This is a two-part oil on canvas portrait of art dealer and speedway entrepreneur, Kym Bonython. One canvas is titled Portrait of Kim Bonython and dated 1963 and the other is titled Portrait of Mr. Bonython's speedway cap dated 1966.
The portrait of Bonython is a broad rectangle 94 cm high and 84 cm wide whereas the speedway cap is a thinner rectangle 62cm high and 42cm wide. Both works are set within deep wooden frames that have thin 8mm wood edges. The speedway cap frame is a darker brown than Bonython’s frame.
On our left the larger portrait of Bonython, then slightly higher on the right, the smaller portrait of his cap.
Bonython’s portrait has uncluttered simplicity, a restrained palette and strong geometric design. Bonython’s distorted body shape is striking for being squeezed into the bottom half of the canvas.In the background broad brushstrokes of layers of beige and slightly green and yellow tinged paint, the overall effect is of a gold surface with a flush of lighter white yellow across the top perhaps suggestive of a light source on the left. Very feint pencil marks divide the space into a wide grid.
Bonython’s plump oval head faces forward, with his head tilted on a 45 degree angle to his right shoulder. His short, brown hair frames the top half of his head, is neatly combed behind his ears and his low left parting, sweeps a wave across his high forehead. Individual strands of red, blue and yellow give texture and energy to the wave.
His features are pale and small within the scale of his yellow/biege face; he has sunken oval blue eyes that look downwards without an exact focus. His thin, framing eyebrows continue down and outline the shape of his narrow nose. His mouth is closed; his thin upper lip has a downward curve mirroring the larger curved lines of his triple chins, below.
Bonython is wearing a tight at-the-collar, off-white shirt and a skinny brown tie. His extra- large, ill-fitting jacket sits awkwardly on his shoulders; on his left side it is bunched up by his neck and exposes the black lining beneath.
The jacket has small checks of off-white and grey green. The outline of the jacket, its collar and folds are marked by thin red and dark blue brushstrokes. He has short upper arms, bent elbows and his forearms meet in the middle where his large hands are clasped, fingers interlocking with his thumbs pointing to the sky. The jacket sleeves stop short of his wrists revealing, his shirt cuffs. On his right wrist he wears a watch with a brown and gold interlocking band and on his left, a brown leather braided bracelet. His tie, watch and bracelet are the same brown.
There is a thin uneven horizontal line about 9cms from the base of the canvas, suggesting a table. The artist’s signature John Brack, 63’ is below Bonython’s left elbow in the bottom right corner of the painting.
The painting of Bonython’s speedway cap is also depicted on an empty field of colour, here the background is a warmer beige ochre paint with narrower brushstrokes circling the cap and areas of smooth paint at the top. About 8cms from the top, a thin pencil like line travels across the width of the canvas. On the far left of the line, unusual as it’s at the top the artist has signed John Brack, 66. A grey brown thumbtack is painted pressed off- centre into the line. From the thumb tack a long slightly stiff and wobbly wire, hanging down approximately 17cms, where it loops through a metal hook and winds back tightly around itself, from it, a short piece of wire is pointing out to the right. The S-shaped metal hook is black and brown and hangs from the loop in the wire disappearing behind the top of the speedway cap about half way down the painting.
The cap is oval, approximately 20cms wide and 25 cm long like a suspended balloon with the narrow end at the top. The cap is a glossy black-and-white check pattern, check pattern ripples and crumples to suggest form in an otherwise flat shape.
Audio description written by Annette Twyman and voiced by Carol Wellman Kelly
