Lot 110

The Artist
Private collection, Melbourne

"From the mid-1990s Hattam's work took on a new intensity. Following the death of Hal Hattam in 1994, Katherine recalls the moment she wandered through her parents' house alone, and was struck by the presence of the empty chairs: "I do remember experiencing a conscious desire to draw chairs that were to me emblematic of childhood...I saw the wing-backed armchair where my father often sat reading, the William IV chair represented my mother, the Australian Krimper chair, the one I sat in to do my homework, was the child." (An excerpt from Katherine Hattam: Desire First 1978 - 2015)