NewsBite

Eager buyers snap up Perceval’s Williamstown tugboats

The two paintings by the artist closely bound up with the Boyd artistic dynasty smashed estimates even though they were done after the 1950s.

Elizabeth Fortescue

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

It was 1956 when John Perceval first saw the busy maritime jumble of Williamstown on Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay, and was hooked. The Australian artist would later say that finding Williamstown was “like discovering Venice”.

The comparison is far-fetched, but it doesn’t matter. You can feel Perceval’s rapture. You can see it, as well, in the many Williamstown paintings he created between 1956 and his death in 2000 at the age of 77.

Loading...

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

Read More

Latest In Arts & Culture

Fetching latest articles

Most Viewed In Life and luxury

    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/eager-buyers-snap-up-perceval-s-williamstown-tugboats-20230705-p5dltq