The New House is a 1953 painting by Australian artist John Brack. The painting depicts a man and a woman standing in front of their fireplace in a room.

The New House
ArtistJohn Brack
Year1953
Typeoil on canvas on hardboard
Dimensions142.5 cm × 71.2 cm (56.1 in × 28.0 in)
LocationArt Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Langlois Bridge at Arles (1888) by Van Gogh. A reproduction of this work is on the wall over the fireplace.

The work "pervades a sense of flatness, embodied by Brack's smooth application of paint, emphasising the clean, sparse qualities of the room."[1]

In The new house, Brack boldly tackled the question of what Australian art could be in the 1950s. ... The painting aggressively dispensed with the two most obvious options at the time; epic, folkloric figuration and cosmopolitan abstraction. Bushrangers and explorers were replaced by the new pioneers, the young home buyers of the suburbs.

— Chris McAuliffe, [2]

Previously part of the Grundy collection, the Art Gallery of New South Wales acquired the work in 2013 for A$1.6 million.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Brack, John (1953). "The new house". AGNSW collection record. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  2. ^ McAuliffe, Chris (27 June 2014). "John Brack, 'The new house' (1953), 2013". Chris McAuliffe. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  3. ^ Dow, Steve (1 July 2013). "Gasps as Art Gallery of NSW shells out millions on Brack". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 21 July 2015.