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 John
de Burgh Perceval is one of Australia's most important artists.
Awards:
(1958)
McCaughey Prize,
(1960)
Wynne Prize,
(1991)
AO Officer of the Order of Australia.
Perceval's
Sulphur Smoke
sold for $589,000 & Scudding Swans sold
for $690,000.
Perceval Retrospective:
(1966)
Albert Hall,
(1984)
Heide Museum of
Modern Art,
(1992)
National Gallery of
Victoria,
(2000)
Galeria Aniela Fine Art,
(2026)
Heide Museum of Modern
Art in Melbourne hosted "John Perceval: All That We Are",
a major retrospective dedicated to this legendary Australian
modernist artist.
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John Perceval’s Angels
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John Perceval’s Angels are considered one of
the most significant and distinctive series in Australian Modernism.
They are highly expressive sculptures that blend deep spirituality
with basic human characteristics. Perceval intentionally stripped
away the idealized nature of traditional religious cherubs.
His angels are thoroughly human—they are boisterous, cheeky, whimsy,
and mischievous. They blend the boundaries between the heavenly and
the earthly.
Because Angel bronzes are far scarcer than
his ceramic Angels, they are
highly prized by collectors on the Australian art market.
Today, the remaining numbered Angel sculptures cast from a small
edition of 10, are highly sought after, reside in private collections and major public
institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), the National
Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the Australian War Memorial, and the Australian
Chancellery in Washington, D.C..
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John Perceval AO 1923-2000
Ecstatic Angel 1957,
Cast 1996
Bronze - a rare, limited-edition of Perceval renowned Angel series
Signed
and inscribed 'Perceval / 6-10' on base
Measurements:
21.5 cm high x 16.5 cm (wide) x 13.5 cm (deep)
Price on Application (POA)
Exhibited:
The Angry Penguins: An. Exhibition of Highly Important Works by Boyd, Nolan,
Perceval, Tucker, Gould Galleries, Melbourne, 14 March - 20 April 1997, no.32,
illustrated.
Reference: Allen, T., John Perceval, Melbourne University Press,
Melbourne, 1992 (illus. p.125)
Provenance: Gould Galleries, Sydney, 1998 Private collection. Bonhams &
Goodman, 2007 Private collection.
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John Perceval’s
Williamstown Series
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The Williamstown Series is a highly celebrated collection of paintings.
Widely considered to be his finest and most accomplished body of work, the
series holds a legendary status in Australian art history.
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John Perceval AO 1923-2000
Nightfall Williamstown Docks c.1995 | Williamstown Series
Oil on canvas, signed lower left and sign verso
Measurements (image): 51 x
61
cm
Framed: 73 x 83 cm
| Original 24 carat Gold gilded frame
Price on Application (POA)
NOTES:
In 'Nightfall Williamstown Docks' painting, the artist
worked tonally with the background and foreground spaces, after which he applied
the impasto brushstrokes
with swirling strokes.
VIDEO:
Australian National NEWS ABC TV
Perceval Retrospective
in Galeria Aniela
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Key Aspects of the Series
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The "Venice" of Melbourne:
Upon discovering the busy, maritime shipyards of Williamstown, Perceval
famously remarked that finding the port was "like discovering
Venice".
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Dynamic Subject Matter:
The paintings vividly capture the boisterous energy of Melbourne's oldest
working port, featuring a chaotic jumble of tugboats, oil tankers, rusting
ships, diving gannets, and choppy waves.
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Distinct Technique:
Perceval painted outside (en plein air) using the energetic alla
prima (wet-on-wet) method. He painted thick layers of paint (impasto)
onto the canvas to convey structural form and violent movement.
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Legacy:
The initial series consisted of roughly 30 paintings. Major works from the
collection—like Old Ships at Williamstown—now reside in Australia's
top public institutions, including the
National Gallery of
Victoria (NGV)
and the
National Gallery of Australia.
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John Perceval Williamstown Series Auction Records
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Scudding Swans 1959
Oil and tempera on board, 91 x 122 cm, Menzies, Australian &
International Fine Art, Sydney, 25/03/2010, Lot No. 53
Sold for
$690,000.00 excl. GST
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Sulphur Smoke
1959
Oil & tempera on composition board,
91 x 121.5 cm, Deutscher~Menzies, Australian & International
Paintings, Sydney, 05/03/2002, Lot No. 37
Sold for
$589,000.00 excl. GST
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Fisherman's Sights, Williamstown, 1956
Oil on composition board,
91.5 x 121 cm, Deutscher and Hackett, The Gould Collection of
Important Australian Art, Sydney, 15/03/2017, Lot No. 6
Sold for
$488,000.00 excl. GST |
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The Moored Shark Boat, 1959
Oil on canvas on board,
84.5 x 115 cm, Menzies, Important Australian and International
Fine Art and Sculpture, Melbourne, 24/09/2015, Lot No. 39
Sold for
$454,091.00 excl. GST |
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Old Hulk, Williamstown 1956
Enamel & tempera on composition board,
78.5 x 114 cm, Bonhams & Goodman, Australian, International &
Aboriginal Fine Art, Melbourne, 25/11/2008, Lot No. 21
Sold for
$348,000.00 excl. GST
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The Hull, Williamstown, 1956
Oil on composition board,
61 x 71 cm, Deutscher and Hackett, The Gould Collection of
Important Australian Art, Sydney, 15/03/2017, Lot No. 5
Sold for
$292,800.00 excl. GST
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John Perceval’s
Sunflowers
Series
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Perceval’s Sunflowers series of paintings were a profound, lifelong motif that
echoed through his entire career, from 1935 to 2000. The series springs from the
artist's most powerful childhood memories of the golden fields on his father’s
Western Australian property, combined with his deep admiration for the art of
Vincent van Gogh. However, his own sunflowers break free from Van Gogh's
inhibitions. By allowing the unconscious mind to take the lead, the artist
releases a raw, newfound power in his work.
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John Perceval AO 1923-2000
Sunflowers on Crimson c. 1988 |
Sunflowers Series
Oil on canvas, signed lower left and sign verso
Measurements (image): 60 x 52
cm
Framed: 75 x 67 cm | Original Gold gilded frame
Price on Application (POA)
Related-Works
NOTES:
A
highly textured
painting is Perceval signature work in typical swirling brush
strokes with rich,
expressive
paintwork and
superb composition.
In his paintings, Perceval worked tonally with the background, middle
ground and foreground spaces, after which he applied the impasto
brushstrokes.
Exhibited:
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2003 "Masters of Art" Galeria
Aniela Fine art Gallery, NSW, Australia
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2005 "The Grand Masters"
The Art Lounge Gallery -
Edmund Capon
Art Gallery of NSW
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Key Aspects of Perceval’s Sunflowers
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Lifelong Career:
This subject holds a unique place in Perceval's legacy and
his profound appreciation for Vincent van Gogh work. His very first oil
painting as a teenager in 1935 was a study of sunflowers, and one of the
final paintings executed before his passing in 2000 returned to the exact
same motif.
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Origins:
The series was inspired by his childhood memory—the massive, glowing golden fields of sunflowers grown on his father’s wheat farm in
WA.
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Dynamic Impasto Technique:
The artist utilizes textured, swirling brushstrokes and a vibrant, "kaleidoscopic" colour
palette.
He used thick layers of paint (impasto)
on canvas, giving a sense of
living and
sculptural
energetic motion.
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Celebratory Spirit:
The overall mood of these paintings is one of pure, unadulterated joy. The
composition feels liberating, and full of spontaneous light,
capturing the explosive vitality of nature.
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John Perceval AO 1923-2000
Free Sunflowers
1989 | Sunflowers Series
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VIDEO: "Free Sunflowers"
Oil on Cotton paper board, Signed
Lower left PERCEVAL
Measurement (image): 76 cm x 57 cm
Framed:
94 cm x 75 cm | Contemporary frame chosen by the artist
Price on Application (POA)
Related-Works
'Free Sunflowers' is the artist's signature work, beautifully
composition, rich and highly textured painting with clear and
expressive tone of colour, with swirling brush strokes and warm
tones.
Exhibited:
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John Perceval
Sunflowers Series | Auction Records |
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Sapphire Blue Sunflowers
Oil on canvas, signed lower left: Perceval, signed and inscribed verso:
Perceval/ sunflowers, bears date and inscription verso: Blue sunflowers
2000, 89 x 89 cm
Est: $35,000-45,000, Menzies, Important Australian & International Art
featuring Highlights From the ANZ Art Collection, Sydney, 29/11/2023,
Lot No. 72
Sold for
$56,455 excl. GST |
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Sunflowers for Vincent, 1994
Oil on
canvas, signed lower left Perceval. inscribed verso Perceval /
Sunflowers
Est: $30,000-40,000, Deutscher and Hackett, Important
Australian and International Fine Art, Melbourne, 06/05/2015, Lot No. 62
Sold for
$45,600 excl. GST |
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Sunflowers in a Clay Pot
Oil on
canvas, signed lower right and bears title on the reverse, 60 x 50 cm
Est: $28,000-36,000, Joel Fine Art, Australian & International Art,
Melbourne, 14/08/2007, Lot No. 35
Sold for
$44,908 excl. GST |
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The Life, Career, and Legacy of
John
de Burgh
Perceval AO 1923-2000
John
de Burgh
Perceval is one of Australia's most
important artists,
and
remains the best-loved
artist.
From the 1940's Perceval made
a strong impact and by the 1960's he achieved great success. Perceval created a relatively small body
of work by comparison with artists like
Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan.
But, his
contribution to important historical group and the development of the
contemporary Australian art is significant. All major public and private
collections have acquired the representation of Perceval works.
Perceval
was the member of the famous group known as the
Angry Penguins
who redefined Australian art in the 40s and the 50's. Other
members included John and Sunday Reed,
Joy Hester,
Sidney Nolan,
Arthur Boyd
and
Albert Tucker.
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.
John
de Burgh
Perceval was born
1 February 1923 in Western Australia
at
Bruce Rock,
Western Australia. Perceval birth name
is Linwood Robert Steven South.
He was the second
child of Robert South and Dorothy née Dolton.
Perceval
parents separated in 1925. He remained at his father's farm.
In 1934, following the
marriage of his mother to William de Burgh Perceval, he
changed his name to John and adopted the surname de Burgh
Perceval. He moved to Melbourne with his mother 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.
In 1938 Perceval contracted
polio
and was confined to a hospital bed. Perceval spent much of this time developing his skills in drawing
and painting. He survived the infection, however, 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.
Greatly
influenced by Van Gogh’s famous painting of the same title, his’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 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.
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.
1944
after leaving the army John
Perceval married Arthur
Boyd's
sister Mary and they moved into the Boyd family home at Open Country,
Murrumbeena.
They had four children
Matthew,
Tessa Perceval,
Celia Perceval
and Alice.
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.
1948 Perceval held his
first solo exhibition at the
Melbourne Book Club
and showed regularly with the
Contemporary Art Society.
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. His
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).
In 1958
Perceval won
McCaughey Prize.
In 1959
Perceval signed the Antipodean Manifesto which shape of Australian
contemporary art.
Perceval became a member of the Antipodeans, a group of self-taught
Australian painters who dramatically changed the Australian art scene. 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. It was
one the most
creative periods, his palette and style had matured greatly to show subtle
contrasts in tone and vibrant use of colour.
In 1960
Perceval won
Wynne Prize
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.
Perceval 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.
1963
Perceval moved
to England and 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).
By the the
60's
Perceval work had
developed into an individual style giving him
an artistic acclaim as well as the financial success.
1965
Perceval take up the first
Australian National
University
Creative Fellowship.
JOHN PERCEVAL National Gallery of Victoria
1966
Albert Hall,
Canberra
held John Perceval first major Retrospective Exhibition.
In the early 1970s, John Perceval owned an apple-green Porsche - driving
the Porsche all over Victoria looking for his ‘poetry landscapes’. He
walked with a limp due to childhood polio, and the process of painting
‘en plain air’, the artist viewed as exhausting.
In his paintings, he worked tonally with the background, middle ground
and foreground spaces, after which he applied the impasto brushstrokes.
“I chose early not to work from an aesthetic theory or concept but
prefer the results to be governed by developments that occur while the
work is in progress” …. “it’s like a ballet dancer’s first night,
but every painting is a first night” - Perceval affirmed.
However, despite his success, Perceval was
tackling serious health problems. He was suffering from
alcoholism
and
schizophrenia. In 1974 Perceval committed himself to the psychiatric hospital
Larundel,
Melbourne, where he spent nearly ten years of his life
and remained until 1981.
During
this time he seriously take up drawing and produced a small number of
crayon sketches. 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 troubled expression.
After Perceval left the
hospital he again to begin producing jubilant and brilliant paintings with
richly textured surfaces which brought him fame in the 50’s in his early
artistic acclaim.
In 1984 John Perceval Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings was held at
Heide
Museum of Modern Art Gallery. Perceval created the prestigious Sunflowers
series and also continued his bellowed Williamstown series of paintings.
 Awards:
1958
McCaughey Prize
1960
Wynne Prize
1966
Albert Hall, Canberra held Perceval first major Retrospective Exhibition.
1971
Author Margaret Plant published monograph of
John Perceval
1984
Heide
Museum of Modern Art held Perceval Retrospective Exhibition
1990
National
Gallery of Victoria
organized John Perceval major Retrospective exhibition.
1991 John Perceval was awarded
Officer of the
Order of Australia
(AO)
1992
National Gallery of Victoria
Melbourne organized
John Perceval major Retrospective (1945-1992)
1992
National
Gallery of Victoria Melbourne
organized
Perceval
Retrospective (1945-1992)
In
2000,
'Scudding Swans' sold for $552,500,
it was the highest price for a
living Australian painter (28/06/2000).
In 2000,
Galeria Aniela
Fine Art gallery
had the honor of holding the
John Perceval
major Retrospective.
 The
exhibition was organized with
the artist strong
encouragement
and personal support and kind assistance of Ken McGregor,
his
close friend,
and the manager.
The
exhibition featured 80 original artworks, from as
early as 1943 to 2000, oil paintings, drawings, pastels and watercolours, many works have
not been previously seen. Due to the importance of the exhibition it was held for 3 months.
The event was officially open by
Justin Miller
Chairman of
Sotheby’s Australia (1999-2010)
- Saturday, 19 August 2000.
This major media art event,
was famously captured by the
ABC TV who flew the Australian National News crew to the
Galeria Aniela's
Sculpture Park by helicopter to
document the exhibition for the Australian
National News.
Watch Video
| Perceval Retrospective on Australian National News ABC
TV
Perceval
continued with his art until his death in 2000.
15 October 2000
John Perceval died (aged 77).
As the last of the original core of the Antipodeans, Perceval death was
considered a great tragedy. Perceval was survived by his four
children, all of whom Celia,
Tessa
and Matthew Perceval are practicing artists.
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Galeria Aniela Fine
Art Advisory & Procurement
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An independent advisory and procurement service for
significant original artworks by renowned Australian
artists. Combining over 30 years of fine art expertise,
we help you seamlessly navigate the art market,
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masterworks by Australia's most influential
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Jamie Boyd and Aniela Kos with
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