Podcast appearances and mentions of john brack

Above photo of Jan Senbergs by Riste Andrievski Click play for my podcast introduction to this interview and scroll down for the transcript. Podcast listeners click here and scroll down for transcript. Watch the YouTube video of Jan Senbergs' studio and work here Links Jan Senbergs' website Jan Senbergs on Instagram Jan Senbergs at Niagara Galleries Talking with Painters YouTube channel Talking with Painters on Instagram Talking with Painters on Facebook Subscribe to the TWP newsletter PDF version  of transcript for tablet/desktop  With over six decades of work as a painter, printmaker and draughtsman, leading artist Jan Senbergs has exhibited in over 50 solo shows and has been the subject of three survey shows including a major retrospective curated by the National Gallery of Victoria in 2016. A rare accomplishment. His art evolved from early masterly screenprints to large scale paintings and with subject matter as varied as urban and natural landscapes, industrial themes, surreal structures and forms and aerial map-like works. This episode has been a long time coming. Covid threw out our plans for an early 2020 meeting but two years later we met in Jan's inspirational studio in Melbourne. His voice has been affected by some health issues and so this episode is coming to you by way of transcript (below) and an intro on the podcast. As I was setting up my audio equipment on the day of the interview, Jan and I chatted about the time he had spent in London in his 20s. We talked about other Australian artists who were there at that time. That's where the recording of the interview began. Jan Senbergs I was the younger artist who came into that area and I didn't know anybody. I didn't want to bother the local Antipodeans (laughs) so I usually went out by myself. I headed for the National Gallery on one occasion and ran into Arthur Boyd heading there too. We travelled together on the bus from Pimlico to Trafalgar Square. It was very nice because we walked through the Gallery making comments. It's lovely to do that with another painter. We walked past one room and Arthur stopped and said, 'There's a good painting in this room.' It was a big dog watching over a dying nymph, by Piero di Cosimo. He was such an interesting painter. Afterwards, Arthur suggested we go and have a drink, so we went across the road and had a couple of beers and then he said 'You'll have to excuse me, but I've got to go back home. I've got a few duties there.' We shook hands and I never saw him again.  Maria Stoljar You never saw him again? JS No, but what was nice about it was the generosity of the older person to somebody younger who had just arrived.  MS How lovely. But you knew a lot of famous Australian artists like Fred Williams, for example. He was a friend of yours, wasn't he? JS Yeah, I knew Fred. When I first started showing around, I mixed with some of the older artists. At that time there were hardly any younger artists around. And because I hadn't gone to an art school, I was very isolated. It's quite different for artists today. Now there are thousands of young people trying very hard to make good art after their schooling. It's a different atmosphere. Schools pump out all these people with hopes and ambitions. That's the reason it's good to know some of the older painters. MS Yes. Like John Brack? JS Yes, John Brack was one … Len Crawford, Fred, Roger Kemp – these were heavy-duty Melbourne blokes. MS It's amazing that you, in your early 20s, were hanging out with those people. JS Yeah, it was actually. Because I couldn't get into art school so I'd started working in a silkscreen printing company, which was a terrible bloody job (laughs). ‘Modern monument in colour ‘ 1975, Colour screenprint, 56.6 x 81.2cm (image)National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne MS Why? Was it heavy work or just dirty work? JS Dirty work.

It was art school or bust for drawer and painter Daniel Bodey. The Sydney based artist graduate from National Art School in 2020 and was the recipient of the Troy Quinliven award in his final year. Daniel has developed a distinctive style and has a love for John Brack like I do. Head on over to Instagram and follow his work @_bodey_daniel_art_

Katherine Hattam is a multi award winning painter and printmaker whose works are held in most of Australia's major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of NSW. She has exhibited in over 20 solo shows and many more group shows and has won numerous art prizes including the Banyule and Robert Jacks drawing prizes. In this conversation, Hattam begins by talking about the experience of growing up as the daughter of Melbourne art collectors and modern art patrons Hal and Kate Hattam.  Hal Hattam was a gynaecologist and later a successful painter in his own right and Kate Hattam was once reported to be the 'highest paid woman in Australia' in her job as the advertising manager of the upmarket Melbourne department store Georges. They held an extensive art collection of works of their artist friends which included Arthur Boyd, Fred Williams, John Brack, Clifton Pugh, Charles Blackman and Jan Senbergs. Portraits of her parents painted by Clifton Pugh and John Brack can be found in the National Portrait Gallery. Hattam's career initially focussed on drawing but her work eventually turned to painting and mixed media. In this interview she also talks about her techniques and preferred mediums, balancing motherhood and her art career and themes which arise in her paintings. See below for a list of current and upcoming exhibitions and scroll down further for links to people and things we talked about in the show. Current and upcoming exhibitions: 'Visiting Painting' - Horsham Regional Art Gallery - 16 July to 11 September 2016, Horsham, Victoria 'National Works on Paper' - Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery - 16 July to 11 September 2016,  Mornington Peninsula, Victoria '72 Derwents' - solo show - Arthouse Gallery - 12 August 2016, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, NSW Bruny Island Art Prize - Bruny Island Arts - 24 September - 2 October 2016, Bruny Island, Tasmania 'Art of Parts' - Art Gallery of NSW - 17 September - 13 November 2016, Sydney, NSW   Show notes:  (links to people and things we talked about in the show) Katherine Hattam Portrait of Hal Hattam by Fred Williams Portrait of Kate Hattam by Clifton Pugh Fred Williams Charles Blackman John Perceval Arthur Boyd Jan Senbergs  

Stark Reality In capturing the ordinary mundaneness of city life, Brack offers viewers of his work a snapshot of life at the time. NGV Acting Senior Curator of Australian Art, David Hurlston

Capturing Collins Street Melbourne City Life in the 1950’s is the focus of this well-known and much loved Australian painting.

John Brack (1920-1999), Men's wear 1953. Painting, oil on canvas, 81.0 h x 114.0 w. Purchased 1982. © Helen Brack.

John Brack (1920-1999), The bathroom 1957. Painting, oil on canvas, 129.4 h x 81.2 w cm. Purchased 1998. © Helen Brack.

James Gleeson interviews John Brack,5 October 1978 [unknown location]

Here we discuss Brack's unique style of drawing with paint and how these early stages of drawing guided his ideas and eventual composition.

Here we discuss The Battle, a portrayal of the 1815 battle of Waterloo. We go on to discuss Brack's understanding of the relationship between the viewer and a painting.

In The Barber's Shop, we discover the essential ingredients of a young Brack’s approach to painting.

In Watching the Flowers, we study the artist's optimistic vision of the future and the final years of John Brack's professional life.

In The Hands and the Faces, Brack explores the genre of history painting.

The experience of the Brack's first overseas trip resulted in an unexpected shift in John's work.

Here we explore Brack's fascination with the city and suburbs and their essential contribution to the artist's depiction of modern Australian life.

Narrator Christopher Brown takes a look at John Brack's early years as a young man growing up in Melbourne, and the social and political influence this had on a young artists professional development.

The wedding series was a period of exploration in Brack's work as he experimented with the material possibilities of paint and a more abstract style of imagery.

Here we learn about the creation of Brack's psychologically intense portrait of Hal Hattam.

The shop window series was produced during the early 1960s and coincided with Brack's appointment as the head of the National Gallery School in 1962.

The Boucher nude is part of Brack's first series of Nude's painted in 1957. The setting is the artist's North Balwyn home.

Here we discuss The Racecourse series, a selection of Brack's watercolour and etchings analysing the Saturday afternoon activities at Melbourne racecourse during the winter of 1956.

The well-known and well-loved Collins St, 5 p.m. is a distinctly Melbourne depiction of city life in the 1950s.

The Bar, painted in 1954, is characteristic of John Brack's subject matter. Recently acquired by the NGV, this work is now permanently available for public viewing.

Here we explore a fascinating series of pictures known as the Ballroom Dancing Series from 1969.