Demonstration
1973
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
97.0 × 130.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented by the National Gallery Society of Victoria, 1973
© Helen Brack
Gallery location
Gallery 12
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
John Brack travelled overseas for the first time in 1972. He spent about three months in England, Europe and Mexico, devoting most of his time to viewing artworks he had previously only seen in reproduction. The experience of seeing these masterpieces firsthand and examining their painterly techniques reaffirmed his own artistic vision. Upon returning to Melbourne, he began working on a new series of works featuring gymnasts, including Demonstration. Brack said the series was 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’.
Artwork Details
Inscription
incribed in black paint l.r.: John Brack 1973
Accession Number
A8-1973
Department
Australian Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Subjects (general)
Abstract Art Human Figures
Subjects (specific)
acrobats balance (composition concept) brown (colour) shadows