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 he
remains the best-loved artist.
With a contribution spanning nearly
six decades, John Perceval created a relatively small body
of work by comparison with artists like
Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan.
Perceval
produced fewer than 600 original oil paintings.
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suggested that representational painting was unfashionable and outdated.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, hoverer, 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.
1944
after leaving the army John
Perceval married Arthur
Boyd's
sister Mary and moved into the Boyd family home at Open Country,
Murrumbeena.
They had four children
Matthew,
Tessa Perceval,
Celia Perceval
and Alice.
Becoming a close friend with
Arthur Boyd
and his family, Perceval later met his
younger sister Mary, whom he
married in 1944. They moved into the Boyd family home at Open Country,
Murrumbeena,
and together produced four children.
His associations with Boyd
family 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.
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.
1948 Perceval held his
first solo exhibition at the
Melbourne Book Club
in 1948 and showed regularly with the
Contemporary Art Society.
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 50's and the
60's
Perceval work had
developed into an individual style giving him
an artistic acclaim as well as the financial success.
1949 - 1955 Perceval concentrated on producing
earthenware ceramics and helped to establish the
Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery
in Murrumbeena.
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.
1956 Perceval has
return to painting and produced a series of paintings of the famous
Williamstown
series and
Gaffney's Creek.
1958
Perceval won
McCaughey Prize
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 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. 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.
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
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).
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
‘au 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.
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).
 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.
 
|
John
de Burgh Perceval is one of Australia's most important artists. From the 1940's Perceval made
a strong impact and
by the 1960's he achieved great
recognition and financial success. He created a relatively small body of work by
comparison to
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