Title
Triumphs; dreams. The wreath. In continuation. Our despotic selves. Affirming the self, by denial of others'. The miracle of survival
2005
Artist
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Details
- Date
- 2005
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on linen
- Dimensions
- 138.0 x 106.5 cm
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.l.c., black oil "H. MAUDSEY 2003"
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Patrick White Bequest 2021
- Location
- North Building, lower level 1
- Accession number
- 188.2021
- Copyright
- © Helen Maudsley
- Artist information
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Helen Maudsley
Works in the collection
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About
Helen Maudsley’s deeply autobiographical and complex paintings and drawings are reflections on human relationships and the surrounding world. Until 1967 she worked predominantly on paper due to space and time constraints caused by a lack of a personal studio; her work was characteristically figurative with a surreal inflection.
Her oil paintings, which she started painting in 1967 after taking over the studio of her husband, artist John Brack, are pictorial puzzles of intricate personal symbols and motifs, constructed into sophisticated and labyrinthine geometric compositions that share the slightly dreamlike and surreal spirit of her early works on paper. The paintings are composed of abstracted shapes formed from fragments of buildings, figures or landscape, with rich spatial depth and a sophisticated colour harmony. Maudsley sees these explorations of visual language and analogy as purposely ambiguous and refers to them as ‘visual essays’. She gives them poetic titles that give an insight into her thoughts, encouraging the viewer to open their mind to association and analogy in their reading of the work.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Helen Maudsley: A Selection 2004 - 2006, Niagara Galleries, Richmond, 29 May 2007–30 Jun 2007
Cross Currents: Focus on contemporary Australian art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, 17 Sep 2007–26 Nov 2007
The Landscape of Being, Fremantle Arts Centre, Australia, 07 Jun 2013–21 Jul 2013
Making Worlds, Art Gallery of New South Wales, North Building, Sydney, 03 Dec 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Helen Maudsley: A Selection 2004 - 2006, Melbourne, 2007, cover (colour illus.).
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