- John Perceval
Infobox Artist
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name = John Perceval
imagesize = 155px
caption = John Perceval, Self portrait (1946)
birthname = Linwood Robert Steven South
birthdate = birth date|1923|2|1|df=y
location = Bruce Rock,Western Australia ,Australia
deathdate = death date and age|2000|10|15|1923|2|1|df=y
deathplace = Melbourne, Victoria,Australia
nationality = flagicon|AustraliaAustralia n
field = Painter,Ceramicist
training =
movement =
works =
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awards =McCaughey Prize (1958)Wynne Prize (1960)Officer of the Order of Australia (1991)John de Burgh Perceval AO (
1 February 1923 -15 October 2000 ) was a well-knownAustralia nartist . Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as theAngry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s. Other members included John and Sunday Reed,Joy Hester ,Sidney Nolan ,Arthur Boyd and Albert Tucker.Born Linwood Robert Steven South at
Bruce Rock ,Western Australia , the second child of Robert South (a wheat farmer) and Dorothy née Dolton. His parents separated in 1925 and he remained at his father’s farm until reunited with his mother inMelbourne in 1935. Following the marriage of his mother to William de Burgh Perceval, he changed his name to John and adopted the surname de Burgh Perceval.In 1938 Perceval contracted
polio and was hospitalised, giving him the opportunity to further his skills at drawing and painting. Enlisting in the army in 1941 Perceval first met and befriendedArthur Boyd . After leaving the army and moving into the Boyd family home at Open Country,Murrumbeena , he married Boyd's younger sister Mary in 1944. Together he and Mary Boyd produced four children.Perceval held his first solo exhibition at the
Melbourne Book Club in 1948 and showed regularly with theContemporary Art Society . Between 1949 and 1955 he concentrated on producing earthenware ceramics and helped to establish theArthur Merric Boyd Pottery in Murrumbeena. Returning to painting in 1956 Perceval produced a series of images of Williamstown and Gaffney's Creek.Moving to England in 1963 Perceval held solo exhibitions in London, and travelled to Europe, before returning to Australia in 1965 to take up the first
Australian National University Creative Fellowship. "John Perceval", a major retrospective exhibition, was held at Albert Hall, Canberra in 1966. Author Margaret Plant's monograph "John Perceval", was published in 1971.Suffering from
alcoholism andschizophrenia in 1974 Perceval committed himself to the psychiatric hospital Larundel, Melbourne, where he remained until 1981. "John Perceval: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings" was held atHeide Park and Art Gallery in 1984. Perceval was awarded Officer of theOrder of Australia (AO) in 1991, the year after theNational Gallery of Victoria organised "John Perceval: A Retrospective". Prior to his death "Scudding Swans" (1959) sold for $552,500, a record for a living Australian painter. Perceval is survived by his four children, all of whom are practicing artists today.Honours and awards
*1959:
McCaughey Prize
*1960:Wynne Prize for "Dairy Farm, Victoria"
*1991: Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the visual artsBiography
*cite book |last=Allen |first=Traudi |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=John Perceval |year=1992 |publisher=
Melbourne University Press |location=Melbourne |isbn=0-522-84489-8
*cite book |last=Plant |first=Margaret |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=John Perceval |year=1971 |publisher=Lansdowne Australian art library |location=Melbourne |isbn=0701803509External links
* [http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/malp/perceval.html Biography: John Perceval, National Gallery of Victoria]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/atoday/stories/s229289.htm John Perceval Remembered, Radio National, 18 January 2001]
* [http://www.artinterview.com.au/artist-biographies/john-perceval/ Kate Williamson: John Perceval, Art Interview]
* [http://www.brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/percevalj.htm John de Burgh Perceval (1923-2000) - Artist, Potter and Soldier]
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