Godwin Bradbeer
(New Zealand, Australia 1950– )
- Title
- Man of paper VII
- Place of origin
-
Melbourne →
Victoria →
Australia
- Year
- 1995-1998
- Media category
- Drawing
- Materials used
- graphite, chinagraph, charcoal, pastel, scraping out on white wove paper
- Dimensions
-
133.2 x 110.6cm sheet
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated u.r.corner, pencil "1995-98 Goodwin Bradbeer".
- Credit
- Gift of the Trustees of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation 1998
- Accession number
- 382.1998
- Copyright
- © Godwin Bradbeer
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
‘Stark, simple, spartan, sublime, if ever possible. This I want my paintings and my drawings to be.’ (Godwin Bradbeer, 1998). 'Man of paper VII' was partly inspired by a character in Martin Scorsese’s film 'Raging Bull' (1980), about a struggling, middle-aged boxer, and partly by a mature age student of the artist, an ex-boxer, who became his studio assistant. Bradbeer was struck by the vulnerability of a classic boxing pose this man made one day, and made several versions of the subject. ‘It was like he was crying, an image like a cowering, cornered animal.’ (Rebecca Lancashire, 1998).
Bradbeer works on his drawings over extended periods of time, returning to each again and again. They are built up over an anatomical substructure in many layers of graphite, chinagraph, pastel and charcoal, each layer scraped back
or polished with a spoon.'I work with layers, like a layer of anatomy, layers of translucent flesh, of blacks and silver. For instance, in the use of various whites … so that the underdrawing tends to have an ivory cast to it and the overdrawing has a luminosity, so one looks solid, the other more diaphanous …' (Godwin Bradbeer, 1999).
- Bibliography (8)
-
Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Anne Ryan (Australia) (Author), Helen Campbell (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Sydney, 2012, 9, 30, 31 (colour illus.), 60.
Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Anne Ryan (Australia), The Dobell Prize for Drawing: 1993-2004, Sydney, 2004, 26, 27 (colour illus.), 50, 52.
‘Drawing a winner: a decade of Dobell Prizes shows us how and why’ by Hendrik Kolenberg, pg. 24-27., Look Aug 2003, Aug 2003, 25, 26.
'Drawing the spotlight' by Hendrik Kolenberg, pg. 18-19., Look Jun 2002, Jun 2002, 19.
Bulle Galleries (Editor), Godwin Bradbeer, Melbourne, 1999, (colour illus.). plate no. 2
‘A body of work’ by Myfanwy Warhurst., Inpress 24 Aug 1998, 24 Aug 1998. not paginated
‘The high achiever becomes top drawer’ by Rebecca Lancashire., The Age 27 Jul 1998, 27 Jul 1998. page number unknown
‘The art of paradox’ by Bernard Ryan, pg. 2., RMIT openline: the university newspaper Apr 1998, Apr 1998, 2, 12 (colour illus., detail).
- Exhibition history (3)
-
Dobell Prize for Drawing 1998, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 14 Mar 1998–19 Apr 1998.
Dobell Drawing Prize 1998 (Touring show), The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, 24 Jul 1998–06 Sep 1998.
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Grafton Regional Gallery, 15 Feb 2013–24 Mar 2013.
