John Perceval (1923 - 2000)
John Perceval
(1923 - 2000)
is
one of
the Australia's most
famous 20th century artist and he is one of the best loved artists.
Perceval
made an impact virtually as soon as he had begun to paint in the
1940s, when he exhibited in
Melbourne in 1942 at the
Contemporary Art
Society
of Victoria, Australia.
By the 1950's and 1960's
John
Perceval work had developed into an individual style giving him an artistic acclaim and financial
success,
his
original oils have sold for
the excess of $596,000.Along
with
Arthur Boyd
,
Drysdale,
David Boyd
,
Charles Blackman,
Nolan, John Brack and Robert Dickerson established a substantial part of
Australia's legacy.
They
dominated Australian art scene since
the Antipodean Manifesto in 1959
and recognised as
the most important Australian artists.
John
de Burgh Perceval
AO (1
February
1923 -
15 October
2000)
one of the most important
Australian
artist.
Perceval was the
last surviving member of a group known as the
Angry Penguins
who
redefined Australian art in the 1940s. Other members included
John and Sunday Reed,
Joy Hester,
Sidney Nolan,
Arthur Boyd
and
Albert Tucker.
Perceval was born Linwood Robert Steven South at
Bruce Rock,
Western Australia, the
second child of Robert South (a wheat farmer) and Dorothy née
Dolton. His parents separated in 1925 and he remained at his
father’s farm until reunited with his mother in
Melbourne
in 1935.
Following the marriage of his mother to William de Burgh
Perceval, he changed his name to John and adopted the surname de
Burgh Perceval.
John Perceval
moved to Melbourne with his mother in 1934 attending a local
boarding school, Trinity Grammar, here he had his first access
to a large library, where the school’s collection of art books
left a profound impact on the teenager. Greatly influenced by
Van Gogh’s famous painting of the same title, Perceval’s first
work
Sunflowers
(1935) captures the essence of Van Gogh’s work but Perceval’s
own flair can be seen in its depth and unique textural
qualities.
In 1938 Perceval contracted
polio
and was
hospitalised, giving him the opportunity to further his skills
at drawing and painting.
When he
contracted polio and was confined to a hospital bed, Perceval
spent much of this time developing his skills in drawing and
painting. Although he survived the infection, it seriously
affected his neck muscles, speech patterns and left him with a
permanent limp. These problems continued to give Perceval
constant troubles throughout his life.
Enlisting
in the army in 1941, following the outbreak of war in the
Pacific, Perceval was assigned to the Army Survey Corps when he
was rejected as unfit for military duty.
In the
army Perceval first met and befriended
Arthur Boyd.
During this time he used his drawing skills to become a
draughtsman and soon met other young artists such as
Albert Tucker,
Sidney Nolan and
Arthur Boyd. Becoming a close friend with Boyd, Perceval
later met his sister, Mary whom he married in 1944. His
associations with Boyd also allowed him to be introduced to the
well-known art patrons John and Sunday Reed who helped establish
his name within Australia’s art circles.
After
leaving the army and moving into the Boyd family home at Open
Country,
Murrumbeena,
he married Boyd's younger sister Mary in 1944. Together he and
Mary Boyd produced four children.
From
1943, and the aftermath of the war, Perceval began to produce
joyful religious and genre paintings with richly textured
surfaces. Although he was exhibiting regularly with the
Contemporary Art Society, Perceval held his first one-man show
at the Melbourne Book Club in 1948.
Establishing a pottery workshop at Murrumbeena with Arthur Boyd
and Peter Herbst in 1944, between 1949 and 1955, Perceval turned
to ceramic work and created a series of angel figures. Returning
to painting in 1956, Perceval produced a series of spontaneous
images depicting Williamstown, Gaffney’s Creek and a range of
seascapes.
Perceval held his first solo exhibition at the
Melbourne Book Club
in
1948 and showed regularly with the
Contemporary Art Society.
Between 1949 and 1955 he concentrated on producing earthenware
ceramics and helped to establish the
Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery
in Murrumbeena. Returning to painting in 1956 Perceval produced
a series of images of
Williamstown and
Gaffney's Creek.
In 1959,
Perceval became a member of the Antipodeans, a group of
self-taught Australian painters who dramatically changed the
local art scene in the 1940s and 50s. Working alongside Arthur
Boyd, Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan and
Joy Hester, during his time as an Antipodean Perceval worked
with passionate intensity to put his strong responses to nature
onto canvas. Proving to be one his most creative periods, his
palette and style had matured greatly to show subtle contrasts
in tone and vibrant use of colour. In 1961 he began to receive
wider recognition and was asked to contribute to the renowned
Whitechapel Gallery’s
50
Australian Painters
show in London. His work was also included in the 1962 Rebels
and Precursors in Australia, London’s Tate Gallery in 1963 and
later at Brazil’s Museum of Modern Art.
Moving to England in 1963 Perceval held solo
exhibitions in London, and travelled to Europe, before returning
to Australia in 1965 to take up the first
Australian National University
Creative Fellowship
(Australian
National University Creative Fellowship in Canberra).
John Perceval, a major retrospective exhibition, was held at
Albert Hall,
Canberra in
1966. Author Margaret Plant's monograph John Perceval,
was published in 1971.
However, despite his rising success, Perceval was tackling
serious health problems.
Suffering from
alcoholism
in 1974
Perceval committed himself to the psychiatric hospital
Larundel,
Melbourne, where he remained until 1981.
He was diagnosed with
schizophrenia.
Although Perceval produced a small number of
crayon sketches during this time, he did not seriously take up
drawing and painting until 1987. Some of the images Perceval
produced after his release from hospital reflect strong elements
of tension and trauma. This can be seen in his works
Jack-in-the-box with rooster lid (1987)
and
Feeding the Seagulls (1988)
which include axe images and distraught faces.
I n
1981
Perceval left the hospital and began again to produce jubilant
and brilliant paintings with richly textured surfaces which
brought him fame in the 50’s in his early artistic acclaim.
Perceval produced the prestigious Sunflowers series and also
continued his bellowed Williamstown series of paintings.
John Perceval established very strong emotional connection with
Williamstown, a small Melbourne Harbour. Williamstown paintings
formed Perceval first major show in 1956 bringing Perceval an
immediate artistic acclaim and financial success.
Perceval early
Williamstown paintings are in the prestigious permanent
collection of the
National Gallery of Victoria
(Melbourne) and the
Heide Art Gallery, Victoria (John and Sunday Reed Collection).
Arthur Boyd, John Perceval, Charles Blackman and David Boyd are
the most important Australian artists, they
(with John Brack, Robert
Dickerson and Clifton Pugh), signed Antipodean Manifesto
in
1959 which determined the shape of Australian contemporary art.
Perceval became
a good friend with Arthur, his brothers, Guy and David as well
as Sidney Nolan and Albert Tucker. Perceval’s work first made an
impact virtually as soon as he had begun to paint in the 1940s,
when he exhibited at the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne
in 1942 at the age of nineteen. By the 1950s and 1960s Perceval
work had developed to become an individual and consistent style
and he made his artistic and financial success. He played a
major role in the Antipodean group in the late 1950s in
Melbourne. Antipodean group reacted strongly against the
promoters of non-figurative painting who followed the trends in
the United States and suggested that representational painting
was unfashionable and outdated.
SOURCE:
Traudi
Allen, 'John Perceval', Melbourne University Press, Melbourne,
1992;
McCulloch Page 564 Germaine Page 541 Campbell Page 353. BIB: All
general books on contemporary Australian painting. Margaret
Plant John Perceval, Landsdowne, Melbourne, 1970 Traudi Allen,
John Perceval, MUP, 199. A&A 5/1/1967; 23/3/1986. REF: Alan and
Susan McCullock, The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen &
Unwin, 1994
Born Linwood Robert Steven South on 1
February 1923 at Bruce Rock, Western Australia, the son
of Robert South a wheat farmer and Dorothy née
Dolton; his parents separated when Perceval was eighteen
months old and until 1934 he lived with his father (“a
tireless, hard worker and impressive farmer...(but)
feared for his impulsive temper and occasional violent
outbursts”) until his mother's marriage to William de
Burgh Perceval. He then changed his name by deed poll.
He won a bursary at Trinity Grammar where he gained an
appreciation of drawing but was largely untrained; at
the age of fifteen he suffered from a bout of
poliomyelitits (polio) that left him permanently lame in
his lower right leg.
In December 1941 Perceval
voluntarily enlisted in the army and joined the
Cartographic Company where he met
Arthur Boyd but was discharged after
eight months and moved into the Boyd family home at
Open Country - Murrumbeena (“the guest who came to
stay”); he fell in love with Boyd's younger sister Mary
whom he married in November 1944 and with others helped
to establish “Arthur Merric Boyd (AMB) Pottery” (500
Neerim Road, Murrumbeena) having temporarily abandoned
painting from 1950 until 1954.
The last surviving
member of the avant-garde group of artists known as the
“Angry Penguins” that profoundly redefined the
Australian art scene in the 1940s, Perceval was
described as “the humanist and poet” of the group. His
paintings were “energetic and tactile” in technique
“characterised by an exuberant use of colour and
vigorous application of paint” which often took an
intimate and personal view of the subject, his most
notable works being from the acclaimed “Williamstown”
series painted during the 1950s and 60s notably “Tugboat
in a Boat” (1956), “Buoys in the Sunshower”
(1956), “Sulphur Smoke” (1959) and “The
Dredge and the Polly Woodside” (1967); just prior to
his death “Scudding Swans” (1959) sold for
$552,500 - a record for a living Australian painter.
But ultimately, as the 'junior' Penguin, Perceval’s
standing in Australian art is somewhat overshadowed by
Boyd,
Tucker
and Nolan.
In 1990 Perceval's
contribution to the history and development of
Australian art was acknowledged with being awarded the
Officer of the Order of Australia. He died on 15
October 2000 survived by his four children; he once
remarked - “Children are the real world. I have fought
adulthood all my life”.
John Perceval has played a major role in the
Antipodean group in the late 1950s in Melbourne and
in
1959 he signed the Antipodean Manifesto which determined the
shape of Australian contemporary art.
Antipodean group reacted strongly against the promoters of
non-figurative painting who followed the trends in the United
States and suggested that representational painting was
unfashionable and outdated.
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