Ken & Ken - The Kenneth Jack Collection
A Journey in Art & Life
KEN GUSKICH
A true celebration of art, life and the passion for creativity.
Books on art collections are one of the mainstays of art publishing, be they on art gallery holdings or those of corporations and individual collectors. While most of these books are the work of professional arts writers and academics, this book is unusual in having been written by the collector himself. Ken Guskich, an individual from well outside the close world of the art industry, takes us on a personal journey of discovery with one of Australia’s most successful artists. Kenneth Jack was an immensely gifted painter, draughtsman and printmaker, recognised and awarded from his early teens, working with dedication and a personal vision that took him around Australia and to international recognition in the United Kingdom. Not satisfied just to collect the large trophy pictures, Ken Guskich has pursued the artist’s work down every byway of his long career, collecting drawings, studies, sketchbooks and examples of every book illustration undertaken in a career of more than sixty years. While the artist is very much the focus of the book, we also come to know and admire an individual fortunate enough to be able to build a collection of the highest quality. We understand within the personal narrative how art can be an enlightening and enriching experience for those who come to appreciate the insights it can bring to us all. Many of those who build large collections will seek input from professionals and dealers, with a few at the top end even employing their own curators to seek out works and do the ‘house-keeping’ essential with a large holding. Ken Guskich has made his journey an exercise in self-guidance and personal education. Much in the way he built up his various business enterprises, Ken has studied the field thoroughly, learning the subtleties of collecting and also of curatorship. His collection, carefully displayed, stored and meticulously documented, would do credit to any art gallery, with a library of books and references accumulated along the way. His collection on the life and work of Kenneth Jack is an exemplar of its type and the art world is a better place for the initiative and enterprise he has shown over more than thirty-five years of collecting.
Gavin Fry
All images copyright © Kenneth Jack Estate
Inglewood (Victoria) 2003-04, Acrylic, 81x122cm
Kenneth Jack 1924-2006, AM MBE RWS AWI, was a prodigious Australian artist, creating across all mediums from large scale watercolour triptych works to diminutive woodblock prints. Inglewood, exhibited at Greythorn Galleries in “The Australian Town” exhibition in 2004, is a quintessential Kenneth Jack work, depicting his love of Australia, and Australian towns.
Art historian Lou Klepac has said…”Kenneth Jack has stamped indelibly his vision of Australia on everything he has drawn and painted. He has discovered and mastered a way of painting Australia which is his own. He has perfected the way in which he can represent the architecture and run-down buildings of the typical Australian country town. He has devised a poetic conception of atmosphere and light in which he submerges these typical places so that they become part of his world.”
Inglewood was Kenneth Jacks last large scale Acrylic work, a lasting legacy documenting a moment in time in Australian history.
A superb publication showcasing a lifetime of creative artistic pursuit interwoven with autobiographical prose and the passion of curated collection.
Limited Edition - Individually hand signed and numbered
“As the pace of development & rapid societal change accelerates unabated, the works of Australian Artists such as Kenneth Jack have never been more important.
In documenting the landscape, cities, people & places of our country, the prolific nature of such artistic output has essentially provided a catalogue raisonne of Australian history.
Ken & Ken uniquely documents this work exploring decades of artistic pursuit. Creating this book has been a labour of love allowing both personal reflection and a greater understanding of why art can - & should - speak to us all.”
Ken Guskich
100% of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be generously donated to
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The Young Timbercutters, 1957
What People Are Saying
“Superbly written - Showcasing a lifetime of artistic achievement by iconic Australian Artist Kenneth Jack interwoven with engaging history and personal reflections of life in an ever changing Australian landscape”
— AG
“A quality publication, beautifully presented with high quality reproductions and dust jacket. A worthy addition to the library of all book lovers.
— BH
Lerderderg River, 1957
“The abstract qualities in his art are more deeply integrated and less apparent on the surface.”
Douglas Dundas - Australian Artists Editions.
Kenneth Jack was a master Printmaker.
His prints are essentially a time capsule transporting us back to a way of life long since forgotten. He has forever captured an Australia of yesteryear with an ability to evoke a nostalgia amongst those of us with the years behind us to remember
Ken Guskich
“He is a poet of the empty spaces of inland Australia.”
Douglas Dundas - Australian Artist Editions.
This book has been an amalgamation of input from hundreds of individuals, organisations, and groups, all of whom, over time, have discussed, provided information, or shared stories about Kenneth Jack. So, I collectively say thank you for assisting in my multi-year manifestation of thoughts that brought this book to fruition.
It has been a privilege to discover, collect and admire the works of a true gentleman and one of Australia’s finest artists. I continue to appreciate these works on a daily basis and now consider myself a custodian of a significant collection of important Australian history. A journey in life and art intertwined.
The stories in this book took me through the country of many Aboriginal Nations. I would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to those peoples and their Elders, past, present and emerging.
Ken Guskich