The happy chaos of the Brack household, with its four ‘ruffian’ daughters, provided father John Brack with an endless supply of creative inspiration.
1 Self portrait, c. 1948 John Brack. © Helen Brack, Currently on display. 2 The girls at school, 1959 John Brack. National Gallery of Australia, Bequest of Mrs Elizabeth Summons MBE 2015. © Helen Brack. 3 First daughter, 1954 John Brack. National Gallery of Victoria. © Helen Brack. 4 Second daughter, 1954 John Brack. National Gallery of Australia. © Helen Brack. 5 Third daughter, 1954 John Brack. National Gallery of Australia. © Helen Brack. 6 The baby drinking, 1955 John Brack. National Gallery of Australia. © Helen Brack.
John Brack and his wife, artist Helen Maudsley, had four daughters in the space of five years – Clara, Vicki, Freda and Charlotte – all of whom feature as subjects in Brack’s works. ‘The house was theirs, not ours’, noted Helen in a 2018 interview. Youngest Charlotte concurred in June 2020, calling the lively sibling gang ‘us ruffian kids’. Known for working predominantly in defined series, Brack’s oeuvre includes a rich seam of portraits of friends and family. As a figurative artist with a distinct focus on insightful explorations of the human condition, Brack found rich material in the family’s daily life. Each of these portraits offer an interesting tension: aesthetically the compositions are distant and documentary, yet in the attention lavished on the details – the humour and irony of the facial expressions or actions – intimacy and love are very much evident.
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