Eric Prentice Anchor Thake (8 June 1904 – 3 November 1982) was an Australian artist, designer, painter, printmaker and war artist. His 1972 Christmas card ''An Opera House in Every Home,'' a humorous take on

Jørn Utzon Jørn Oberg Utzon, , Hon. FAIA (; 9 April 191829 November 2008) was a Danish architect. He was most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, completed in 1973. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzon ...

's World Heritage-listed building is a well-known work.

Early life

Thake was born in Auburn, Melbourne, on 8 June 1904, the only child of Emily Lockwood (née Doran) and Henry Thake, dairyman. Educated at

Auburn Primary School Hawthorn East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Hawthorn East recorded a population of 14,834 at the 2021 census. T ...

, at age fourteen at the end of

WW1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was apprenticed to a process engraving firm Patterson Shugg. He enrolled in 1921 at the Drawing School of the National Gallery of Victoria under traditionalist painter

W. B. McInnes William Beckwith McInnes (18 May 1889 – 9 November 1939) was an Australian portrait painter, winner of the Archibald Prize seven times for his traditional style paintings. He was acting-director at the National Gallery of Victoria and an inst ...

, then went on to study painting and drawing part-time with the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

Melbourne artist George Bell from 1925 to 1928. In 1935 he married 1935 Grace Bessie Doris Godfrey.

Career

From June 1930 Thake showed with 'The Embryos,' a group that included Raymond Lindsay, a son of

Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of his genera ...

, Constance Parkin then the holder of the National Gallery Travelling Scholarship), Margaret Crombie, Shiela Hawkins, James Flett,

Herbert McClintock Herbert McClintock (1906-1985) was an Australian social realist artist. Biography McClintock was born in Perth, Western Australia. He studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1925 to 1927 and again in 1930, where he met fellow ...

, and Nutter Buzzacott; and in the Contemporary Group, Melbourne with George Bell,

Daryl Lindsay Sir Ernest Daryl Lindsay (31 December 1889, in Creswick, Victoria – 25 December 1976, in Mornington), known as Dan Lindsay, was an Australian artist. Early life He was the youngest son in a large family born to Anglo-Irish surgeon Robert Ch ...

Isabel May Tweddle Isabel May (Diana) Tweddle (1875–1945), was an Australian painter. She was a member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors and the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society Inc. Biography Tweddle was born Isabel May Hunter on 26 N ...

, Evelyn Syme,

Ada May Plante Ada May Plante (4 October 1875 – 3 July 1950) was a New Zealand-born post-impressionist artist who was one of the founding exhibitors in the Post-Impressionist Melbourne Contemporary Group. She was a member of the Melbourne Society of Women P ...

Arnold Shore Arnold Joseph Victor Shore (5 May 1897, Windsor, – 22 May 1963, Melbourne) was an Australian painter, teacher and critic. Biography Shore was the youngest of seven children of John Shore, a coachsmith, and his wife Harriett Sarah, née McDo ...

William Frater William Frater (1890–1974) was a Scottish-born Australian stained-glass designer and modernist painter who challenged conservative tastes in Australian art. Early life and education Scotland William Frater was born on 31 January 1890 a ...

and Adrian Lawlor from 1932–38, and with the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museum ...

from 1926–56 and concurrently, he worked in

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of pr ...

as art director for the advertising firm Paton until 1956, producing work for clients including

Pelaco Pelaco was an Australian clothing manufacturer based in Melbourne. Pelaco is best known for its men's shirts. The Pelaco sign over its former factory in Richmond is a Heritage Victoria listed landmark. Foundation The Pelaco brand was founde ...

shirts. Independently he produced linocuts which conveyed his laconic wit in clever visual puns; including

bookplates An ''Ex Libris'' (from ''ex-librīs'', ), also known as a bookplate (or book-plate, as it was commonly styled until the early 20th century), is a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. ...

and many Christmas cards he produced for friends; numbers of which are held now in national collections. He was a war artist enlisted as a Flying officer in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(Service Number 145552) between 24 Nov 1943 and 28 Mar 1946, the second such R.A.A.F combatant artist commissioned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and his two tours of duty covered

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

Noemfoor Island Numfor (also Numfoor, Noemfoor, Noemfoer) is one of the Schouten Islands (also known as the Biak Islands) in Papua province, northeastern Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was ...

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

and

Koepang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

. During that time he produced

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

works as one of the first working in that style in Australia, alongside

James Gleeson James Timothy Gleeson (21 November 1915 – 20 October 2008) was an Australian artist. He served on the board of the National Gallery of Australia. Early life Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby in 1915 and attended East Syd ...

with whom he shared 1931 the Contemporary Art Society prize. His 1942 oil painting ''Brownout'' sold in 2010 for $228,000. His first solo exhibition was held after the war at Georges Gallery, Melbourne in 1947. After the War Thake returned to Paton and was featured in advertising by one a major client as No. 5 in

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

's "Australian Artists" Series, with a depiction of their

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ar ...

in Clyde. By 1960 his work included illustratons for the Australian quarterly ''Manuscripts'', design works included the Australian Pavilion at the Wellington Centennial Exhibition in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

that opened on 8 November 1939 at the outset of the Second World War covers for the literary journal ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisban ...

'', designs for stamps, and concise medical diagrams he produced in the course of his employment from 1956 in the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

’s Visual Aids Department where he remained until his retirement.

Reception

Thake's work started being reviewed from June 1930 when he was twenty-six and had started exhibiting with the group calling themselves 'The Embryos.' Reviewing their show at The Little Gallery in Melbourne ''The Age'' notes that "Eric Thake follows up the new wood engraving movement, and... also shows a clever two-block lino print, ''Reurned Empty'' and a decorative lunette design in color." While ''

The Australasian The ''Australasian Post'', commonly called the ''Aussie Post'', was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine. History and profile Its origins are traceable to Saturday, 3 January 1857, when the first issue of ''Bell's Life in Victoria ...

'' merely noted that his fan design was "very clever," reviewer for '' The Herald'', Blamire Young, singled Thake out for particular attention for his "power of design";

It is surprising that Eric Thake, whose power of design has been so universally recognised has not secured more patrons. Probably the reason is that his point of view is more difficult to grasp than that of his comrades. One feels that his artistic horizon is wider, his mentality more complex, and his sense of color and arrangement more exotic than we are accustomed to find in Australian artists.

''The Bulletin'' described his ''Across the Paddocks'' shown in the Victorian Arts and Crafts the Melbourne Town Hall in October 1930 as "a color cut of mushrooms that look as solid as tree stumps," while

Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, so ...

in ''The Argus,'' in associating Thake's with

Margaret Preston Margaret Rose Preston (29 April 1875 – 28 May 1963) was an Australian painter and printmaker who is regarded as one of Australia's leading modernists of the early 20th century. In her quest to foster an Australian "national art", she was als ...

's prints, wrote deprecatingly that "they strike a different note, and ,,, may have their admirers."

Legacy

McCulloch McCulloch is a Scottish surname. It's a variation of the Northern Irish surname McCullough. It's commonly found in Galloway. Notable people with the surname include: *Alan McCulloch (politician), New Zealand politician *Alan McLeod McCulloch (1 ...

notes that "his sensitivity towards the dispossession of Aboriginal people in his works in particular has been brought to light since his death, and there has been a growing interest in his wonderful Christmas card linocuts, produced from 1941 to 1975. The

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited ar ...

held a retrospective of his work 15 May–4 July 1970.

Exhibitions

Solo

* 1947: Georges Gallery, Melbourne * 1981: ''Pubs and Bars,'' Geelong Art Gallery * 1981: Retrospective exhibition, Victorian Ministry for the Arts Gallery

Group

* 1929, 6–20 May: Society of Artists' Special Exhibition. David Jones' Art Gallery, 7th floor (Mezzanine), Elizabeth Street, Sydney * 1929, 7 September–4 October: Society of Artists' Annual Exhibition. Education Department Gallery, 5th floor, Loftus St., Sydney * 1930, 5 September–2 October: Society of Artists' Annual Exhibition. Education Department Gallery, 5th floor, Loftus St., Sydney * 1930, 1–12 July: ''The Embryos'', opened by

Bernard Heinze Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC (1 July 189410 June 1982) was an Australian conductor, academic, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. He conducted all the orchestras run by the ABC, most particularly the Melbourne Sy ...

. The Little Gallery, 172 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. * 1930, October: Victorian Arts and Crafts. Melbourne Town Hall * 1935, Contemporary Art Group, Athenaeum, Melbourne * 1935, November: ''Contemporary Art'' with Mary Cecil Allen, Lady Barrett, George Bell,

Rupert Bunny Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (29 September 186425 May 1947) was an Australian painter. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, he achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in '' fin-de-siècle'' Paris. He gained an honourable mentio ...

, Mrs. Casey (wife of the Commonwealth Treasurer),

, Adrian Lawlor,

Lionel Lindsay Sir Lionel Arthur Lindsay (17 October 187422 May 1961) was an Australian artist, known for his paintings and etchings. Early life Lindsay was born in the Victoria (Australia), Victorian town of Creswick, Victoria, Creswick, into a creative fa ...

, Eric Thake, Louise Thomas, and Jessie C. Traill.

Geelong Grammar , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"(1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ty ...

* 1935, September: with Kate Van Sommers and Adrian Lawlor. Collegiate Galleries, 357 Little Collins St., Melbourne * 1946, June: ''R.A.A.F. Paintings''. National Gallery of Victoria * 1978: Survey of Australian Relief Prints 1900-1950, Deutscher Gallery

Posthumous

* 1988-9: ''The Great Australian Art Exhibition,''

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

travelling exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery (17 May 1988 – 17 July 1988); Art Gallery of Western Australia. (13 August 1988 – 25 September 1988); Art Gallery Of South Australia. (23 May 1989 – 16 July 1989) * 1992: ''Classical Modernism: The George Bell Circle'',

* 2000-02: Federation: Australian Art and Society,

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in t ...

and touring * 2002: ''Christmas Greetings from Thake's Flat'', IPMA * 2003: Australian Surrealism: The Agapitos/Wilson Collection,

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

* 2005: Retrospective. Geelong Art Gallery * 2005: Bookplates from the Corrigan Collection,

Bendigo Art Gallery Bendigo Art Gallery is an Australian art gallery located in Bendigo, Victoria. It is one of the oldest and largest regional art galleries. History The gallery was founded in 1887. The gallery's collection was first housed in the former Bendigo ...

* 2005, to 8 July: ''Linocuts, drawings and photographs''. Bridget McDonnell Gallery, 130 Faraday Street, Carlton

Awards

* 1931: Honorable Mention,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

Bookplate Exhibition, USA * 1931: Contemporary Art Society prize (shared with James Gleeson), * 1941: Geelong prize, * 1947: Yorick Club prize, * 1956; Cato Prize, VAS

Collections

* Art Gallery of New South Wales *

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually. ...

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving p ...

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

Art Gallery of Ballarat The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat, both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian ...

Castlemaine Art Museum Castlemaine Art Museum is an Australian art gallery and museum in Castlemaine, Victoria in the Shire of Mount Alexander. It was founded in 1913. It is housed in a 1931 Art Deco neo-classical building constructed for the purpose, heritage-listed ...

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional gallery in the city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collection. The Gallery forms Geelong's Cultural Precinct wit ...

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

Regional Art Gallery * Mornington Peninsular Regional Gallery *

Newcastle Art Gallery The Newcastle Art Gallery (formerly the Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle Region Art Gallery) is a large, public art museum in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. History Founded in 1945 with an art collection consisting of 123 works ...

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn P ...

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...

* University of Adelaide Library *

References

External links

Eric Thake
at the

Eric Thake
in the Australian Dictionary of Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Thake, Eric 1904 births 1982 deaths Artists from Melbourne Australian surrealist artists 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists Australian male painters Australian photographers Australian printmakers Australian graphic designers Engravers by nationality