John Brack
The sewing machine
A student of the National Gallery School and its Head from
1962-68, John Brack was a member of the Antipodeans. A
figurative painter who drew his inspiration from ordinary everyday
people and situations, especially those associated with urban
reality, Brack developed a unique and recognisable style
characterised by a strong sense of line and often infused by the
artist's keen skills of observation and wry wit.
In The sewing machine the sitter is Brack's wife Helen
Maudsley. Brack said of this work: "One characteristic
of the sewing machine is its short angular movement, a movement
which is transmitted to the body of the operator, so the
arrangement tries to represent this throughout the canvas. A
kind of zig-zag series of lines runs from the bottom along the
floorboards, through the machine and through the body. Such
distortions as they are emphasise the oblique motion. At the
same time the design is slightly unbalanced as a reinforcement of
this spirit."