Artwork of the Day - Irving - Beyond the Fence

Tony Irving (b.1939)
Beyond the fence 2009
oil on linen
80 x 130cm

Tony Irving is one of Australia’s leading contemporary realist painters whose devotion to realist painting extends across four decades. Irving is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Lady Potter Collection as well as numerous other public collections throughout Australia. He has held exhibitions in the UK, Indonesia and Singapore and in 1966 was awarded the coveted McCaughey Prize.

Artwork of the Day - David Boyd - Three Children by the Sea

David Boyd (b.1924)
Three Children by the Sea c.1980
Oil on board
43 x 65 cm
Signed 'David Boyd' lower right
Provenance: Private collection NSW
no.11077

David Boyd is a figurative painter, ceramic sculptor and potter. David Boyd's art stems from a long family tradition of artistic talent. Acclaimed as a potter in the fifties and sixties, he began his career as a painter in 1957 with a series of symbolic paintings on Australian explorers. Since then, David Boyd has painted several major series of works, including his powerful Trial series, the Tasmanian Aborigines, the Wanderer and Exiles series. Picturing innocence and evil, destruction and creation, his works convey mythical and universal themes. Having won significant international recognition, David Boyd was invited by the Commonwealth Institute of Art, London, to hold a retrospective of paintings at their Art Gallery in 1969. David Boyd is represented in the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; all State and many regional galleries; the Mertz collection, USA; the Power collection, Sydney; and many major international galleries and private collections in Australia and overseas.

Artwork of the Day - Nolan - Wimmera

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Wimmera 1942
Ripolin enamel on canvas
42 x 52 cm (sight size)
initialled and dated lower right: 11.42 N
no.8085

Provenance:
The Estate of Sir Sidney Nolan

From May 1942 until February 1944 Sidney Nolan was stationed as an army guard in the remote Wimmera district of North Western Victoria. Despite the limitations that the situation imposed on the young artist, it nonetheless gave rise to one of Nolan’s most important early series, focusing predominantly on the expansive wheat-fields dominating the region.

Painted in November 1942, when Nolan was stationed in the town of Dimboola, Wimmera arises from an especially noteworthy phase in the series. For the artist Albert Tucker in Nolan’s Dimboola paintings, “we glimpse for the first time since Roberts, McCubbin and the early Streeton, the return of an authentic national vision on a higher and more independent level.”1

The painting bears the characteristic hallmarks of Nolan’s Wimmera landscapes, in particular the vivid primary colours and flattened picture plain. In common with a number of other Wimmera works, the rapidly executed bushes in the foreground are dramatically offset by the bright blue sky and sun-drenched landscape.

In 1983 Nolan donated a large number of his Wimmera works to the National Gallery of Victoria where they are now on permanent display in the Gallery of Australian art.

DS

1 Albert Tucker, ‘Two Melbourne exhibitions of paintings’, Angry Penguins 5, September, 1943.

New Artist: Matthew Perceval

Matthew Perceval's landscapes are filled with light and fresh energy due to his dynamic brushstrokes. Matthew, the son of John Perceval and Mary Boyd, was born in Australia but spent the majority of his early formative years in London before moving to the south of France. The vivid colours of the Mediterranean had a positive influence on his work and during his time in France he began exhibiting all over Europe and had his first one man show in London in 1967 (with Arthur Boyd making the first purchase from the exhibition)1. The tone and mood of the paintings are set via the colour scheme ranging from pure brilliant tones to soft palettes of blues and creams. His paintings can be found in numerous public and private collections in Australia and abroad. The National Portrait Gallery held the first solo exhibition of Perceval's portraits in late 2007 – early 2008.

1 Sayers, A., 'Painters' Paradise', Portrait Magazine, Summer 2007-2008, p.12

Stock Room Viewable by Category

Eva Breuer Art Dealer has recently categorized the stock room into 9 different themes, Traditional, Figurative, Landscape, Urbanscape, Still Life, Animals, Large Paintings, Nudes, and Sculpture. Please click the image below to browse each category.

Traditional

Figurative

Landscape

Urbanscape

Still Life

Animals

Large Paintings

Nudes

Sculpture

The artists depicted include, Albert Henry Fullwood, Garry Shead, Tim Storrier, Roland Wakelin, Elisabeth Kruger, Sidney Nolan, John Coburn, and Vince Vozzo.

Artist Spotlight: Michael Kelly

Who (or what) do you consider your artistic inspiration?

Inspiration comes from the world around me. I walk a lot and take in images of places and the atmosphere of places that settle into my subconscious and blend with memories and paintings I've looked at or studied in museums or books among other things. All this ferments and bubbles away in my head till a time comes when I need to get it down in drawings and canvas either in the studio or in front of the motif itself. This whole process works its way through my sketchbooks which are the prime source of most of my work. This sounds very orderly but is not as I always have a feeling of time running out and the subject disappearing before I'm able to pin it down.


Do you listen to music while you work, and if so, what is most often playing?
If I'm in the studio Ill often have the radio on 2mbs FM, Eastside FM or abc FM playing classical or jazz music in the background. If the music becomes to frantic or there's too much talk I'll turn it off as it becomes a distraction, as i will if I'm trying to paint a difficult passage. When I'm working outside or direct from life I favour complete silence.

Who of your peers do you respect the most?

I lived in Melbourne for seventeen years and in that time had a lot of respect for Rick Amor.We became friends and along with a few others artists went out painting every week for several years. It was a way of connecting with the whole tradition of Melbourne painting as we would often paint from sites that previous generations of artists worked from. Through Rick I met Frank Werther who was part of that old school of painters and had worked with Williams, Boyd and Percival. I learned all sorts of technical things from him that Id never had learned otherwise. He was like an old alchemist in his laboratory working away in the studio under his house in the hills north of Melbourne.

Do you have any habits/rituals or strange superstitions when painting?

I have a lot of bad habits when I'm painting that Id like to dispense of, I try, but generally my only rituals are that I always wash my brushes out after painting, cleaning their ferrules and wrapping the bristles in paper so that they hold their shape. My only superstitions are that I don't like talking about works in progress or paintings I'm planning to do or showing people unfinished work.

When did you decide to become an artist?

The desire to draw and paint has always been there. My mother painted and encouraged me to do so when I was young, but it wasn't until my late 20's that I had the opportunity to go to art school. I'd worked in a variety of different jobs since leaving school and developed a work ethic and took art school very seriously. I was always drawing and built my skills from that.

What is your favourite colour?

I do have favorite colours but find they live or die depending on what other colours they are mixed with or surrounded by.

Do you have a favourite painting or work of art? If so, what is it?

Impossible to pin down one favorite painting. When Ive travelled Ive sketched favorites from museums that occupy the gallery of my mind, among them would be Cezannes ' Blue Vase', Brueghals 'Harvest' in the metropolitan, Rembrandts 'Jewish Bride', Van Goghs paintings from Arles, Giorgiones 'Sunset' in London and Lloyd Rees' drawings and early oils of Sydney, the harbour and its surrounds.

Sneak Peek: Space, Time, and Memory by Christopher McVinish

Christopher McVinish's 2009 exhibition, Space, Time and Memory, will be opening tomorrow - Saturday December 5th- from 3 to 5PM.

Click the photograph to view the podcast.

Rex Turnbull - Paddington Art Prize 2009 Finalist

Rex Turnbull, The Lane, Acrylic, 60 x 120 cm

Congratulations to Rex Turnbull whose painting The Lane is a a finalist in the 2009 Paddington Art Prize UNSW COFA Award. Click here to view available works by Rex Turnbull from Eva Breuer Art Dealer.

Press Release: Doreen Gadsby

Doreen Gadsby (b.1926) Travels 2009
Opening Wednesday 11 November 2009,6-8PM
To be opened by Professor Peter Pinson

Eva Breuer Art Dealer is pleased to announce the opening of Doreen Gadsby's Travels 2009.

Ms Gadsby has exhibited extensively both within Australia and internationally. After the passing of her late husband John Coburn in 2006 Ms Gadsby has dedicated herself to painting fulltime.

This recent body of work reflects Ms Gadsby's love of international travel, her passion for music and her love of nature. A number of paintings were developed from sketches drawn en plein-air recently in the south of France, Tuscany and from memories of her time living in Canada. Others celebrate Ms. Gadsby's love of the stunning views of Sydney Harbour from her North Shore studio such as Neon Lights 2009. Others are constructed from childhood memories and later memories of the loss of love. All have a vibrance and impressionist zeal which show a great love of the masters of 19th century painting and a joie de vivre which continues to burn brightly.

Ms Gadsby is represented in the Commonwealth Government Collection, ArtBank and private collections in the USA, Canada, Indonesia. She has been the recipient of numerous coveted awards including the 1961 Wentworth Art Prize, the 1962 WD&HO Wills Art Prize and was a finalist in the Wynne Prize in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1964.

Artist Spotlight: Michael Muir

Who (or what) do you consider your artistic inspiration?

I have a number of artists whose work I admire Mark Rothko, Paddy Bedford, Jeffrey Smart and Francis Bacon.

Do you listen to music while you work, and if so, what is most often playing?

Have a fairly eclectic taste in music I normally hit shuffle on the ipod otherwise FBI radio is great.

Who of your peers do you respect the most?

All peers who have been committed and persistent with their chosen fields

Do you have any habits/rituals or strange superstitions when painting?

no rituals time is precious

When did you decide to become an artist?

I decided whilst working as a desktop publisher for a fashion mag in the Phillippines when I was 21. Not a big fan of offices or computers!

What is your favourite colour?

Favourite colour at the moment is cadmium yellow.

Do you have a favourite painting or work of art? If so, what is it?

Of the top of my head favourite paintings change all the time John Passmore jumping horse mackerel.

Stephen Nothling - Tattersall's Club Landscape Prize Finalist

Stephen Nothling, Morning Tide, Redcliffe, Oil on canvas, 70 x 107 cm

Congratulations to Stephen Nothling whose painting Morning Tide, Redcliffe was selected as a finalist for the Tattersall's Club Landscape Art prize. Click here to view available works by Stephen Nothling from Eva Breuer Art Dealer.

Opening: Tony Irving

The Tony Irving show, Other places other views, opened last week and if you haven't made it to 83 Moncur street we would like to encourage you to pay a visit before the work comes down on the 25th. The exhibition has a new addition, a lovely gouache sketch of the larger (and very popular) canvas Motel. Please email the gallery for the current pricing and availability of works.

Motel (study) 2009
gouache on arches paper
20 x 27 cm (image size)
no.10874

Opening photographs, 12 September 2009

Click the image to view the podcast

Brian Dunlop - Tattersall's Club Landscape Prize Finalist

Brian Dunlop, Large Lagoon, Oil on canvas, 80 x 197 cm

Congratulations to Brian Dunlop whose painting Large Lagoon was selected as a finalist for the Tattersall's Club Landscape Art prize. Click here to view available works by Brian Dunlop from Eva Breuer Art Dealer