The Cover

Tony Tuckson, White on black with paper, 1970–73, acrylic and paper collage on hardboard, 244.5 x 122.5 cm. Collection Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. Courtesy Margaret Tuckson, Watters Gallery and Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

We chose a detail of this striking 1973 gestural abstract by the late Sydney artist Tony Tuckson as the cover image of the new edition of McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art.

Deputy director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1950-73, Tuckson commissioned works by Aboriginal artists, including the striking Tiwi Poles which have featured in that Gallery’s collection since 1959.

Little known in his lifetime as an artist (he exhibited only twice, in 1960 and 1963) since his death at the age of 52 in 1973 Tuckson’s art has been collected and appreciated for its memorable contemporary qualities.

White on black with its cross cultural references, spirit and energy is a prescient and commanding painting and encapsulates well the extraordinary breadth and depth of contemporary Australian art and the more lushly illustrative nature of our new 1200 page edition.

For the first time in its almost 40 year history, the Encyclopedia starts with a large separate section on Aboriginal art and artists. The art of Tony Tuckson represents these elements admirably and we are delighted with the choice by our designer Sandra Nobes of this powerful and bravely dark yet inspirational work, whose reduced iconography and superb quality of painting contains so many artistic and cultural references.