John Brack nudes. Fifteen original lithographs

Text by Margaret Plant. Introduction by Gordon Thomson. Melbourne: Lyre Bird Press, 1982. Large folio (465 x 340mm) bound in gilt-titled half-leather over hessian covered boards decorated with Brack motif, housed in matching clamshell box with gilt decoration and lettering on front panel, bound by N. Doslov of Melbourne, with binder’s ticket on front pastedown. Illustrated with fifteen original large lithographs by Brack, each drawn on a single zinc lithographic plate, each unsigned and untitled as issued. Thirteen lithographs measure 430 x 300mm (approximate), two of the plates are double page images of double nudes, and measure 440 x 640mm (approximate). Light foxing to the cloth boards, slipcase, and preliminaries. Limited to 200 copies plus 50 hors d’commerce, but in reality only a quarter of this edition was produced. Signed by John Brack on the colophon.

This stunning book, the brainchild of master private press publisher Tate Adams, is the only deluxe art book created by John Brack. Commenced in September 1981 and published in December 1982, the book was launched with a series of original conte drawings, on which the lithographs were based, at Realities Galleries, Melbourne. As such a high cost of production was involved in the binding of the book, only fifteen copies were originally bound for exhibition and sale at the show. Subsequent to this a further approximately thirty-five copies were bound, making a total finished edition of about fifty copies, far fewer than the anticipated 200. The fifty hors d’commerce series were issued unbound as lithographs for framing, and these were individually signed by the artist. This commercial aspect to the publication in part defeated John Brack’s creative vision in designing the graphics – the images are composed with a specific perspective intended to be experienced as the book is angled flat before the viewer, which is lost once the images are framed.

Rare.

Collections:

National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, National Library of Australia, State Library of Victoria, State Library of Queensland, State Library of New South Wales, University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Monash University.

References:

GRISHIN, Sasha. The Art of John Brack, pp 31-45;

HOLLOWAY, Memory. ‘Critics Choice’, The Age, Melbourne, 11 December 1982

LINDSAY, Robert. John Brack Retrospective exhibition. Melbourne: NGV, 1987 p. 134