new house, 1953 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) featured in his first solo exhibition at Melbourne’s Peter Bray Gallery in October 1953; The bar, 1954 (National Gallery of Victoria) was included in a 1955 solo show and Collins St., 5p.m., 1955 (National Gallery of Victoria), was first shown in a one-person presentation in March 1956. In November that year Brack held a second solo exhibition in Melbourne. The Racecourse Series comprised twenty-one works on paper (drawings in pen and ink and watercolour) and a small group of etchings which document a day in the life of the so-called sport of kings. Extending his practice of finding subject matter in the people and places around him, Brack had spent Saturday afternoons during the winter of 1956 at Flemington Racecourse, sketchbook in hand, observing and recording the characters and activities of the racetrack. Inspired by artistic predecessors such as Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, who had previously explored this theme in memorable images, Brack’s experience of racing in 1950s Melbourne was however, not exactly as he had anticipated: ‘I was scarcely prepared for the almost total absence of gaiety. Artists in the 19th Century… dealt with horse racing in a more or less festive spirit. It seemed to have little or no relation to the solemn ritual which ruled Melbourne racecourses.’1 While the overall mood of the series and the attitude of the depicted figures is rather dour – rather like a Melbourne winter – Brack’s lively drawing emits a palpable energy as well as an immediacy that speaks of his direct experience of and engagement with the subject. There is also obvious delight in the vivid colours and designs of the jockeys’ silks, especially in works such as Three jockeys, 1956, where the subject provides the opportunity to play with combinations of colour and contrasting graphic patterns. Brack was an insightful observer of those around him, with a deep interest in human nature and behaviour, and in this work, he ruminates on the passing of time, charting the path from innocence to experience in the variously fresh and wizened faces of the jockeys. Reviewing the exhibition in The Argus, critic Arnold Shore highlighted the ‘pungent commentary’ and ‘austere artistry’ of the series.2 Brack’s images clearly struck a chord with contemporary audiences and about half of the watercolours were sold, including The tree, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria. Margaret Carnegie AO, a noted art collector and patron, purchased Three jockeys later and as her note on the back of the frame indicates, it was long cherished and enjoyed. 1. John Brack, ‘Brack on Brack’, Council of Adult Education, Discussion Group Art Notes, Melbourne, ref. no. A 401, 1957, p. 1 2. Shore, A., ‘Even our Art goes to the races’, The Argus, Melbourne, 6 November 1956, p. 14 KIRSTY GRANT © Courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 27, 2024
John Brack (1920-1999) Self Portrait, 1959
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
John Brack (1920-1999) Self Portrait, 1959 signed and dated lower right: 'John Brack 59' conte on paper 39.0 x 28.5cm (15 3/8 x 11 1/4in).
Bonhams
Aug. 27, 2024
John Brack (1920-1999) Glass of Claret, 1954
Est: $220,000 - $280,000
John Brack (1920-1999) Glass of Claret, 1954 signed and dated upper right: 'John Brack 54' oil on board 22.0 x 45.0cm (8 11/16 x 17 11/16in).
Bonhams
Aug. 08, 2024
JOHN BRACK, SEATED NUDE, LOUNGING NUDE (VERSO),
Est: $500 - $700
JOHN BRACK, SEATED NUDE, LOUNGING NUDE (VERSO), LITHOGRAPH, UNSIGNED, 39 X 27CM (REVEAL), FRAME SIZE: 61.5 X 51CM
Leonard Joel
Jul. 31, 2024
JOHN BRACK, (1920 - 1999), Standing Nude, 1982, lithograph, ed. 50/50, 39 x 28 cm. (15.3 x 11.0 in.), frame: 70 x 57 x 2 cm. (27.5 x 22.4 x 0.7 in.)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) Standing Nude, 1982 lithograph, ed. 50/50 signed and dated lower right
Lawsons
Jul. 31, 2024
JOHN BRACK, (1920 - 1999), Nude in Profile, 1978, lithograph, ed.223/300, 65 x 47 cm. (25.5 x 18 1/2 in.), frame: 97 x 77 x 5 cm. (38.1 x 30.3 x 1.9 in.)
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) Nude in Profile, 1978 lithograph, ed.223/300 signed and dated lower right
Lawsons
May. 26, 2024
BRACK John (1920-1999), 'La Traviata,' 1981., Colour Lithograph 119/150, 66x49cm (image)
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
BRACK, John (1920-1999) 'La Traviata,' 1981. Colour Lithograph 119/150 66x49cm (image) PROVENANCE: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney (purchased 1990); private collection, Sydney.
Davidson Auctions
May. 26, 2024
CECIL JOHN BRACK (1920-1999), Reclining nude, lithograph, 45 x 30cm, 69.5 x 55cm overall. Printed in an edition of 200 (unsigned & unnumbered, as issued); intended for the publication "John Brack nudes. Fifteen original lithogra
Est: $250 - $350
CECIL JOHN BRACK (1920-1999), Reclining nude, lithograph, 45 x 30cm, 69.5 x 55cm overall. Printed in an edition of 200 (unsigned & unnumbered, as issued); intended for the publication "John Brack nudes. Fifteen original lithographs. (Melbourne: Lyre Bird Press, 1982); this example from unbound sheets sourced from the estate of Brack's art dealer, Rudy Komon.
Leski Auctions Pty Ltd
May. 26, 2024
CECIL JOHN BRACK (1920-1999), Double nude II, lithograph, 45 x 65cm, 70 x 88cm overall. Printed in an edition of 200 (unsigned & unnumbered, as issued); intended for the publication "John Brack nudes. Fifteen original lithograph
Est: $500 - $750
CECIL JOHN BRACK (1920-1999), Double nude II, lithograph, 45 x 65cm, 70 x 88cm overall. Printed in an edition of 200 (unsigned & unnumbered, as issued); intended for the publication "John Brack nudes. Fifteen original lithographs. (Melbourne: Lyre Bird Press, 1982); this example from unbound sheets sourced from the estate of Brack's art dealer, Rudy Komon.
Leski Auctions Pty Ltd
May. 26, 2024
CECIL JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999), Nude standing in front of a Chinese screen, lithograph, 39 x 28cm; framed 66 x 53cm overall. Printed in an edition of 200 (unsigned & unnumbered, as issued); intended for the publication "John Brack nudes. Fifteen or
Est: $200 - $300
CECIL JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999), Nude standing in front of a Chinese screen, lithograph, 39 x 28cm; framed 66 x 53cm overall. Printed in an edition of 200 (unsigned & unnumbered, as issued); intended for the publication "John Brack nudes. Fifteen original lithographs. (Melbourne: Lyre Bird Press, 1982); this example from unbound sheets sourced from the estate of Brack's art dealer, Rudy Komon.
Leski Auctions Pty Ltd
May. 16, 2024
John Brack, Australian 1920 - 1999, Nude seated in a chair, lithograph, 45 x 31.5cm
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
John Brack Australian, 1920 - 1999 Nude seated in a chair lithograph signed "John Brack" and dated 82 in pencil on margin lower right, edition 10/50 John Brack Nudes: Fifteen
For-Auction
May. 14, 2024
JOHN BRACK, THE SURREY GARDENS, 1961
Est: $35,000 - $50,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) THE SURREY GARDENS, 1961 ink and watercolour on paper 40.0 x 73.0 cm 61.0 x 90.0 cm (frame) signed and dated lower right: John Brack 61 inscribed with title verso: The Surrey / Gardens PROVENANCE South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne Clive Brown, Melbourne Thence by descent Maureen June Brown, Melbourne Estate of the above EXHIBITED John Brack, South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne, August – September 1961, cat. 15 LITERATURE McCulloch, A., ‘Wilder side of Suburbia’, Herald, Melbourne, 16 August 1961 Millar, R., John Brack, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1971, pp. 54, 56, 65, pl. 18 (illus.), 108 Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 1, p. 84, vol. 2, cat. p102, p. 53 Lindsay, R., John Brack, A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 121 RELATED WORK Summer in the Suburbs, 1960, oil on canvas, 75.0 x 115.5 cm, in the collection of the University of Queensland, Brisbane Study for ‘Roundelay’, 1964, ink and gouache, 45.8 x 91.5 cm, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne ESSAY Interviewed by Robert Hughes in 1959, John Brack declared, ‘National style is a thing of the past… I couldn’t care less about Australian Myths and Legends. I suppose bushrangers are very beautiful, but they bore me.’1 Emphasising his perspective on the type of subject matter that was relevant to a local, contemporary audience, Brack continued, ‘there’s only one true sort of Australian painting… and it consists of truthfully reflecting the life we see about us.’2 As a committed painter of modern life, Brack found the subjects of his art in his immediate surroundings, the suburbs and the city of Melbourne. His best-known paintings of 1950s Australia, such as The New House, 1953 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) and the iconic Collins St, 5p.m., 1955 (National Gallery of Victoria), are full of acute observations of contemporary living and, although seemingly humorous and ironic, such images were primarily motivated by an intense interest in people and the human condition, and the desire to produce an essentially humanist art. These subjects also offered Brack new artistic territory. As he explained, suburbia ‘almost seems to be the invention of Australia. It is a theme which hasn’t the disadvantage of having already been explored by painters better than oneself.’3 The Surrey Gardens, 1961 is one of a small group of works, including North Balwyn Tram Terminus, 1954 and The School, 1959, that depict subjects which were close to the artist’s home at the time and in this instance, just a short walk away. Located in Union Road in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills, the Surrey Gardens were established in the first decade of the twentieth century. William Guilfoyle, the renowned botanist who famously designed Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, was consulted about the design and planting scheme.4 Brack was a skilled draughtsman and this work, which combines fine drawing in pen and ink with broad areas of watercolour wash, highlights both the precision of his technique and his careful observation of the world around him. He records the distinctive elements of the Gardens; a pair of cannons which commemorate the end of the Boer War in 1902; the memorial stone cross and cenotaph (with an ornamental Art Nouveau honour roll by wood-carver John Blogg) which were erected after the First World War; and the central rotunda, which was built in 1921 in memory of local resident John Gray. While Brack depicts Surrey Gardens devoid of people, it is a space that is redolent with the implications of human presence and activity. Indeed, the fact that there are no figures in the image only serves to emphasise the loss that is memorialised by these various structures. The Surrey Gardens was exhibited in a 1961 solo exhibition at Violet Dulieu’s South Yarra Gallery and purchased by Clive Brown, whose family has retained it ever since. In his Age review of the exhibition, Alan McCulloch observed, ‘John Brack… views the case for life in suburbia with notable objectivity… as commentary Mr Brack’s art is right on the ball, the product of a highly intelligent observer or sufferer, depending on how you look at it.’5 1. Brack cited in Hughes, R., ‘Brack: Anti-Romantic Gad-Fly’ in The Observer, 21 March 1959, p. 182 2. ibid. 3. Brack cited in Tony Morphett (director), The Lively Arts: John Brack, ABC-TV documentary, Melbourne, 1965 4. See https://www.surreyhillsprogress.org.au/about-surrey-gardens-and-the-shrine 5. McCulloch, A., ‘Wilder side of suburbia’, The Age, Melbourne, 16 August 1961 KIRSTY GRANT © courtesy of Helen Brack This work is located in our Melbourne Gallery
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 09, 2024
JOHN BRACK, Australia (1920 - 1999), The Boucher Nude, offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed), sheet: 57 x 86.5 cm. (22.4 x 34.0 in.)
Est: $100 - $200
JOHN BRACK Australia, (1920 - 1999) The Boucher Nude offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed) Published by The Australian and Ibis Imprints, 1969
Lawsons
May. 07, 2024
John Brack (1920-1999) The Racecourse Stand, 1956
Est: $30,000 - $50,000
John Brack (1920-1999) The Racecourse Stand, 1956 signed and dated lower left 'John Brack / 56' watercolour and ink on paper 40.0 x 62.0cm (15 3/4 x 24 7/16in).
Bonhams
May. 02, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude III 1982 lithograph, ed. 33/50 42 x 30cm; frame size: 68 x 53.5cm
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude III 1982 lithograph, ed. 33/50 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 82 editioned lower left 42 x 30cm; frame size: 68 x 53.5cm PROVENANCE: Angela Tandori Fine Art, Collingwood Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Apr. 24, 2024
JOHN BRACK, Australia (1920 - 1999), The Boucher Nude, offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed), sheet: 57 x 86.5 cm. (22.4 x 34.0 in.)
Est: $100 - $200
JOHN BRACK Australia, (1920 - 1999) The Boucher Nude offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed) Published by The Australian and Ibis Imprints, 1969
Lawsons
Apr. 24, 2024
JOHN BRACK, NO MORE, 1984
Est: $800,000 - $1,000,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) NO MORE, 1984 oil on canvas 137.0 x 137.0 cm signed and dated lower right: John Brack 1984 PROVENANCE Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney (label attached verso) Joan Clemenger AO and Peter Clemenger AO, Melbourne, acquired from the above in December 1996 EXHIBITED John Brack, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, 21 September – 12 October 1985, cat. 6 John Brack Paintings and Drawings, DC-Art, Sydney, 19 September – 15 October 1988 John Brack Recent Paintings and Drawings, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney, 13 April – 1 May 1993 LITERATURE Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 1, pl. 53, pp. 164, 166 (illus.), vol. 2, cat. o282, p. 37 RELATED WORK No More, 1984, watercolour, pen and ink, 68.0 x 68.0 cm, private collection, illus. in Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 2, cat. p289, p. 241 ESSAY John Brack’s motivation for painting remained consistent throughout his career. In 1956, following the National Gallery of Victoria’s purchase of Collins St, 5p.m., 1955, he wrote to Eric Westbrook, the gallery’s director, explaining, ‘One either has a subject, or one has not… If I choose to paint the life I see around me, it is because I find people more interesting than things.’1 Brack satisfied this intense interest in people by finding subject matter in his immediate surroundings, the suburbs and the city of Melbourne, and now iconic paintings such as The New House, 1953 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) and The Bar, 1954 (National Gallery of Victoria) still stand as acute observations of modern Australian life. While the clothing, hairstyles, interiors and other accoutrements of mid-century suburban life imbue these paintings with a strong sense of nostalgia, it is what they reveal about human behaviour and its inevitable predictability, irrespective of the era, that is most compelling. It is this element which also provides the thematic link between Brack’s most well-known works and his later paintings. During his tenure as head of the Melbourne National Gallery School between 1962 – 68, Brack maintained a studio in a small room behind his office, however the demands of his job and the seriousness with which he approached it left little time for making art. While no commercial exhibitions took place during these years, the positive regard in which his art was held was reflected in his inclusion in several important international exhibitions and the awarding of the inaugural Gallaher Portrait Prize in 1965 for his painting of Harold (Hal) Hattam (private collection, Melbourne). In 1967 the exhibition John Brack, Fred Williams was mounted at Albert Hall in Canberra, displaying side-by-side the art of two great friends who would eventually be counted among the most significant figures in twentieth century Australian art. Brack resigned from the Gallery School at the end of 1968 and with the promise of a monthly stipend offset against annual sales from Sydney art dealer Rudy Komon, he was able to paint full-time and constructed a purpose-built studio at home. Including paintings from the ballroom dancing series, Brack’s first commercial exhibition with Komon was held in 1970. The following year he was awarded the Travelodge Art Prize and a monograph by Ronald Millar was published, firmly cementing his place in contemporary Australian art. In late 1973 Brack and his wife, Helen, left Australia for the first time. With plans to travel in England and Europe for two months, he painstakingly planned their itinerary, ‘down to the specifics of street maps and detailing individual paintings that would form cultural targets.’2 While the experience of visiting great historical cities and seeing works of art known up until then only in reproduction left Helen buoyant, John was overwhelmed by the loss of control he felt in such unfamiliar surroundings.3 Despite this, the trip prompted a marked shift in Brack’s art and over the next few years, the human figure disappeared from his paintings almost entirely, replaced by a range of inanimate objects including museum postcards, umbrellas, pencils, playing cards and wooden artists’ manikins. Perhaps not surprisingly, when Brack showed these new paintings publicly, his audience was confounded. The social commentary that had been such a consistent feature of his work appeared to have been discarded, along with the human figure. Sandra McGrath typified the cool response of many to this new imagery, writing in the Australian newspaper that ‘Brack’s work celebrates an intellectual rather than an emotional approach to life and art. It’s a unique vision and puts him outside the mainstream of Australian art.’4 Combining this esoteric selection of objects with various domestic props to construct subtle visual metaphors, Brack found another way to express his perspective on the perennial forces of human nature, in the process transforming his view from the local to the universal.5 As Helen Brack observed, ‘What John saw in the collections of Europe gave him all the courage and consolidation and self-confidence he needed to develop the paintings of Grand Human themes that were not in his consciousness when he was young, trying to identify in the Suburbs.’6 The first paintings in this vein were exhibited under the broad title of the Unstill Life Series and combined finely rendered depictions of cutlery and postcards of antiquities which Brack had collected during his visits to museums overseas. Gleaming knives and forks often appear to hover in space while the postcards are precariously balanced on their edges and corners. These paintings, and almost all that followed, also incorporated a distinctive new element in which an irregular border frames the central image. In addition to disrupting the viewer’s right-angled perspective and drawing attention to the illusionistic nature of painting, this feature also pointed to the possibility of something else beyond the painted surface. ‘John wanted to somehow alter the balance. He knew that although the human framework calls to the right-angle and the horizontal and the vertical, you can talk about other things in the margins. The margins here are very important, because they are about the dark past, other ages. He was extremely interested in how you can use structure to say what you want to say.’7 If the meaning behind Brack’s Unstill Life paintings remained elusive to most viewers, the works that followed, with their themes of alliance, conflict and division, should surely have made it clear. As Sasha Grishin has noted, the artist now sought ‘to express the whole complexity of social interconnections. The form needed the potential for intricacy and complexity as well as the ability to be organised with deceptive simplicity. It needed to be a thing of considerable visual beauty, yet one that could be treated in a completely impersonal way and be worked with a sense of technical detachment in order to make the picture appear silent, permanent and durable.’8 In the late 1970s umbrellas, walking sticks, pencils and pens became the active figures in Brack’s paintings and, just like people, they are seen forming into groups, declaring allegiances, breaking rank and marching in triumph. The Battle, 1981 – 83 (National Gallery of Australia) is the major work from this series and by far the largest painting within Brack’s oeuvre. Setting himself the challenge of painting what he regarded as an impossible picture, Brack set out to depict the immense scale and minute detail of a military battle – specifically the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, with the French forces in blue, surrounded by the English in red and the Prussians in brown. Recalling drawing-room conversations after dinners held at the home of his new wife’s parents decades before, where ‘those old gentlemen would start refighting the battles of World War I…[picking] up their knives and forks and salt-cellars… to represent the lines of the troops’, Brack stated, ‘My pens and pencils are the same thing.’9 The densely massed pens and pencils of No More, 1984 appear to describe a crowd, perhaps one that is marching in protest and holding aloft a banner of playing cards which spells out the title of the painting. The message is clear – No More! – but the presence of a pair of additional cards just visible at the top edge of the painting introduces a nagging, unanswered question – No More What? We see Brack’s enjoyment of colour as the crowd of yellow, pink, lime green, blue and other brightly-hued writing implements builds. Moving in from the sides and squeezing into the centre, they are oblivious to those who have fallen, and seemingly compelled on an inexorable and inevitable path that is directed by the vertiginous tilt of the table, down to the floorboards below. The crowd builds as brightly coloured writing implements move in from the sides to join its ranks, squeezing into the centre, oblivious to those who have fallen, and seemingly compelled on an inexorable and inevitable path that is directed by the vertiginous tilt of the table, down to the floorboards below. The surface of the marble table is littered with hundreds of pencil marks, both within the confines of the marching pencils and, inexplicably, on the path in front of them, suggesting that this is not the first time such a crowd has gathered on this site. The meaning of Brack’s imagery is always enigmatic, but in the context of his exploration of human nature and the recognition that generation after generation, little changes, No More might indeed represent a personal protest against what he perceived as the inevitability of human behaviour and our inability to learn from past mistakes. Like all of Brack’s late paintings, No More is the result of intense preparation and a meticulous technique. A series of working drawings preceded the construction of an elaborate tableaux in his studio. Using a variety of furniture props, including a marble-topped table – a familiar feature in many of the late paintings carefully selected for its distinctive veined pattern – he would build a model with fishing line and tape used to suspend actual cutlery, postcards, pencils and other items in place. From this, he would make a single, highly detailed preparatory drawing on which the painting was based. Using fine brushes and glazes to minimise the appearance of brushstrokes, Brack aimed to heighten the pictorial realism in these works and in this way, to engage viewers so that they could focus on the meaning of his imagery rather than being distracted by expressive painterly bravura.10 In the late paintings Brack’s perspective expanded beyond the local to encompass the universal. As Patrick McCaughey eloquently concluded, ‘The strategy of these paintings is clear; here the still life goes beyond the observed and the daily and passes into the life of metaphor… John Brack… transforms himself from the classicist whose forms are drawn from the experience of the world to the allegorical fabulist. The still life enables him to ruminate and reflect on ideas and arguments beyond the scope of observed appearance. Brack becomes a ‘modern history painter’, able to take on the largest speculations pictorially through the humble genre of the studio still life.'11 1. Brack to Eric Westbrook, 15 April 1956, National Gallery of Victoria Artist File 2. Gott, T., A Question of Balance: John Brack 1974 – 1994, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2000, p. 4 3. Ibid., pp.4 and 6 4. McGrath, S., ‘Brack’s unique vision’, The Australian, 27 December 1975, cited in Gott, ibid., p.8 5. The exceptions to this were the nudes, a subject which Brack painted throughout his career, and occasional portraits. 6. Helen Brack, cited in Gott, op. cit., p. 18 7. Ibid., p. 11 8. Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, p. 140 9. Brack, cited in Grishin, ibid., p. 152 10. See Grishin, op. cit., p. 132 11. McCaughey, P., ‘The Complexity of John Brack’ in Lindsay, R., John Brack, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 9 KIRSTY GRANT © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 10, 2024
JOHN BRACK, Australia (1920 - 1999), The Boucher Nude, offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed), sheet: 57 x 86.5 cm. (22.4 x 34.0 in.)
Est: $100 - $200
JOHN BRACK Australia, (1920 - 1999) The Boucher Nude offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed) Published by The Australian and Ibis Imprints, 1969
Lawsons
Apr. 10, 2024
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude II 1982 lithograph, ed. 29/50 43 x 29cm
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude II 1982 lithograph, ed. 29/50 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 82 editioned lower left 43 x 29cm PROVENANCE: Angela Tandori Fine Art, Collingwood Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. RELATED WORK: John Brack, Seated Nude 1981, conte on paper, 74.5 x 56.5cm, Lawson~Menzies, Sydney, 10 November 2011, lot 44 © Helen Brack
Leonard Joel
Mar. 17, 2024
JOHN BRACK, Australia (1920 - 1999), The Boucher Nude, offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed), sheet: 57 x 86.5 cm. (22.4 x 34.0 in.)
Est: $200 - $300
JOHN BRACK Australia, (1920 - 1999) The Boucher Nude offset lithograph, edition of 2500 (unframed) Published by The Australian and Ibis Imprints, 1969
Lawsons
Nov. 22, 2023
JOHN BRACK, THREE FIGURES, 1971
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) THREE FIGURES, 1971 oil on canvas on plywood 39.5 x 47.0 cm signed and dated lower left: John Brack 71 inscribed with title verso: Three Figures PROVENANCE Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private collection, Canberra, and the United Kingdom, acquired from the above in 1972 Thence by descent Private collection, Sydney EXHIBITED Recent paintings by John Brack, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 1 – 17 September 1971, cat. 14 LITERATURE Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. II, cat. o193, p. 27 (illus.) Lindsay, R., John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 126 ESSAY The following excerpts are from Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. I, pp. 121 – 22: ‘…The series of gymnasts of 1971 and 1972 consists of ten oil paintings and eight conté drawings. Thematically, it presents a logical progression from the ballroom dancing series – the concern with senseless ritual as recreational activities are converted into difficult and testing labour. In its formal language, however, there are signs of a fundamental change. A constant preoccupation in Brack’s art is identity. This can be traced back to a youthful interest in books on physiognomy as well as a later study of Nigel Dennis’ Cards of Identity with its questions of ‘re-identification’ and ‘personal distinctiveness’ ... Up to this point, Brack’s images of still-life objects – scissors, knives and forks – were kept separate from figure compositions, although he did imbue these still life objects with a symbolic existence. In the gymnast series, the stick-like figures start to lose a little of their human identity and increasingly become formal elements that symbolically convey humanity as observed from a distance. The whole setting is reduced to a minimum – the featureless floors and walls of the gymnasium, with a few lines on the bare floorboards marking off the extent of the playing arena. They are very sparse compositions where the figures remain the dominant elements but no longer occupy most of the picture space. The origins of the gymnast motif probably can be traced back to Brack’s observation of his own children when they were young, although when he commenced the series his youngest daughter was almost twenty and all the gymnasts in the first series are boys. Implied in this association is the artist's concern that angst is being pushed down onto our children: “... a series of pictures dealing with children doing gymnastic exercises, the idea here is related to balancing and falling, but not absolutely collapsing – you know, the world is going on in a series of stumbling lurches, but not absolutely collapsing... it is not the abyss, it is stumbling, but it is not the abyss.”1 The first series of gymnasts is largely preoccupied with exploring a number of premeditated ambiguities intended as a visual metaphor commenting on the complexity of life... there is a statement about balance and imbalance, movement and stability, unity and discord, implying in the antinomical sense that at the moment of greatest balance there exists the greatest potential for imbalance, that ascent implies descent, and so forth. These slight, almost sexless figures cast against the naked floorboards are involved in part of a ritual as complex as life itself. Having attained for a brief moment a state of triumph, they hover as if frozen on the pinnacle of their success, precariously balancing, tottering on the brink of collapse without actually collapsing. The more complex compositions such as Three figures, Three Pairs and Four Pairs and a single, all of 1971, explore further the concept of harmonious coordination and competitiveness, with the figures competing against one another and against the other pairs; there is as well the inner competition within each figure, each pushing itself to the very edge of disaster. At the same time there is a need, at least for the outside observer, for the figures to appear to relate to one another in a state of harmony and coherency that masks reality…’ 1. John Brack on John Brack, Lecture, Australian National University, Canberra, 1977, p. 7 © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
JOHN BRACK, WIG SHOP WINDOW, 1970
Est: $600,000 - $800,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) WIG SHOP WINDOW, 1970 oil on canvas 146.0 x 114.5 cm signed and dated lower right: John Brack 70 signed and inscribed with title verso: JOHN BRACK / 'WIG SHOP WINDOW' PROVENANCE Leonard French, Heathcote, Victoria, acquired directly from the artist in the 1970s Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 10 December 1987 – 31 January 1988, cat. 78 (label attached verso) LITERATURE Lindsay, R., John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, cat. 78, pp. 125, 140 Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. I, p. 124; vol. II, cat. o177, pp. 24, 138 (illus.) RELATED WORK Wig Shop with Pink Lampshade, 1970, oil on canvas, 130.0 x 89.0 cm, private collection, illus. in Lindsay, R., John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, cat. 79, p. 65 ESSAY There has been much discussion in print and digital media about the so-called ‘pink tsunami’ associated with the marketing of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie. Our recent saturation in PANTONE 219C (Barbie Pink) in fact has a much longer and wider popular culture context, of which the present work is exemplary. In the post-war years, prior to John Brack’s painting The Wig Shop Window, the association of the colour pink with perceptions of femininity steadily gathered momentum, from the fuschia Trevilla creation worn by Marilyn Monroe in the ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ sequence of Billy Wilder’s Some like it hot (1953) and Kay Thompson’s fashion anthem ‘Think pink’ in Stanley Donen’s Funny face (1957), to the hot pink Mary Quant A-line modelled by Twiggy in 1966; from the ‘First Lady Pink’ affected by Mamie Roosevelt to the iconic pink wool Chanel suit worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the day of her husband’s assassination. John Brack’s painting inherits these trends, while addressing the very specific historical context of 1970, when (according to the Women’s Weekly) ‘Summer pink [was] the in color for the current pretty-girl look and for the fashion mood of soft curves. Paris says lots of pink for day and night and it comes in a galaxy of shades – hot pink, soft pink, pink in prints, and the new-again pink worn with black.’1 Brack is notably attentive to this chromatic wave, not only in the present work and its companion Wig shop with pink lampshade, 1970 (private collection), but in other pink pictures from the same season, notably the ballroom dancing series picture The old time, 1969 (TarraWarra Museum of Art), the still life Peonies, 1970 (Wollongong Art Gallery), and one of the first of a new series, Nude with pink rug, 1970 (private collection). In these works, the subtle dental-plastic greyed pink which the artist had employed in Veterinary instruments, 1963 (private collection) and The scissors shop, 1963 (private collection) is lifted to an almost shocking lolly shade, as here: in the walls of the shop, and in the legs, skirt and face of the shop assistant, the garishness offset by roseate and purpled browns in the floor and window embrasures, and by the framing lavender-blue metal window frame. Every bit as intriguing and compelling as its palette is the The Wig Shop Window's disegno, its composition. As with so many of Brack’s paintings, it combines deadpan social-satirical observation and flat finish with a subtle surrealism, a formal and spatial disorientation, an equivocation arising from disrupted vision. As Patrick McCaughey puts it: ‘behind the impersonal, unbroken surfaces lies a world which seethes with irony, ambiguity, where the normal is displaced or held in a difficult balance.’2 In his years working as head of the National Gallery School, then located in what is now State Library Victoria in Swanston Street, Brack did a lot of walking around the city, and the commercial displays of central Melbourne’s streets – medical suppliers, hardware stores and such – provided sympathetic stage sets for his theatre of waking dreams. He regularly employed the conceit of the shop window still life for almost a decade, from The scissors shop to Inside and outside, 1972 (National Gallery of Australia), ‘a succession of visionary flashes based on an unspoken contact between the sealed-off occupants (humans or apparently still life) of a glassed-in otherworld, and the intruder-observer-inspector who stares and waits and decides.’3 In the present work, Brack plays his perceptual and conceptual games through the window of Abe Lourie’s Swanston Street shop, ‘Creative Wigs.’ He creates an elusive, preconscious feeling of discomfort in the viewer through the exact alignment of the front of the middle shelf with the bottom edge of the back wall, through the alignment of the back of that same shelf with the bottom hem of the salesgirl’s mini-skirt, through the disappearance of the top of the doorway on the left into a mass of curls, and through the tilted, off-centre, not-quite-straight frame of the window. We feel, with Peter Tyndall, a certain ‘vertigo from… the absence of shadows and the playfully uncertain vanishing points.’4 Within this illusion box, this camera rosea, the consumer products are arrayed four-three-two along three glass shelves, the blank-faced light grey wig-stands looking like silver winner’s cups in a racing trophy case, or even South American Shuar tsantsa (shrunken heads) in a museum vitrine, each one of them surmounted by shiny, writhing Medusa curls in black, brunette and blonde.5 For all that Brack’s aesthetic depends on the flat-patterned, the angular-geometric, and the linear-spiky, he also displays a perverse fondness for the organic and curvilinear, and particularly for the representation of human hair. The big wigs of the present work have a full barber’s shop window full of curly-top precedents: from the carefully-painted, pony-tailed, and beribboned Little girl’s head (Vicky), 1955 (private collection) and the tousled top of a short-back-and-sides in Portrait of Fred Williams, 1958 (Art Gallery of South Australia) to the Mister Whippy soft-serve ice cream cloud of hair above a spanner mouth in The queen’s aria, 1960 (private collection) and the cake icing/pavlova impastoed veils and hats of the wedding series of 1960 – 61, even the blue floral hat worn by Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage, 1969 (Art Gallery of New South Wales). Here, bolstered by contemporary tonsorial fashion, he goes to town with half a dozen fantastic inventions of Baroque complexity and Rococo caprice – coils, folds, hooks, S-curves – looking for all the world like microscopic or marine invertebrate flora or fauna. Perhaps more disturbing either than Brack’s fictive architecture or the alien life form hairpieces is his placement of the figure, presented in such a way that she seems to have neither shoes nor arms, with her head appearing to sit on the top shelf, squeezed in between and slightly below the brown and black trichological competition. On her proper left side, the neck curve of the wig-stand in front trims her generous coiffure into a bob. The celebrated flatness, the forwardness of Brack’s painted surface places her on the same plane as the shop’s inventory, while the blank, bored, inscrutable expression on her face, with its heavily mascaraed eyes and straight-line Revlon Sky Pink lips, is oddly inhuman, more that of a mannequin than of a flesh and blood woman. No Women’s Weekly ‘soft curves’ here. Rather, she is of a piece with the model figures in the earlier shop window series, ‘replicas of human life, figures not quite materialized into human bodies.’6 Reviewing Brack’s series of nudes with Persian carpets that immediately followed this work, Daniel Thomas observed: ‘Obviously he likes toying with real versus artificial. He has been very interested in false legs, false hair, tailor’s dummies, forced expressions, reflections… All this is a reminder that any picture is itself artificial, too.’7 A masterly exercise in airless artifice, The Wig Shop Window is John Brack at the height of his powers: of observation, of construction, and of wit. 1. Keep, B., ‘Summer pink pretty-girl’, Australian women’s weekly, 14 January 1970, p. 20 2. McCaughey, P., ‘The complexity of John Brack’, in Robert Lindsay (ed.), John Brack: a retrospective exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 8 3. Millar, R., John Brack, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1971, p. 18 4. Tyndall, P., ‘John Brack retrospective at Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria’, bLOGOS/HA HA, 24 April 2009 https://blogos-haha.blogspot.com/2009/04/john-brack-retrospective-at-ian-potter.html 5. The work was formerly owned by Brack’s contemporary and friend, the painter Len French. He maintained that Brack painted the plain, straight wig at the bottom left as a sly portrait à clef of Brack’s wife Helen. 6. McCaughey, op. cit. 7. Thomas, D., ‘Display of nudes’, Sunday Telegraph, 11 April 1971 PROFESSOR DAVID HANSEN © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
JOHN BRACK, THE SURREY GARDENS, 1961
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) THE SURREY GARDENS, 1961 ink and watercolour on paper 40.0 x 73.0 cm signed and dated lower right: John Brack 61 inscribed with title verso: The Surrey / Gardens PROVENANCE South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne Clive Brown, Melbourne Thence by descent Maureen June Brown, Melbourne Estate of the above EXHIBITED John Brack, South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne, August – September 1961, cat. 15 LITERATURE McCulloch, A., ‘Wilder side of Suburbia’, Herald, Melbourne, 16 August 1961 Millar, R., John Brack, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1971, pp. 54, 56, 65, pl. 18 (illus.), 108 Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. 1, p. 84, vol. 2, cat. p102, p. 53 Lindsay, R., John Brack, A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, p. 121 RELATED WORK Summer in the Suburbs, 1960, oil on canvas, 75.0 x 115.5 cm, in the collection of the University of Queensland, Brisbane Study for ‘Roundelay’, 1964, ink and gouache, 45.8 x 91.5 cm, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne ESSAY Interviewed by Robert Hughes in 1959, John Brack declared, ‘National style is a thing of the past… I couldn’t care less about Australian Myths and Legends. I suppose bushrangers are very beautiful, but they bore me.’1 Emphasising his perspective on the type of subject matter that was relevant to a local, contemporary audience, Brack continued, ‘there’s only one true sort of Australian painting… and it consists of truthfully reflecting the life we see about us.’2 As a committed painter of modern life, Brack found the subjects of his art in his immediate surroundings, the suburbs and the city of Melbourne. His best-known paintings of 1950s Australia, such as The New House, 1953 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) and the iconic Collins St, 5p.m., 1955 (National Gallery of Victoria), are full of acute observations of contemporary living and, although seemingly humorous and ironic, such images were primarily motivated by an intense interest in people and the human condition, and the desire to produce an essentially humanist art. These subjects also offered Brack new artistic territory. As he explained, suburbia ‘almost seems to be the invention of Australia. It is a theme which hasn’t the disadvantage of having already been explored by painters better than oneself.’3 The Surrey Gardens, 1961 is one of a small group of works, including North Balwyn Tram Terminus, 1954 and The School, 1959, that depict subjects which were close to the artist’s home at the time and in this instance, just a short walk away. Located in Union Road in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills, the Surrey Gardens were established in the first decade of the twentieth century. William Guilfoyle, the renowned botanist who famously designed Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, was consulted about the design and planting scheme.4 Brack was a skilled draughtsman and this work, which combines fine drawing in pen and ink with broad areas of watercolour wash, highlights both the precision of his technique and his careful observation of the world around him. He records the distinctive elements of the Gardens; a pair of cannons which commemorate the end of the Boer War in 1902; the memorial stone cross and cenotaph (with an ornamental Art Nouveau honour roll by wood-carver John Blogg) which were erected after the First World War; and the central rotunda, which was built in 1921 in memory of local resident John Gray. While Brack depicts Surrey Gardens devoid of people, it is a space that is redolent with the implications of human presence and activity. Indeed, the fact that there are no figures in the image only serves to emphasise the loss that is memorialised by these various structures. The Surrey Gardens was exhibited in a 1961 solo exhibition at Violet Dulieu’s South Yarra Gallery and purchased by Clive Brown, whose family has retained it ever since. In his Age review of the exhibition, Alan McCulloch observed, ‘John Brack… views the case for life in suburbia with notable objectivity… as commentary Mr Brack’s art is right on the ball, the product of a highly intelligent observer or sufferer, depending on how you look at it.’5 1. Brack cited in Hughes, R., ‘Brack: Anti-Romantic Gad-Fly’ in The Observer, 21 March 1959, p. 182 2. ibid. 3. Brack cited in Tony Morphett (director), The Lively Arts: John Brack, ABC-TV documentary, Melbourne, 1965 4. See https://www.surreyhillsprogress.org.au/about-surrey-gardens-and-the-shrine 5. McCulloch, A., ‘Wilder side of suburbia’, The Age, Melbourne, 16 August 1961 KIRSTY GRANT © courtesy of Helen Brack
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 21, 2023
§ JOHN BRACK 1920-1999 Finale 1973 oil on canvas 146 x 114.5 cm
Est: $550,000 - $750,000
§ JOHN BRACK 1920-1999 Finale 1973 oil on canvas signed and dated 'John Brack 1973' lower left 146 x 114.5 cm PROVENANCE John Brack, Melbourne Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Australian and International Paintings, Sculpture and Works on Paper, Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, 25 April 1999, lot 83, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Australian & International Fine Art & Sculpture, Menzies, Sydney, 23 June 2016, lot 36, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Winter Exhibition 1973: Recent Acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 18 July - 2 August 1973, no. 57, illustrated John Brack: Paintings and Drawings, Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney, 10-28 November 1973, no. 3 LITERATURE Ursula Hoff, Robert Lindsay and Patrick McCaughey, John Brack: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1987, pp. 127, 128 Sasha Grishin, The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, Vol. 1, p. 128Vol. 2, cat. no. o207, pp. 28, 149 (illustrated)
Smith & Singer
Nov. 15, 2023
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude 1982 lithograph, ed. 35/50 43 x 30cm
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Seated Nude 1982 lithograph, ed. 35/50 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 82 editioned lower left 43 x 30cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: RELATED WORK: John Brack, Seated Nude 1981, conte on paper, 77 x 58.5cm, Smith & Singer, Sydney, 25 June 2020, lot 45
Leonard Joel
Oct. 15, 2023
John Brack 1982, a signed lithograph.
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
John Brack 1982, a signed lithograph. Number 42/ 50. Nude Lady on a cushion. Print size. 43 x 30 cm. Frame size 79 x 56 cm.
E J Ainger
Oct. 10, 2023
JOHN BRACK, STUDY FOR ‘THE MERTZ NUDE’, 1965
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
JOHN BRACK (1920 - 1999) STUDY FOR ‘THE MERTZ NUDE’, 1965 conté on paper 48.5 x 65.0 cm 76.0 x 91.5 cm (frame) signed and dated lower left: John Brack 65 PROVENANCE Laurence Course, Melbourne, a gift from the artist Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne RELATED WORK The Mertz Nude, 1965, oil on canvas, 96.3 x 129.4 cm, commissioned by the Mertz Collection of Australian Art, illus. in Grishin, S., The Art of John Brack, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, vol. II, cat. o150, pp. 21 and 132 © courtesy of Helen Brack This work is located in our Melbourne Gallery
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 30, 2023
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999), Mirrors and Scissors 1966
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Mirrors and Scissors 1966 etching 33.0 x 45.0 cm (image); 37.5 x 49.0 cm (sheet) edition: 7/50 (only 23 printed); state: 3/3 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 66 numbered lower left: 7/50 printed by Murray Walker, Melbourne
Menzies
Aug. 30, 2023
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999), Nude in Profile 1978
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
JOHN BRACK (1920-1999) Nude in Profile 1978 lithograph 65.0 x 47.5 cm (image) edition: 239/300 signed and dated lower right: John Brack 78 numbered lower left: 239/300 titled lower centre: Nude in Profile printed by John Robinson, George Baldessin and Les Kossatz, Melbourne
Menzies