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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Melbourne
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Victoria
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Australia
- Date
- 1999
- Media category
- Drawing
- Materials used
- pencil, conté, white chalk on two joined sheets of brown paper
- Dimensions
- 102.0 x 75.5 cm sheet; overall; 125.5 x 96.0 x 6.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.l., pencil "NICK MOURTZAKIS/ 1999".
- Credit
- Gift of the Trustees of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation 2000
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 119.2000
- Copyright
- © Nick Mourtzakis
- Dobell Prize for Drawing
- Winner - 2000
- Artist information
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Nick Mourtzakis
Works in the collection
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About
This drawing is a self-portrait made over a period of a year after the death of the artist’s mother, a time of intense emotional introspection for him. It began as a study for a painting, to examine scale, format and structure. The work extended beyond this very quickly and from an initial intention to spend several hours, the drawing involved me for several months … 'The drawing was made with and without reference to the mirror, in both artificial and natural light.
The work engages the presence of mortality and grief (as well as) continuity …' (Nick Mourtzakis, 2000).A watercolour – 'Eleni Mourtzakis, the artist’s mother' 1984 – is in the Gallery’s collection (see Hendrik Kolenberg, Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s: from the Gallery’s collection, AGNSW, Sydney, 1995, p 107).
This work won the Dobell Prize for Drawing in 2000 and was acquired by the Gallery in 2000.
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Places
Where the work was made
Melbourne
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Dobell Prize for Drawing 2000, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 18 Mar 2000–07 May 2000
The analytical portrait: works by Nikolas Mourtzakis, The Victorian College of the Arts Gallery, South Bank, 30 Mar 2004–02 Apr 2004
Slow burn: the art of Nick Mourtzakis, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 04 Jul 2005–23 Jul 2005
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Grafton Regional Gallery, , 15 Feb 2013–24 Mar 2013
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, 30 Mar 2013–05 May 2013
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 05 Jul 2013–18 Aug 2013
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, National Art School, Darlinghurst, 29 Aug 2013–06 Oct 2013
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah, 18 Oct 2013–24 Nov 2013
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, 11 Apr 2014–18 May 2014
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Bibliography
Referenced in 6 publications
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Megan Backhouse, The Age, ‘The secret artist’, pg. 3, Melbourne, 13 May 2000, 96 (colour illus.).
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Elizabeth Cross, Look, 'Nick Mourtzakis', pg. 18-23, Sydney, May 2007, 18 (colour illus.).
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Elizabeth Fortescue, The Daily Telegraph, ‘Drawing from the migrant experience’, pg. 106, Sydney, 31 Mar 2000, 106 (colour illus.).
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Hendrik Kolenberg, Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, ‘Introduction’, pg. 6-14, Sydney, 2012, 7, 34, 35 (colour illus.), 60.
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Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, 'A fine harvest of drawings: legacy of an exceptional draughtsman', pg. 28-31, Sydney, Nov 2011, 30.
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Hendrik Kolenberg, The Dobell Prize for Drawing: 1993-2004, ‘Introduction: the first ten years’, pg. 8-9, Sydney, 2004, 9, 30, 31 (colour illus.), 50, 53.
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