David Strachan
Still life with potatoes
English born David Strachan arrived in Australia in 1921 and
grew up in the Creswick area. In 1936 Strachan left Australia for
London and Paris to study, returning to Australia in 1938-9 where
he attended the George Bell School, Melbourne and East Sydney
Technical College. A member of the Merioola Group established in
Sydney in 1945, Strachan travelled extensively in Europe and
Britain between 1948 and 1960.
Painted in London in 1956 prior to the artist embarking on
Jungian analysis, Still life with potatoes is one of a
series of still lifes and interiors in which Strachan, who spent a
considerable amount of time in Paris during 1948-55, has allowed
the colour called 'French Blue' to dominate.
In an interview in 1962 with Hazel de Berg, Strachan said of his
subject matter: "The objects that I choose are nearly always
banalities or very close to it because… (they) have got something
of an archetypal quality… our feet are getting moved more and more
from the earth, and that is where we must return".