The breakfast table
John Brack1958
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
The breakfast table' by John Brack depicts the traces of a family's morning meal before the cutlery and plates have been cleared away. It captures a simple moment of domesticity, breaking with the pictorial and thematic conventions of the still-life genre. The painting suggests the interactions and traits of the sitters invisible to us. Empty glasses, cups and mugs remain on the table surrounded by plates with scattered crumbs, bottles, knives and jars of fruit conserve.
Brack's palette is arresting: the illuminated, almost fluorescent yellow of the table top contrasts the deep shadows cast by the items on it. He has arranged the objects in an almost geometric pattern, so that objects sit in relation to one another and are intrinsic to the success of the overall composition.
- Title: The breakfast table
- Creator: John Brack
- Date Created: 1958
- Location: Melbourne/Victoria/Australia
- Physical Dimensions: 122.2 x 68.7 x 2.2 cm stretcher; 138.2 x 84.6 cm frame
- Provenance: Trinity College, The University of Melbourne, 1958-1989, Melbourne/Victoria/Australia, Nicknamed the 'Yellow Peril' by students it was hung in Junior Common Room until 1986. In April 1988 the Art Committee unsuccessfully offered the painting for sale ($75,000) through Dr Joseph Brown. Trinity College de-accessioned the work from its collection in 1989 and sold it through auction to raise funds for the purchase of contemporary art. The sale proceeds ($170,000) were used to establish the ER White Investment Fund.; Mr and Mrs Hal Moran, 1958, Melbourne/Victoria/Australia, The painting was purchased by Mr and Mrs Hal Moran from Australian Galleries in September 1958, priced 95 guineas. It was gifted to Trinity College, The University of Melbourne, in memory Mrs Moran's late father, Edward Rowden White.; Sotheby's Gallery Melbourne, 1989, Melbourne/Victoria/Australia, Auctioned in Sotheby's, 'Fine Australian paintings including the John L. Raven collection of important colonial paintings',
- Type: Painting
- Rights: Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation and the Australian Masterpiece Fund, including the following major donors: Geoff Ainsworth AM, Andrew & Cathy Cameron, Vicki & Paul Clitheroe AM, Rowena Danziger AM & Ken Coles AM, Chris & Judy Fullerton, Kiera Grant, Alexandra Joel & Philip Mason, John Sharpe & Claire Armstrong, The Lowy Foundation, Robyn Martin-Weber, Samantha Meers, Kerr & Judith Neilson, Mark & Louise Nelson, John Schaeffer AO & Bettina Dalton, Denyse Spice, Georgie Taylor, Max & Nola Tegal, Alenka Tindale, Eleonora & Michael Triguboff, Peter Weiss AO, Ray Wilson OAM, Women’s Art Group 2013
- External Link: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/193.2013
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Signature & Date: Signed and dated l.r., dark green oil "John/ Brack 58".
- Object Other Titles: The Breakfast Table; Breakfast table; The Laid Table
- Artist Country: Australia
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