Publisher's Synopsis
With a contribution spanning half a century, John Perceval has earned a place in the front rank of Australia's leading painters. This book, the first major publication on Perceval's painting, surveys his career from the early years to the present and traces diverse influences on his work.;Traudi Allen places Perceval's work in the context of its time. She explores the significance of the artist's friendship with Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Clifton Pugh, Fred Williams and others, and his marriage to Mary Boyd. She identifies his role in the revolutionary 1940s decade in Melbourne and shows how those years and those friendships helped to shape his art.;The result of extensive research, this book brings together a representative selection of Perceval's paintings, from public and private collections -- many of them reproduced here for the first time. A "catalogue raisonne" enables the reader to trace Perceval's career from the teenager of 1937 to the artist of stature of 1980s.;"Traudi Allen holds an MA in visual arts from Monash University and a BA in psychology from the Australian National University. She has worked as a freelance journalist and as a contributor to ABC radio, and was a researcher and reporter for "This Day Tonight". She has written art reviews, articles and catalogue essays, and is the author of "Clifton Pugh: patterns of a lifetime.
