Art

Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly Exhibition was held at the Museum of Modern Art, Heide Gallery in 1997. Below are examples of his valuable visual insight to the Ned Kelly legend. An extract by John Reed, written for the introduction to the catalogue of The Kelly Paintings of Sidney Nolan 1946-47 held at Velasquez Gallery, April 1948 gives some insight into the artist and his work:

Michel Lawrence’s portrait of Nolan as Kelly.

For those of us who rank Sidney Nolan as one of the two or three painters in Australia of real significance, this Exhibition – his first one-man show in a Public Gallery – is of quite outstanding importance. We believe its value in the history of Australian painting is already assured. Australia has not been an easy country to paint. A number of artists have sensed something of what it holds and one or two – the early Roberts and Streeton – have succeeded in giving us glimpses of it which were movingly true; but we have waited many years for a mature statement to cover both the landscape and man in relation to the landscape. In my opinion this has now been achieved by Sidney Nolan in the group of 27 paintings exhibited, and it is a remarkable achievement indeed, necessitating as it has the most sensitive and profound harmony between symbol, legend and visual impact. That this has been accomplished in language of the utmost simplicity is in itself an indication of the strength of the artist’s vision and discipline, while at the same time it should allow those who are responsive to the elemental things which move us all to find ready response in themselves to what the paintings have to give.

Sidney Nolan was born in 1917 in Carlton, Victoria. In the mid 1930s Nolan studied at the National Gallery of Victoria after hours while working in the art department of a hat factory. His first patrons were John and Sunday Reed from Heide Gallery and he exhibited with the Contemporary Art Society from 1939-1947. His career was interrupted by his war service, however he did manage to produce a series at Dimboola. In 1945 he began his best known series of works based on Ned Kelly and the bushranger legend, which were exhibited in Paris in 1948. In 1951, Nolan held his first exhibition at the Redfern Gallery starting his international success.

Other well known works include his Leda and Swan, African and Gallipoli series. For the next thirty years Nolan travelled and exhibited extensively, while also producing designs for ballets and plays, book covers and illustrations. He donated many works throughout his later years, including the Kelly paintings to the National Gallery of Australia. In 1985, he acquired the property adjoining Arthur Boyd’s on the Shoalhaven River. He was awarded many prizes and awards including a knighthood in 1981, and was honoured with a Retrospective in 1986. He is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, all state galleries, many regional and university galleries, the Tate Gallery, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York and numerous private and corporate collections, both nationally and internationally.