Chromatic Colour Structure

The abstract paintings of John Weeks began as stylised analyses of still lifes and figures. Only gradually did he come to view abstraction as something quite distinct from representation. Chromatic Colour Structure is a rare instance of a Weeks that is (or appears to be) purely non-objective; Kyla Mackenzie, the leading authority on John Weeks, has called it ‘the most resolved example’. It is likely that other highly developed non-objective works existed prior to the catastrophic fire at the Elam School of Art that destroyed key works by Weeks in 1949.

The date of Chromatic Colour Structure is not known but it is assumed to have been made about the time of the fire. Weeks is today recognised a pioneer exponent of abstraction in Aotearoa in the 1940s, alongside younger artists like Milan Mrkusich and Gordon Walters.