Bio
John Perceval AO
John born 1923 and attending Trinity Grammar suffered from polio at an early age and spent a year in hospital As a part of his recovery he began to paint He came to know the artists associated with Melbourne’s newly established Contemporary Art Society and through them joined the circle of artists and writers around John and Sunday Reed at Heide Park Despite his withered leg John enlisted in the Army as his skills as a draughtsman could be used in the Cartographic Company Here he met Arthur Boyd, and then the entire extended Boyd family at Murrumbeena He married Arthur’s youngest sister Mary Boyd, in 1944 with Arthur Boyd and Neil Douglas he worked at the Murrumbeena pottery making decorated pots and bowls His paintings of this period show a strong influence of Arthur Boyd’s work with a joyous brush stroke and an almost naive quality John was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s Other members included John, Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Albert Tucker Perceval was persuaded by Bernard Smith to join with his brothers-in-law Arthur and David Boyd, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, Charles Blackman and Clifton Pugh to form the Antipodeans a celebration of the human figure in opposition to the rise of abstract art His own paintings however concentrated on landscapes, and increasingly he found more nourishment from Vincent Van Gogh than any other artist John Perceval: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings was held at Heide Park and Art Gallery in 1984 He was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1991, the year before the National Gallery of Victoria held John Perceval: A Retrospective where writer and art historian Traudi Allen’s John Perceval was launched A second, entirely revised and updated edition of this publication was released in 2015 In 2000 from 19 August to 19 October John Perceval Retrospective Exhibition was held in Galleria Aniela Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park It was officially opened by the Chairman of Sotheby’s (it included 80 oil paintings and works on paper from 1946 to 1999) It was Perceval’s last retrospective and was mentioned on ABC TV’s National News Perceval was survived by his four children; Matthew, Tessa, Celia and Alice, all of whom are practising artists today.
