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. They also speak to Thake’s inner world, with this particular work coming from the collection of his friend, revered writer and curator Ursula Hoff. 

‘Heels and Heeler, Charleville’ is a beautifully rendered slice of life. Thake would intermittently travel into the Australian outback, capturing moments like this with perceptiveness, wit and warmth. Here, a blue heeler pools at the edge of a pub, his owner inside. Punnily titled, ‘Heels and Heeler’ smacks of rural Australian life – heat, beers and sheepdogs.

Represented across numerous public collections, including at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, ‘Heels and Heeler, Charleville’ 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)
'Heels and Heeler, Charleville' 1971
linocut on paper
Image Size: 21 x 14 cm
Dimensions: 21 x 28 cm; overall sheet size, scored to fold
Signed: Signed and dated lower right: Eric Thake 1971; titled lower left. Inscribed reverse sheet, ink To Ursula / with Best Wishes / for Xmas + 1972 / Eric & Grace 

Comes with Letter of Provenance

Impressions of this work are at the:
Art Gallery of New South Wales, accession number: 5.1972
National Gallery of Victoria, accession number: P141-1974
National Gallery of Australia, accession number: 72.50
Art Gallery of South Australia, accession number: 20062G6
Castlemaine Art Museum, accession number: G518
Benalla Art Gallery, accession number: 1977.10

Title Heels and Heeler particularized with addition of , Charleville or , Longreach.

Inscribed reverse sheet , ink, lower right hand corner [U. Hoff?] 'answered'

Condition: Excellent 

(c) The Artist or Assignee