Among Australia’s most distinct and celebrated abstractionists, Robert Jacks's work is both intelligent and intriguing. This etching forms part of the ‘James Joyce House of the Dead’ suite, inspired by Joyce’s short story ‘The Dead’.  

Jacks created this suite for the 2004 centenary of Bloomsday, an annual festival that celebrates Joyce’s masterpiece ‘Ulysses’. Occurring on the 16th of June, the event sees city and novel fuse. Participants retrace the book’s protagonist - Leopold Bloom’s - meander through Dublin, while others dress in Edwardian garb and gather for live readings. 

For Jacks, Joyce was a literary collagist. Just as he connects seemingly disparate ideas, so does Jacks, creating an abstract yet poetic universe. Reaching across the cosmic and mundane, he draws visual connections that like constellations, are at once imagined and compelling. 

Jacks is the subject of a monograph, represented in most public collections and in 2014, was honoured with a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. An edition from this series is represented at the British Museum. 

This work will illuminate collections of abstract, minimal and cerebral art. It is for fans of Jacks, Joyce and the crossovers between literature, art and ideas. 

Robert JACKS (1943 - 2014)
'On the Barren Thorns' 2004
Etching
Edition of 30
Image Size: 26 x 28 cm
Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm
Signed: Signed Jacks titled numbered and dated in margin
Comes with Letter of Provenance

A full suite of 'The James Joyce House of the Dead' is represented in the collection of the British Museum, accession number: 2006,0730.25.1-9

Condition: Excellent

© Robert Jacks / Copyright Agency 2024