Untitled (Calendar), 1984, Paul Partos
Oil on canvas, 51cm x 40cm
Provenance: Private collection, New South Wales. Leonard Joel, Sydney. Private collection, New South Wales. Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne.
Painter and educator, Paul Partos’ career was cut short while he was still producing his best works at age 59 by a brain tumour. An abstract painter, his work employed the metaphorical device of a rectangle within a rectangle, a painting within a painting. Partos was a precise craftsman who was preoccupied with questions of context, form and perception. His career was exemplifyied by two landmark exhibits at the National Gallery of Victoria, one at the start of his career, and the other at the end, The Field’ (1968) and ‘Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002’ (2003) (1).