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 its most distinct voices. There are notes of humour, critique and poeticism.

Dated 1945, ‘What a Cow’ is a graphic mirage. Their shadows run down the page, recalling a tree’s spray of limbs or an open hand.

Represented across numerous public collections, including at the National Gallery of Victoria, this is a museum-quality work. It speaks to Thake’s remarkable wit and ingenuity, a prize for collectors of modernist, surrealist and Australian art. 

Eric THAKE (1904 - 1982)
'What a Cow' 1945
linocut on paper
Image Size: 19 x 15 cm
Dimensions: 19 x 30 cm; Overall sheet size, scored to fold No inscription in card.
Signed: Signed, dated, and titled lower right: What a Cow Eric Thake 1945
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Impressions of this work are at the:
Art Gallery of New South Wales, accession number: DA54.1967
National Gallery of Victoria, accession number: 3716-4
Art Gallery of South Australia, accession number: 5212G125
Art Gallery of Western Australia, accession number: 1955/0Q63
National Gallery of Australia, accession number: 73.257.5

Condition: Excellent 

© The Artist or Assignee