The chase 1959

John Brack's painting, The Chase, captures a moment of pure, unadulterated childhood. The flat planes of color, the stylised figures—it's like looking into a memory, right? I wonder what Brack was thinking when he put brush to canvas. Did he have kids himself? Was he remembering his own childhood? There's a kind of melancholy here, even amidst the obvious joy of the chase. The odd, confectionary patterns on the dresses against the olive green, the stark black shadows—these are so sharp, so unexpected, that it creates a visual tension. It reminds me of work by Philip Guston in the 70’s, and maybe even some of Red Grooms’ playful renderings of people. You can feel the energy in those limbs, the implied sound of laughter and pounding feet, even if they are only shadows. Maybe Brack is trying to capture something fleeting, a moment that vanishes as quickly as it appears. It’s a visual poem about time, memory, and the ephemeral nature of joy.