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Studio interior, Jan Senbergs
  • Artist
    Jan Senbergs
  • Born
    Latvia 1939, arr.Australia 1950
  • Title
    Studio interior
  • Date of Production
    1992
  • Medium
    charcoal, pastel on paper
  • Dimensions
    103 x 208.5 cm
  • Credit Details
    Purchased with funds from the Gallery Women's Association and the Victorian Regional Galleries Art Foundation Trust Fund, 1993

Jan Senbergs

Studio interior

Painter, printmaker and teacher, Senbergs had no formal training as a painter but served an apprenticeship in screenprinting. After returning from Harvard in 1990, following a period as Visiting Professor in Australian Studies, Senbergs settled in Middle Park, Melbourne where his main focus from 1991-1994 was to become drawing.

Drawn at Middle Park, Studio interior predates his drawings of tribal figures, many of which appear in later drawings of his studio. At first glance the room depicted looks more like a tradesman's workshop but on closer inspection the racks and trays are packed with pastels, paints, spatulas and art books. Objects appear to have been taken up, used and discarded in a sort of 'ordered chaos'. Drawn with solid graphite, black pastel, and oil stick, Senbergs has used bold direct lines with jagged edges over the whole surface of the paper.

This work was purchased with funds from the Gallery Women's Association and the Victorian Regional Galleries Art Foundation Trust Fund, 1993.