Collins St, 5p.m.
1955
- Gallery location
- Gallery 12
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
In the early 1950s John Brack adopted the urban Melbourne environment as his subject, recording the shops, bars and workplaces of the city with an ironic edge. This painting is among Brack’s most memorable works from this period. Here, the artist depicts Melbourne’s financial hub at the end of the working day, its uniformly dressed office workers streaming homeward. Inspired by Brack’s own experience working for a city-based insurance company, the formal repetition and muted palette enhances the overarching sense of drudgery of nine-to-five office life. However, by personalising each figure, Brack points to the enduring presence of the individual.
Artwork Details
inscribed in white chalk (vertically) on reverse: BRACK / COLLINS ST.
inscribed in pencil (vertically) on reverse: Collins St J. BRACK
Purchased, 1956
© National Gallery of Victoria
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Level 2, NGV Australia
Frame
The frame for John Brack’s Collins St. 5pm is contemporary with the work. The painting came into the collection in 1956, the year after it was painted and the frame is the one on the work at the time of acquisition. It is a simple bevelled profile, carrying a light wash of pale colour, and appears on a number of the artist's works from the mid 1950’s.
A copy of this frame was made for The bar, 1954 (2009.53). A similar frame profile was used for, The block, 1954 (1999.197) and Self portrait, 1955, (2000.185).
The painting was cleaned in 2011.
Frame Details
- Framemaker
- Unknown - 20th century
- Date
- c.1955
- Materials
-
bevelled timber section
- Frame Condition
-
good original condition