The Breakfast Table (Brack)
The Breakfast Table is a 1958 still life painting by Australian artist John Brack. The painting depicts a table after breakfast but before the plates, cups and cutlery have been cleared.
Breakfast has finished and the participants have gone, although the detective-like artist has set out visual clues that tell us about the people who were here. To begin with Brack himself, his painter-wife, and their four daughters are signified by a glass, a tea cup and four mugs. Of course, all these vessels are empty, much like the egg shell in its cup, and the five plates dotted with a few crumbs left from toast. Even bottles are drained of liquids. Not a scrap of food remains. No crusts, no dabs of butter, no unconsumed dregs of milk.
— Dr Christopher Heathcote, [1]
| The Breakfast Table | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | John Brack |
| Year | 1958 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 122.2 cm × 68.7 cm (48.1 in × 27.0 in) |
| Location | Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
The viewpoint of the artist is from over the table, laying out the objects in a geometrical pattern with tubular bottles and jars, flat plates, and knives tilted at different angles.[1] The painting foreshadows some of Brack's later work—his 1960s still lifes portraying knives and his allegorical conflict paintings of the 1980s.[1]
Previously part of the Grundy collection, the Art Gallery of New South Wales acquired the work in 2013 for A$1.3 million.[2]
References
- Heathcote, Christopher. "The Breakfast Table". Bonhams. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
- Dow, Steve (1 July 2013). "Gasps as Art Gallery of NSW shells out millions on Brack". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 June 2016.