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White on Black, with paper, Tony Tuckson
  • Artist
    Tony Tuckson
  • Born
    1921
  • Died
    1973
  • Title
    White on Black, with paper
  • Date of Production
    c. 1971
  • Medium
    acrylic paint, paper on masonite
  • Dimensions
    2445 x 1225 mm
  • Credit Details
    Purchased, 1974

Tony Tuckson

White on Black, with paper

Tony Tuckson trained in London and at East Sydney Technical School.  He did not show his work commercially because for many years, as a Deputy Director of the Art Galley of New South Wales, he was uncomfortable about promoting his own work.  It was only after his death in 1973 that the depth and quality of his art was fully recognized.  Interested in the underlying spirit in Aboriginal and Melanesian imagery, Tuckson turned to pure abstract work in the late 1950s, exploring the longitudinal against the vertical and dark against light.

In Black on white, with paper the simple tones-he rarely used black and white-and dramatic lines of acrylic on masonite combine to create a complex painting that captures both space and energy.

Tuckson had developed a tremendous freedom in his work by the 1970s and this is probably one of the last works that he painted.  It is also possibly one of the works referred to by Tuckson who, when asked what he was doing replied "The same old thing.  Up and down and across and back," whilst making the gestures with his hand.