Staff Picks - Gallery Manager Robert Maconachie

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Portrait of John Perceval with a Model Boat 1943
Ripolin enamel on board
63.5 x 76 cm
no.6368

Provenance:
The Estate of Sir Sidney Nolan

Exhibited:
Nolan’s Nolans: A Reputation Reassessed, Agnews and Sons, London 1997, cat no.10

Literature:
Nolan’s Nolans: A Reputation Reassessed, Agnews and Sons, London 1997, cat no.10, p.10.
Rosenthal. T.G., Sidney Nolan, Thames and Hudson, London, 2002, p. 48.

Painted while stationed at the Wimmera, Portrait of John Perceval with Model Boat 1943 is a portrait of Nolan’s close friend and fellow artist John Perceval. Perceval is shown gazing at a small model ship, (prefiguring Perceval's Williamstown series) which he has clutched to his chest. This also eludes to Baudelaire’s Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat). A square window through the figure’s torso allows us a view to a painting within the painting; a beach scene from the St Kilda series, which pictures the Greek legend of Icarus1, the tale of the boy whose attempt to fly to the sun ended in tragic failure.

As Nicholas Usherwood explains, the inclusion of the model boat may also relate to the theme of Icarus which goes back to Nolan’s work for the Lifar Ballet, see cat. no.5 Eyes (Tent Series) c.1940. It may also suggest the “wreck of youth and Nolan’s other wise well–concealed anxieties about the war in the Pacific, in particular a recent unsuccessful Australian naval engagement in the Macassar straights of the North Australia cost – Nolan had a brother, Raymond in the Navy. He may have also begun to feel anxious about being sent to fight in New Guinea, later the cause for his desertion from the army.”2
RM

1 Nolan’s Nolans: A Reputation Reassessed, Agnews and Sons, London, 1997, cat. no.9.
2 ibid

Garry Shead (b.1942)
Monarchy at Sunset 1995
Oil on canvas
122 x 155 cm
Signed 'Garry Shead 95' lower left
no.1606

Illustrated: Grishin., S, Garry Shead, Encounters with Royalty,
Craftsman House 1998, plate 3, page 37.

Exhibited: Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne
Touring Exhibition, Brisbane City Gallery, 1998

Provenance: Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne
Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney

Monarchy at Sunset 1995 is one of the largest major paintings from the early period of the important 'Royal Suite' series.

The painting is illustrated in the definitive text on the series and is one of the largest paintings from the beginning of the series in 1995. The composition is a complex one involving multiple large figures including both the Queen and the Consort. The painting also includes the other essential images of the best paintings of the series; the harbour bridge, the silhouetted kangaroo, the Koala and the sprig of golden wattle.

Roland Wakelin (1887-1971)
Terrace Houses Double Bay 1963
Oil on board
45 x 64 cm
Signed 'R.Wakelin 63' bottom left
no.11144

Provenance:
Private collection, Melbourne
Private collection, Sydney

Exhibited:
Toorak Art Gallery (label attached verso) - On loan from Mr P English
Geelong Art Gallery (label attached verso)
Roland Wakelin Retrospective Art Gallery of NSW 8 - 30 April 1967 cat no.87
Roland Wakelin: Master of Colour, A Newcastle Regional Gallery Touring exhibition, 2002
Toured to Newcastle City Art Gallery 10-13 May 1967

Illustrated:
Roland Wakelin: Master of Colour, A Newcastle Regional Gallery Touring exhibition, 2002

Like his contemporary "colourist" Roy de Maistre, Roland Wakelin was Australian modernism's expert in colour harmony. He uses classical subject matter - landscape, cityscape or still life - then applies high keyed colours for a gentle modernist effect . His life's work was the subject of a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1967, which holds a number of exemplary Wakelin pieces. He taught at the School of Architecture, University of Sydney, from 1952, and is represented in all major public galleries in Australia.

Danila Vassilieff (1897-1958)

Untitled (Two Boys and Dog) c.1941
Oil on board
34 x 26cm
Signed 'Vassilieff' lower right
Provenance: The Williams family, Queensland
click here to view the verso
no.8198

This painting pictures two young boys, Bryan and Barry Williams (and their dog, Macky). It was painted at Warrandyte, Victoria, where the parents of the boys were building a mud brick house in the early 1940s. They became acquainted with the artist Vassilieff, as he was building his stone house in the area around the same time. Years later this painting was discovered by Bryan's wife, hidden under a framed newspaper image of a replica Captain Cook's cottage that was owned by the boys' father, Vyvian Williams.

Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)
Untitled (Bird) 1978
Oil on board with mixed media
82 x 85.5cm
Signed 'Brett Whiteley 78' lower left
Provenance: Private collection Sydney
no.8781

Brett Whiteley created some of the most important paintings of twentieth century Australian Art. His mastery of, and unique approach to form, colour, light and gesture in a body of work which spans subjects from birds to boulders, have made him one of the icons of not only the Australian art world but also internationally.

Brett Whiteley is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, all state galleries, many regional galleries, as well as many important public collections both in Australia and overseas.

Three of Brett Whiteley’s most memorable solo exhibitions were devoted to the theme of birds in 1979, 1983 and 1988. “It is not too fanciful to think of Whiteley’s bird paintings as self portraits”, Barry Pearce has commented. “He loved them since childhood and in his last phase of work they became symbols of both domesticity and freedom.” Reference: The Australian Magazine, 26 August, 1995, p.16.

“Pearce has described Whiteley as “Australia’s most sublime painter of birds, “as essential symbols of the song of creation and the joy of life.” Reference: Barry Pearce (1989), Australian Artists, Australian Birds, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, p.144.

Stan Rapotec (1913-1997)
Untitled, 1960
Oil on board
75 x 100cm
no.5876

Stanislaus Rapotec was one of the leading exponents of Abstract Expressionism in Australia. He is represented in the Australian National Gallery, all state galleries, many regional galleries as well as many other important public collections both in Australia and overseas including the Australian Embassy, Paris, Vatican Gallery of Modern Religious Art, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris. Rapotec has been the recipient of many awards including the 1961 Blake Prize.

In Untitled 1960 the bold and energetic brushstrokes swirl and explode across the board, masterfully capturing the artists physical and emotional gestures.

Carl Plate (1909-1977)
Third Edge 1961
Oil on board
181 x 121cm
Signed 'Carl Plate '61' lower left
Signed and inscribed with title, verso:
'EDGE/CARL PLATE'
Exhibited: Sydney, Royal Agricultural Show
no.8138

Plate’s Third Edge 1961 is a monumental painting which exemplifies the immediacy found in the very best paintings of this period. Click here to view a study of this work.

Carl Plate was born in Perth and studied at the National Art School in Sydney. He then travelled and studied abroad before returning to Sydney in 1940, where he had a remarkable influence on local artists through the establishment of his famous Notanda Gallery in Rowe Street, Sydney. He was a highly gifted painter who moved from figurative abstraction in the 50’s to pure abstraction during the 1960s and 70s.

Plate has won prizes such as the McCaughey Prize in 1968 and the Aubusson Tapestry Prize in 1967. Plate is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, all state galleries, regional galleries in NSW as well as institutions in London, New York, Paris and important corporate and private collections in Australia.

Plate’s Third Edge 1961 is a monumental painting which exemplifies the immediacy found in the very best paintings of this period.

Elisabeth Kruger (b.1955)
Cirque 2008
oil on linen
122.5 x 153cm
no.10884

Awarded the prestigious Moet & Chandon Art Fellowship (1989) and an overseas studio residency with the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council (1990), Elisabeth Kruger is recognised as one of Australia's leading contemporary artists. In her newest series of paintings, Kruger explores the luscious beauty of flowers. These are stunning floral masterpieces with a contemporary edge. Her work is represented in the Australian National Gallery, The National Gallery of Victoria, the Parliament House Collection, Macquarie University and major private collections.

Roger Kemp (1908-1987)
Untitled c.1963
Acrylic on masonite
91.5 x 122cm
no.5320

Roger Kemp is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, all state galleries, many regional galleries as well as many other public collections throughout Australia. Kemp has been the recipient of numerous coveted awards including the 1968 and 1970 Blake Prize.

“Kemp’s contribution to the development of abstract painting in Australia is substantial. He has shown how a personal language can be developed from experience with effort and tenacity without recourse to models from abroad.”

In Untitled c.1963 the bold black outlines that border the blocks of red, blue, green and white is reminiscent of stain-glass artwork.

Reference: Roger Kemp: Cycle and Directions 1935 –1975, Monash University Department of Visual arts, Exhibition Gallery, Melbourne: The Gallery, 1978 pp.1-2.

Arthur Boyd (1920-1999)
Portrait of Alannah Coleman III c.1971
Oil on canvas
76 x 63 cm
no.3168

Arthur Boyd’s paintings of art world personalities such as this portrait of the art dealer Alannah Coleman, are masterfully executed expressions of the sitter. Boyd translates the nuances of his subject in vigorous strokes of yellow, blue and red, which animate the painterly surface.