John Vickery Self-portrait

John Vickery (1906–1983) painted this self-portrait when he was 27 years old after a brief stint at the National Gallery School in Melbourne. Emigrating to America just two years later, he is now relatively unknown to the broader Australian public but recognised as an important artist of the international op art movement.

During the 1950s, Vickery painted alongside artists of the abstract expressionist movement in New York, such as Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning. The disciplined and analytical approach of op art, however, was more in line with his precise handling of colour and composition, honed over decades as a successful commercial illustrator.

While still in keeping with an academic tradition, the high-key palette and stippled, energetic brushwork of this self-portrait reflect Vickery’s burgeoning interest in cubism and the broken colour technique of the post-impressionists.