Two Artists, 50 Years Apart, Share Quiet Details

Topic: Libraries, Museums, and Galleries

Two typists, 1955, by John Brack.

Australian artist Noel McKenna draws inspiration from dogs.

Now, some of those dogs are in the National Portrait Gallery's latest exhibition.

The exhibition brings together works of two artists who have striking similarities.

John Brack was a painter of the people and life of Melbourne.

His examinations of urban life are comparable with McKenna's works.

Cat in mirror, 2015, by Noel McKenna.

Masters of observation

Exhibition co-curator Isobel Parker Philip said what was remarkable about each artist's work was that they asked viewers to pay attention to quiet details.

One thing McKenna said about his work is that 'it is ordinary to love the sublime, but sublime to love the ordinary'.

John Brack is one of the most revered artists of the 20th century.

Latin American Grand Final, 1969, by John Brack.

Ms Parker Philip described both as masters of observation.

But what's remarkable about their work is that they ask us to pay attention to quiet details.

Isobel Parker Philip says both John Brack and Noel McKenna's works invite viewers to pay attention to small details.

Losing our powers of observation

Noel McKenna said people don't observe the world as much as they used to.

When you look at it through a screen, the screen isolates certain things.

Noel McKenna likes to present subjects 'a little bit out of kilter'.

McKenna describes himself as an introvert.

Introverts are able to observe quietly.

McKenna walks cities with a camera, photographing animals and buildings.

When he needs a reference, he finds the photograph that feels right.

You like to present a world that's within its own canvas.

Dr Joseph Brown with Two Typists, 1996, by Noel McKenna.

A happiness index, charted in dogs

McKenna's work, titled SELF, is a quietly contemplative piece.

It's a chronological graph of his emotional life.

It's a true representation of the emotional roller-coaster.

It's surprisingly emotional.

Noel McKenna's SELF is a chronological graph of his emotional life.

Now 69, he's thinking of extending it.

There's been highs and lows in between then and now.

Among the works is one of Stumpy, a cross corgi-terrier.

Animals I Have Known by Noel McKenna, 2015-16, on display.

Stumpy's arrival is charted in the piece by a rise in happiness.

He was much loved and known around the neighbourhood.

The house is very quiet without a dog.

William Nuttall with horses in field, 2023, by Noel McKenna.

McKenna came to art sideways.

He was studying architecture when he was told to drop out.

He took the advice and applied to art school two years later.

Drawing a line between artists

Self-portrait, 1955, by John Brack.

Ms Parker Philip said the exhibition was not a didactic exercise.

What we hope visitors take away is that they're encouraged to find unexpected moments of affinity.

McKenna said he recognised that people may see the connection in how the two artists observe the world.

The new house, 1953, by John Brack.

But the artist said he would like people to start hoarding images from their own observations.

The John Brack x Noel McKenna exhibition is showing until July 19.

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