John Brack

John Brack is one of Australia's most celebrated artists. Widely acknowledged as a 'painter's painter', Brack holds a singular place in Australian art for his austere yet highly refined, almost clinical compositions.

His meticulously painted images sit between representation and abstraction, often looking at the human figure as one of a number of elements in a formal composition, rather than as the principal focus.

In Nude with Persian carpet, Brack lavishes all the pictorial attention on the complex detail and rich colour of the rug in stark contrast to his almost perfunctory depiction of the figure.

The result is a visually compelling composition in which the conventions of figure painting are inverted to startling effect.