Eric Thake | Illustration of a surgical procedure

Eric Thake | Woman of the World

Eric Thake | Nuns on the Geelong Road (1969)

Eric Thake | An Opera House in Every Home, (1972)

Eric Thake, (1904-1982), Australian print-maker, painter and photographer trained at the National Gallery School and the George Bell School. During his earlier career, he showed with the Contemporary Group in Melbourne between 1932 and 1938 before serving as an official war artist for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). This was followed by 30 years in advertising.

While he held his first solo exhibition at Georges Gallery, Melbourne in 1947; Thake worked as a medical draughtsman at the University of Melbourne in 1956; and he designed postage stamps and covers for the journal Meanjin. Thake shared the 1941 Contemporary Art Society prize with James Gleeson.

• Like his contemporaries, Thake used elements of surrealism to capture the mood of the Australian landscape.
• During his artistic career many of his works were held in Australia’s National and State galleries as well as a selection of overseas collections.
• A retrospective of his work was held at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 1970; and an exhibition of his cards, Christmas Cards, Eric Thake: was held at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in 2002.

Images:

• One of four illustrations of surgical procedures – 1960 (Medical History Museum, University of Melbourne)
• Salvation From the Evils of Earthly Existence (1940) oil on cardboard.
• Nuns on the Geelong Road, 1969
• An Opera House in Every Home
• Woman of the World | (Shop in Smith Street, Fitzroy) – photograph

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