Title
Untitled
1973
Artist
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Details
- Other Titles
- Pale yellow with charcoal lines
Untitled (Pale yellow with charcoal lines)
TP198a - Date
- 1973
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- synthetic polymer paint and charcoal on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 214.0 x 122.5 cm
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation 2013
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 213.2013
- Copyright
- © Estate of the artist/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Tony Tuckson
Works in the collection
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About
'He shows the making of a painting with all the travail fully exposed, without prettification or pretence ... there is something almost shocking in the completeness of the exposure'. James Gleeson, April 1973
Tony Tuckson is admired as one of Australia's finest abstract expressionist painters. From the late 1950s, he used increasingly simplified forms and restricted colour to concentrate on the act of painting. While absorbing developments in European and American abstraction, and admiring the work of fellow Australian artist Ian Fairweather, Tuckson's approach may be most strongly allied to his lifelong interest in Aboriginal and Melanesian art.
Working as Deputy Director of this Gallery from the 1950s to 1973, Tuckson painted prodigiously in private. During his lifetime, his artistic career was almost completely overshadowed by his art museum profession. His belated first solo exhibition was held in 1970 at Watters Gallery, Sydney and his second in 1973 - a few months before his premature death at the age of 52.
Painted during this late period, this work presents a surface animated by broad, lyrical brushstrokes. Layers of paint in subdued hues have been built up on the hardboard surface. A long, narrow section of the composition is left unpainted, revealing the raw board beneath. This vertical strip, which is reminiscent of a Barnett Newman 'zip' - and which is echoed in the charcoal lines drawn upon the painted surface - brings a host of allusions into play with the painting.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 7 exhibitions
Tony Tuckson 1921-1973, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Apr 1976–09 May 1976
Tony Tuckson 1921-1973: a retrospective exhibition, Pinacotheca Gallery, Australia, 13 Oct 1982–30 Oct 1982
Tony Tuckson, themes and variations, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne, 02 May 1989–18 Jun 1989
Tony Tuckson, themes and variations, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 28 Jun 1989–27 Jul 1989
Reversals: Philip Guston and Tony Tuckson, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Paddington, 21 Apr 1994–21 May 1994
Reversals: Philip Guston and Tony Tuckson, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne, 31 May 1994–17 Jul 1994
Painting forever: The art of Tony Tuckson, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 04 Nov 2000–04 Feb 2001
Painting forever: The art of Tony Tuckson, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 Mar 2001–20 May 2001
Painting forever: The art of Tony Tuckson, Hazelhurst Arts Centre, , 07 Sep 2001–10 Feb 2002
Painting forever: The art of Tony Tuckson, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 07 Sep 2001–21 Oct 2001
Painting forever: The art of Tony Tuckson, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 23 Feb 2002–21 Apr 2002
Tony Tuckson: the abstract sublime, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Nov 2018–17 Feb 2019
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 9 publications
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Renée Free, Geoffrey Legge and Daniel Thomas AM, Tony Tuckson, Sydney, 2006, 150 (colour illus.), 201. plate no. 166
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Bruce James, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Larrikin I and II equal personality plus', Sydney, 21 Jan 2001, 10, 11 (illus.). Spectrum supplement
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Terence Maloon, Tony Tuckson: themes and variations, Bulleen, 1989, 26. titled 'Untitled (Pale yellow with charcoal lines)'; cat.no. 37
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Terence Maloon and Tim Fisher, Painting forever: Tony Tuckson, Canberra, 2000, 57 (colour illus.), 62. titled 'No title (Pale yellow with charcoal lines)'; cat.no. 55
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Denise Mimmocchi (Editor), Tony Tuckson, Sydney, 2018, 18, 19 (colour illus.), 20, 48, 75 (colour illus.) (detail), 141 (colour illus.), 209, 223.
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Tony Oliver (Curator), Reversals: Philip Guston and Tony Tuckson, Sydney, 1994, n.pag. (colour illus.). titled and dated 'Pale yellow with charcoal lines' 1973; cat.no. 24
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The Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation and Michael Brand, Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation: Celebrating 30 years of art acquisitions, Sydney, 2015, 41 (colour illus.).
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Daniel Thomas AM, Tony Tuckson 1921-1973, Melbourne, 1982, 32, 52 (illus.). cat.no. 96
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Daniel Thomas AM, Tony Tuckson 1921-1973, Sydney, 1976, 16, 30, 49 (illus.). cat.no. 90
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