JOHN PERCEVAL Australian, 1923-2000

Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne

Collection of Ted Lustig, Melbourne

Two Aspects of the Work of John Perceval, Zwemmer Gallery, London, March 1964, 'The Seasons' paintings, cat. 13 as 'Summer to Autumn'

Autumn Exhibition 1976, Recent Acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 1 - 12 March 1976, cat. 49, illus. 

Early in 1963 Perceval travelled with his family to England. Settling in Highgate, he found an ever-changing subject in a tangled, overgrown garden nearby – depicted several times through the passing seasons. English critic Michael Chase, writing for the artist's London exhibition in 1964, admired the way Perceval had 'transmitted' his distinctive depiction of vegetation from the Australian bush to the gardens and woods of Highgate and Hampstead.

‘At this time it would seem almost outmoded for an artist to take his imagery from the natural world around him’, Chase wrote, ‘Much of art is now at one or two removes from actual nature – yet when we are suddenly confronted with a painting that speaks of the primitive magnificence of growing things – trees, plants, flowers and the like – we are caught unawares and almost “shocked” into attention… Perceval paints with astonishing virtuosity – always on the spot whatever the weather – working with great rapidity, using as his implements anything that comes to hand – fingers, sticks, brushes – the results are wonderfully alive and magical’.¹

1. Introduction, Two Aspects of the Work of John Perceval, Zwemmer Gallery, London, 1964.