Ray Crooke
Born in 1922 in Melbourne, Ray Crooke worked at a Melbourne advertising agency before the outbreak of the war, when Crooke changed the course of his career as he left work and enlisted in the army. His service years saw him in Western Australia, North Queensland and Borneo, travels which were to influence his artistic endeavors in the future. After the war he worked at various occupations before returning to Melbourne and holding a successful solo exhibition at Australian Galleries in 1959. He served as an official war artist in Vietnam from 1966 and in 1969 won the Archibald Prize with a character study of the writer George Johnston.
His painting trips to Thursday Island, New Guinea, Cape York and Fiji continue to be inspiration for his work. Crooke explores contour and silhouette using rich blocks of colour, and the nuances of positive and negative space in the manner of Paul Gauguin. The artist reveals in his travel diaries and sketchbooks the basis for his paintings - the strong light effects at different times of the day, the colour of the lush foliage after rain, and contrasting golden skin tones.
As one of Australia's prominent painters and printmakers, he has exhibited frequently in leading galleries in most capital cities and his work has been included in a number of significant group exhibitions. In 1993 he was made a member of the Order of Australia for services to the visual arts. He is represented in the National Gallery of Australia collection, all state and many regional galleries and the Vatican Collections, Rome. Crooke currently lives in Cairns and spends part of the year in Sydney.
Exhibitions
1997-99 Retrospective touring exhibition, North of Capricorn: The Art of Ray Crooke, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville; touring Cairns, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Brisbane, Campbelltown, Canberra and Melbourne.
1996 'The View From Here: Six Kuranda Artists', Cairns Regional Gallery
1995 'Ray Crooke: Two Islands', Phillip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
1995 'A Time Remembered: Art in Brisbane 1950 - 1975', Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1991 'Diverse Visions', Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1992 Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
1992 Greenhill Galleries, Perth
1990 Prints, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
Collections
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
Reserve Bank of Australia
Fairfax Collection
Vatican Collection, Rome
