Portrait of Tam Purves

Thomas ‘Tam’ Purves (1909–1969) and Anne Purves founded the Australian Galleries in Collingwood, Melbourne in 1956. Tam managed the business aspects, while Anne dealt with the art. As a team, they pioneered professional dealing in contemporary art in Australia, promoting the careers of artists who became some of the most significant names in 20th-century Australian art.

John Brack began exhibiting at the Australian Galleries in 1957. Although he didn’t consider himself a portraitist, he created a number of portraits that, like his paintings of unnamed people and faces, are finely observed, sometimes austere examinations of everyday life and experiences. As his widow Helen Brack explained: ‘In John’s view, mere likenesses were not portraits; a portrait was about identity, the disposition – not the persona – and the whole picture was the portrait, the configuration in the rectangle and use of picture space.’ She said of this painting: ‘here is an essay about a businessman, and John makes no concessions.’ Perpetuated by the Purves’ son Stuart, Australian Galleries is still in operation and is Australia’s longest-surviving commercial art business.

Purchased 2012
© Helen Brack