‘Blue Vase’ captures Charles Blackman’s gift for expressing interior life through the simplest of gestures. A year before its conception, Barbara Blackman, whose eyesight was fading, wrote of flowers as “ things I have had and still have but will not always.” That quiet acknowledgement of beauty’s impermanence resonates deeply here. The figure, close yet unreachable, beholds the bouquet with a mixture of sorrow, wonder, and acceptance. The vivid blue pigments, the quiet intensity of her face, and the fragile bloom of flowers collide in a moment that feels both private and arresting. 

‘Blue Vase’ exemplifies Blackman’s most iconic period of image-making from the late 1950s and early 1960s. These works draw on experiences universal to us all—lost love, childhood’s end, and the bittersweetness threaded through daily life. It is this ability to feel both beauty and pain through paint that has secured Blackman’s place as one of Australia’s most enduring modernist voices.
This limited-edition pigment print is initiated by the artist, blind-embossed with the Blackman seal, produced on museum-grade materials, and accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity.

Living with Blackman’s powerful imagery is an experience that enriches a collection and, over time, becomes part of a family’s story.

Charles BLACKMAN (1928 - 2018)
'Blue Vase'
archival pigment print on paper
Edition of 190
Image Size: 90 x 72 cm
Dimensions: 112 x 82 cm
Signed: Signed with initials CB, titled and numbered in margin
Comes with Certificate of Authenticity from The Charles Blackman Foundation
From the 1958 painting. Printed on Elegance Velvet 308gsm Acid Free Archival Rag Paper

Condition: Excellent  

Framed photograph is an example only and for scale