Cut Paper piece : 45 through to 90 degrees (from ‘An unfinished work’) 1969 (circa 2008)

Harcourt : the artist, circa 2008. Cut paper work on grey paper, 270 x 200 mm (image) in box timber frame measuring 455 x 365 mm. Unsigned as intended.

A fine original conceptual work by the great Australian abstract artist Robert Jacks, sourced directly from the artist’s estate.

Between 1966 – 1971 the Melbourne artist Robert Jacks conceived of a series of works which existed in the form of mathematical instructions which could be articulated at different times, in the manner of Sol Lewitt’s wall line drawings. These conceptual works were described in the artist’s book An unfinished work, originally printed in New York during the artist’s residency there, and later reprinted by the artist as the concept permits. Jacks would make various iterations of this instructional work, examples of which are in major Australian collections.

In 2014 the National Gallery of Victoria staged a major retrospective of the artist’s oeuvre.

‘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/

A fine example of Robert Jacks’ foray into abstraction.

Provenance:

the estate of the late Robert Jacks

Related works : 

Cut paper piece: 45 through to 90 degrees (from ‘An unfinished work’) 1969, Queensland Art Gallery, Accession No.1994.216

White Cut Felt Piece 45-90 degrees, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Accession number 2012.122