Stucco House 1988



Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 175.2 x 135.2

Signed, dated & titled, verso [‘Howard Arkley.88 / Howard Arkley / Stucco House /1988’]

Collection unknown [last auctioned June 2020]

This exemplary suburban image from the artist’s 1988 Tolarno show contains extensive passages of ‘painterly’ brush-work alluding to grass, stucco and other textures.

For the blend of modest and aspirational qualities in this typical inner-suburban Melbourne bungalow, see Carnival 190.

Arkley later used this composition again (very differently) for Floriated Residence (1994).

Provenance

  • Arkley’s 1988 list of sales records original buyer and price of $6,000
  • Auctioned by Smith & Singer, Sydney, 24 June 2020, lot 12; details as shown here; ill.; est.$700-900,000; sold for $700,000 plus buyer’s premium = $859,090)

Exhibited

  • HA Tolarno 8/88, cat.5 (details as above);
  • ‘Neighbours’, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, 5/91

Literature

  • Engberg, ‘On the street where you live’, 1988 (Tolarno exh.review; B&W ill.)
  • O’Halloran 1991 (‘Neighbours’ exh.cat., unpaginated; ill.)
  • Spray 88 (ill.)
  • Carnival 190 and Fig.6.39 (full-page ill.)