Robert Jacks AO (1943 – 2014) Colour Theory June–July 2020
A SELLING EXHIBITION
Robert Jacks AO (1943 – 2014) Colour Theory
A SELLING EXHIBITION
The essay below is an edited version of John McDonald’s review of Order and Variation the ground-breaking retrospective held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2014/15 “Jacks was an amiable and generous man – one of the rare figures who seemed to be universally well liked in a factionalised artworld. He debuted in 1966 with a solo exhibition at Melbourne’s Gallery A that established him as the hottest young artist in Australia. The catalogue quotes Patrick McCaughey, who reviewed that show, saying this was the moment when the 1960s arrived in the city. It was “a distinctively new voice to assuage the antipodean hangover”. The ‘antipodean hangover’ was a reference to art historian Bernard Smith’s short-lived movement and manifesto of 1959 in defence of ‘the image’, which he saw as being threatened by the worldwide advance of abstract art. The Antipodeans’ only show promoted the misleading impression that Melbourne was a haven for figurative art while Sydney had gone over to the devil of trendy abstraction. In fact, as writers such as Christopher Heathcote have demonstrated, Melbourne had a thriving community of abstract artists. It was from this milieu that Jacks emerged, as a dedicated student of Modernism. As opposed to the murky Abstract Expressionist painting that was being made in Melbourne at that time, Jacks drew inspiration from artists such as Brancusi and Picasso, and soon from Miró and Arp. Jacks as a young artist had demonstrated that abstract art need not be burdened with tragic overtones: it could be light and free, full of dancing rhythms. All at once, artists were allowed to stop dwelling on the mid-century horrors of the Holocaust, and revisit the Belle Époque. Throughout his career Jacks lined up instinctively with an artist such as Matisse, who believed that a painting should give pleasure rather than serve as a document of social injustice. He understood that colour can make a powerful impression on the viewer, stimulating a range of instinctive, emotional responses.
Jacks early exercises paid off when, shortly after moving to New York, the artists efforts caught the eye of leading Minimalist, Sol LeWitt, who selected him for a show at the New York Cultural Centre. He would remain in the city until 1978, becoming part of the artistic community, while keeping afloat by working at the Broome St. Bar. The bar-tending job turned out be an excellent way of meeting leading artists, dealers and collectors. During the 1970s he was also a first port-of-call for many Australian artists who needed a contact in New York. It was a role that became wearisome as the trickle of visitors turned into a torrent, putting Jacks’ good manners to the test. After almost a decade in New York, and endless variations on the Minimalist grid, Jacks undertook a residency in Austin, Texas and then in 1978 he accepted an invitation for a residency at Melbourne University, and his years of self-imposed exile were over. The return to his roots meant a return to painting, which had become a dormant part of Jacks’ repertoire in New York, without ever being extinguished. In the early 1990s Jacks and his wife, Julienne, moved to a property near Bendigo. It was a luxury to have separate studios for painting, sculpture and works on paper, and he produced a steady stream of exhibitions. Large paintings such as Kentish fire and heavy boots (1982), revisited the Metropolis theme, but in dazzling colour. Other works used the shape of a guitar, in homage to the Cubists; or divided the canvas into grids of closely modulated tones. The last paintings he produced were on a grand scale, as if Jacks were trying to make a final heroic show of strength in defiance of his deteriorating health. To the casual observer they will come across as pure decoration – harmonious arrangements of shape and colour with no underlying messages. But Jacks was never simply a decorator. In the sensuous silhouette of a guitar or the subtle juxtapositions of colour in a grid, he was revisiting his life’s work, constructing a summa and testament for a career in which the analytical impulse strove for dominance with an irrepressible sense of beauty. Published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 8th November, 2014
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, Cubist Guitar IV oil on canvas signed and dated 2003 to verso 62cm high, 61cm wide $5,500
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, Cubist Guitar V oil on canvas signed and dated 2003 to verso 62cm high, 61cm wide $5,500
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Seen through a window, 2003 oil on canvas signed, dated and titled to verso 46cm high, 46cm wide $5,500
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Waiting oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 2011 to verso 153cm high, 153cm wide $16,000
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Summer Blues Night oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 2008 to verso 183.5cm high, 122.5cm wide $18,000
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
The Sound of the City 2006 oil on canvas signed, titled and dated to verso 183cm high, 306cm wide $50,000
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled (Underwater Series) oil on canvas signed to verso 153cm high, 122cm wide $12,000
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Nocturnal Shadows 2 oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 2007 to verso 92cm high, 92cm wide $7,700
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Lights in the night oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 2006 to verso 102cm high, 76.5cm wide $6,950
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Murmered oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 2008 to verso 92cm high, 92cm wide $7,700
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, (Murmered II) oil on canvas signed and dated 2008 to verso 92cm high, 92cm wide $7,700
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Triangular landscape oil on canvas signed, titled and dated 2010 to verso 51cm high, 61cm $4,400
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, Wedge series oil on canvas signed and numbered 1 to verso 50.5cm high, 61cm wide $4,400
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, Cubist Guitar I oil on canvas signed to verso 46cm high, 46cm wide $3,300
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, Cubist Guitar II oil on canvas signed to verso 46cm high, 46cm wide $3,300
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ROBERT JACKS AO (1943-2014)
Untitled, Cubist Guitar III oil on canvas signed to verso 61cm high, 51cm wide $4,400
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Opposite: Sonia Payes portrait of Robert Jacks at home in Harcourt, Victoria, 2007. Published: Untitled, Sonia Payes Portraits of Australian Artists, McMillan, 2007. Copyright courtesy of the artist.
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