Circle of the Moon 1959

Painted in Melbourne, 1959. Oil on plywood, 400 x 500 mm, signed and dated verso, framed.

An exceptional early work by Robert Jacks, with unbroken provenance, exhibited at his retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2014 and illustrated in both of the artist’s monographs. As quoted in his 2001 monograph, ‘This painting, with its constructive qualities, delighted Jacks and he recalls how drawn he was to the purely abstract at that time’. 

A fine and quite rare early oil painting by the great Australian abstract artist Robert Jacks, sourced directly from the artist’s estate and never before offered for sale.

Painted while the artist studied at Prahran Technical College, this painting is one of a series of works influenced by British painter Ben Nicholson, defined by the raw matrix of the plywood, the texture of which forms an inimitable organic background upon which Jacks has composed his abstract work. In the late 1960s the painter migrated to the United States, where he would live and travel for the next ten years, during which time his small collection of plywoods from college years were placed in storage in his parent’s house. Upon return to Australia and establishment of the artist’s final residence and studios in Harcourt, Victoria, the collection of plywoods were returned to the artist where they formed foundation pieces of his visual library of works from across his career.

‘In Jacks’s painting titled Circle of the moon, 1959 (Plate 7), a white circle is surrounded by a black square, but the major element in the composition is the small black circle in the centre of the painting. This is itself surrounded by a very complex quadrilateral that concentrates attention. It becomes the focal point because it is the only shape that has odd angles and creates the impress of a third dimension. This painting, with its constructive qualities, delighted Jacks and he recalls how drawn he was to the purely abstract at that time. He appreciated the flatness, the suggestion of space, and the general sense that he could control the vertical and horizontal boundaries with a straight line’. McGREGOR, Ken. Robert Jacks. Past unfolded. Sydney: Craftsman House 2001, pp. 13 – 14.

Four other of Jack’s plywoods featuring abstract compositions of circles, also dated 1959, were exhibited in his retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria, and since have been acquired for the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

‘This exhibition represents the first large-scale retrospective of Robert Jacks who is one of Australia’s most significant and accomplished abstract artists. From his first sell-out solo exhibition at Gallery A in Melbourne in 1966, through to his ongoing exploration of abstraction in painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking, his work has charted a distinctive and influential path through late twentieth and early twenty-first century Australian art.

Born in 1943 Jacks studied sculpture at Prahran Technical College from 1958–1960 and painting at RMIT in 1961–62. His first solo exhibition was held to great acclaim in 1966 and in 1968 his work was included in the landmark exhibition, The Field, at the National Gallery of Victoria. Beginning in 1968, Jacks spent ten years living and working in Canada and the United States. It was during this period, much of which was spent in New York, in which Jacks met such artistic luminaries as Sol LeWitt and Donald Judd, and that his unique visual language matured, incorporating influences from the major exponents of contemporary abstraction, minimalism and conceptual practice. It is also this experience which makes Jacks a unique figure within the history and development of twentieth century Australian art.’ – Robert Jacks : Order and variation, NGV website  https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/robert-jacks/

Provenance:

the estate of the late Robert Jacks.

Exhibited:

Robert Jacks : order and variation. Melbourne : National Gallery of Victoria, 3 Oct 2014 – 15 Feb 2015.

References:

GRANT, Kirsty et al. Robert Jacks : order and variation. Melbourne, Victoria : National Gallery of Victoria, 2014, p. 4 (illustrated).

McGREGOR, Ken. Robert Jacks. Past unfolded. Sydney: Craftsman House 2001. p. 13 (illustrated), 14; 52 (illustrated with full page plate)