Every year, modernist Eric Thake would send his friends a hand-made Christmas card. Original linocut prints, these cards have since become canonical, each observing a changing nation through one of its most distinct voices. They also speak to Thake’s innerworld, with this particular work coming from the collection of his friend, revered writer and curator Ursula Hoff.

Desert Island pictures a figure reclining on a deserted beach, a butterfly resting on his foot. It is an image of holiday bliss, perhaps gleaned from one of Thake’s adventures through Australia. Like a mirage in heat, the more one gazes at Desert Island the more it ripples – is that a face in the rock?

Represented across numerous public collections, including at the National Gallery of Victoria, Desert Island is a museum-quality work. It speaks to Thake’s remarkable vision, Australian modernism and the friendship between an artist and scholar. With strikingly excellent provenance, it is a prize for collectors of modernist art.

Eric THAKE (1904 - 1982)
'Desert Island' 1967
linocut on paper
Image Size: 15 x 20 cm
Dimensions: 15 x 40 cm overall sheet size, scored to fold
Signed: Signed and dated lower right: Eric Thake 1967; titled lower right. Inscribed reverse sheet, ink with: To Ursula / with Best Wishes / for Xmas + New Year / from Eric & Grace
Comes with Letter of Provenance

RELATED WORKS:
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, accession number: DA1.1968
- National Gallery of New South Wales, accession number: P137-1974
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, accession number: 20062G7
- National Gallery of Australia, accession number: 73.257.28
- Castlemaine Art Museum, accession number: G1190

Condition is Excellent.

(C) The Artist or Assignee