John Brack
1920 - 1999
"Nude with crossed legs" 1974
oil on canvas
Collection of The University of Queensland. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by W. Ross Johnston, 2023.
Reproduced courtesy of the Artist's Estate.
The title of this artwork is ‘Nude with crossed legs’ by artist John Brack. It is a painting framed in a plain narrow wooden frame, created in 1974, and the unframed dimensions are 1.3 metres high by 97 centimetres wide. It is made of oil on canvas. Brack has signed his full name in the bottom left corner in small brown print with the year the artwork was made, 1974.
The artwork is a stylised and simplified painting of a room with a nude woman seated on a soft bench at the back of the room, left of centre. The entire artwork is in muted shades of brown except for a decorative rug, that extends diagonally from the bottom right corner up towards the left, reaching just under the bench. The rug, in browns, purples and reds, is adorned with a detailed geometric and symmetrical pattern in the centre and around the borders. A white fringe along the short edge of the rug is visible in the bottom right corner.
The bottom two-thirds of the artwork are brown wooden floorboards arranged diagonally up towards the top left corner. The top third of the artwork shows the room’s bare walls, consisting of 3 panels in a mottled light brown. The woman is seated on the left end of a long, soft bench with a brown fabric cover, positioned against the back wall, which is slightly angled up to the right. Beside her, on the left, is a crumpled light brown blanket draped over the end of the bench. Apart from the woman, bench, blanket and rug, the room is empty.
The woman sits upright with her body facing forwards and her head turned to gaze over her shoulder to the left, her expression relaxed. Her knees are apart, legs crossed at the shins, and feet pointed. Her arms are by her sides and hands rest together in her lap. Her figure is thin and elongated with small breasts and a horizontal crease between her ribs and stomach. Her skin tone is light brown, and she has thick brown hair that rests on her shoulders. The scene is outlined by a thin, dark brown rectangular border that is slightly askew, with the remaining outer edge in light brown.
The artist is known for transforming everyday scenes from public and private domestic life in suburbia that maintain a cool detachment. This artwork is part of a series of nudes Brack started in the 1950s that also subvert expectations associated with traditional genres in Western art history. In this case, the female nude is depicted without objectification and sexualization, blending into the scene instead.