Gene Sherman with Family, After Tillers, After Freud, After Watteau

In this group portrait, four figures are crammed onto a couch, pushed into the right-hand side of a domestic interior. As suggested by the portrait’s title, Jenny Sages' arrangement closely references British artist Lucian Freud's Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau), a similarly scaled work reaching two metres wide. The reference to Imants Tillers speaks to the Australian artist's postmodernist approach and appropriation of well-known artworks, and his technique of breaking compositions into a grid of canvas boards.

Throughout her distinguished career in the arts, Dr Gene Sherman AM (b. 1947) has supported significant contemporary art and fashion from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, firstly through the Sherman Galleries in Sydney, and then the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and the Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas. In the portrait, Gene and Brian Sherman AM (1943–2022), philanthropist, company director, author and animal rights activist, are flanked by their children: author and animal rights activist Ondine Sherman (b. 1974) and film producer Emile Sherman (b. 1972).

Gift of Dr Gene Sherman AM in memory of Brian Sherman AM (1943-2022). Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2023.
© Jenny Sages