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HORACE BRODZKY (1885 – 1969)
“Mountain Sunset”
Oil Painting on Canvas over Board. Signed & dated ’37 (1937)
Also signed on reverse and titled and dated on reverse
11” x 15” (279mm x 381mm). Overall framed size 17 ¾” x 21 3/8” (450mm x
544mm) IMAGE IMAGE
Horace Brodzky was
born in Kew, Victoria in 1885, the son of Australian journalist Maurice
Brodzky. In 1901 he studied at the National
Gallery of Victoria in Australia although he spent most of his creative life in
London where he moved to in 1908. From
1905 to 1907 he travelled to San Francisco and New York and whilst there he
enrolled in the National Academy of Design in New York. In 1911 he began studying at the City and
Guilds Art School in Kensington where he formed a close association with David
Bomberg, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Jacob Epstein and
Mark Gertler. During this time he also
travelled to Rome, Naples and Sicily with his friend the poet John Gould
Fletcher, where he was influenced by the work of Piero della Francesca. In 1915
he returned to New York where he worked in art journalism and theatre
designs. He also continued his painting
and printmaking. He was one of the
earliest Australian artists to embrace the modern style of the 20th
century. In 1912 Brodzky
was the first Australian to exhibit at the Venice Biennale with his painting
“Girgenti – The Pine Tree”. He was the
fourth recorded artists to experiment with lino-cutting
and the first to seriously involve himself in this medium. In 1920 a portfolio of his lino-cuts was published by Egmont Arens and in 1929, having
returned to London in 1923, his work was included in an exhibition of linocuts
curated by Claude Flight at the Redfern Gallery. He exhibited widely in Australia and overseas
including many group and solo shows in London.
Other exhibitions include his first solo exhibition “Paintings and
Sketches of Italian & Sicilian Scenes” held in his own studio in Chelsea
(1911); A mixed exhibition of international contemporary masters in New York
with Davies, Gaudier-Brzeska, Laurencia, Picasso,
Prendergast, Pascin and Vlaminck (1917); A combined
exhibition “Horace Brodzky, Hyam Myer, Jan Juta and Frank Potter” (1924);
London Group Retrospective (1928); “First Exhibition of British Lino-cuts”
(1929); Combined exhibition with David Bonberg, Margarete Hamerschlag
and Horace Brodzky” (1937); Retrospective exhibitions in London at Ben Uri
Gallery, Oxford Union Cellars, Mercury Gallery and Macy’s Gallery, New York
(1965-67); “The Café Royalists” at Michael Parkin Gallery London and at the
Café Royal (1972); Retrospective exhibitions in London at the Fieldborne Gallery, Michael Parkin Gallery and Belgrave
Gallery (1973-77); “Jewish Artists of Great Britain (1845-1945)” at Belgrave
Gallery, London and Cartwright Hall Art Gallery and Museum Bradford
(1978). In 1933 his biography of
Gaudier-Brzeska was published and in 1948 he became
Art Editor of the Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide. He was a member of the London Group and
was the friend of such well known artists as Henri
Gaudier-Brzeska, Jules Pascin,
Jacob Epstein and David Bomberg. His
graphics were used to illustrate the literary works of Ezra Pound, Eugene
O’Neill, Upton Sinclair and Theodore Dreisler.
Work by Brodzky is in the National Gallery of
Australia, Canberra; Most Australian state and many regional gallery and
university collections; British Museum, London; Arts Council of Great Britain,
London; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Tate Gallery, London; Victoria and Albert
Museum; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Scottish National Gallery of Modern
Art, Edinburgh; Numerous regional and university collections throughout Great
Britain; Tel Aviv Museum, Israel; Honolulu Academy of Arts, USA; Museum of
Modern Art, New York and New York Public Library.
