An interview with Ray Crooke and Robyn Berkeley

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• published: 07 Feb 2013
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Ray Crooke http://www.berkeleyeditions.com.au/content/ray-crooke 1922 - Ray Crooke was born in Melbourne in 1922. His lifelong passion for nature developed as a boy and early on he entertained the idea of becoming a natural history illustrator. At 15 however he joined a Melbourne advertising agency and at night attended classes at Swinburne Technical College. The agency job ended with the outbreak of war and Crooke went on to study art full time at Swinburne before enlisting in the army. His service years saw him in Western Australia, North Queensland, Borneo and Thursday Island, places that would feature dramatically in his later work. After the war Crooke completed his art studies at Swinburne and held his first solo exhibition in 1948 at Melbourne's Kosminsky Gallery. Crooke returned to Thursday Island in 1949 and worked as a trochus diver. In 1951 he married June Bethel and the couple settled in Cairns before moving back to Thursday Island where Crooke worked for the Anglican Diocese, an experience that was crucial to his subsequent development as a painter. The cool, Gauguin-like portrayal of island life that emerged in his work soon won him wide acclaim. Crooke returned to Melbourne in 1955 and in 1959 held a successful solo exhibition at Australian Galleries Melbourne. Now, highly sought after by major galleries, he returned to Cairns and with the picturesque Yorkey's Knob as his base, travelled the tropics, the Gulf country, central Queensland, Fiji and Tahiti, creating some of the major pictures of his career. The experience of life in the tropics became a key element in his work. Ray Crooke's work is in the National Gallery of Australia, all state and many regional galleries. His murals grace Australia House in London and his Painting "The offering" 1971, is in the Vatican Museum collection. Ray Crooke won the Archibald prize in 1969 with a portrait of his friend, the writer George Johnston. In 1993 he was made a member of the Order of Australia for services to the visual arts. Collections National Gallery of Australia ACT Art Gallery of New South Wales NSW National Gallery of Victoria, Vic Queensland Art Gallery Qld. Art Gallery of Western Australia WA Art Gallery of South Australia, SA Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Tas Newcastle Regional Art Gallery NSW University Art Museum University of Queensland, Qld Reserve Bank of Australia Fairfax Collection Vatican Collection, Italy Berkeley Edtions Limited Edition Artworks are highly collectable and some of our editions run to as few as twenty-five prints. Each work is numbered and signed by the artist. The Berkeley Editions 'chop' (embossed blind stamp) is your guarantee of authenticity. Fine Art Limited Editions appreciate in value as the artist's career escalates, so the sooner you acquire a limited edition the more you can enjoy the sophistication it brings to your home, the beauty of the artwork and the potential growth in its value. Berkeley Editions publish Fine Art Limited Editions for the local and international markets and they are featured in leading galleries, institutions, and major corporate collections all around the world. We also acquire and commission artwork for private and corporate collections. Specialised knowledge and personal service are the keys to our highly prized reputation and we look forward to being of assistance to you. Australian Artists * Jason Benjamin * Charles Blackman OBE * Arthur Boyd AO, AC, OBE * David Boyd * Criss Canning * Fred Cress AM * Ray Crooke AM * Melissa Egan * Frank Hodgkinson AM * Malcolm Jagamarra * Jasper Knight * Colin Lanceley * David Larwill * Kerrie Lester * Bob Marchant * Helen Norton * Margaret Olley AC, AO * Kevin Pearsh * Clifton Pugh AO * Craig Ruddy * Martin Sharp OA * Garry Shead * Andrew Southall * Tim Storrier AM * Salvatore Zofrea For more information please visit: www.berkeleyeditions.com.au