back issue

In the late 1960s Barry Humphries approached Melbourne artist John Brack and asked him to paint a portrait of Humphries's theatrical alter ego, Edna Everage. At the time, Humphries was a comedian and entertainer in his late twenties, enjoying great early success. He was such a flamboyant alcoholic, however, that he would soon be committed to a Melbourne mental institution for twelve months. Brack, on the other hand, was a middle-aged recluse. On the surface the two didn't seem to have much in common.
 
'You've got to paint Edna', Humphries insisted. 'You're the perfect artist.' Brack apparently let out a long, low groan, as if he'd been asked to paint something as inexplicable as an odour or a breeze. Yet Humphries, who considered himself an accomplished landscape painter and collector of art, continued to press the curmudgeonly Brack until he finally acquiesced. The result was Brack's 1969 portrait  Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage. 

When I look at the portrait now, I can see many of Brack's preoccupations and themes embedded in the composition. The artist's fascination with artificiality is immediately obvious in his choice of colour. The neon pinks and greens are unnatural - almost kitsch - and suggest the fabric of Edna's ensemble is probably made from that equally unnatural fabric so popular in the 1960s: nylon. The only flowers in the painting are also artificial: the ridiculously blue blossoms that crown Edna's head, for example, the flap of which points like an arrow towards the floral pattern of the settee. 

Both artist and entertainer were compelled to portray average people trapped in unquestioning rituals. This compulsion is realised in Edna's choice of jewellery and in the way she has composed herself. The imitation pearls are so tight they are almost a yoke or a collar around the neck of the man inside the disguise, while the bracelets around her wrist can be viewed as glittering handcuffs, anchoring Edna's right gloved hand to her left. The rest of her body is weighted against the pattern of suburbia, embedded in the floral design of the upholstery.
 
This article appears in excerpted form. You can read the full article in the Spring 2007 issue of Art & Australia.