GALLERY NEWS 10 March 2010: Garry Shead, Arthur Boyd, Zhong Chen

83 Moncur Street Woollahra NSW 2025
tel: 02 9362 0297 fax: 02 9362 0318
email: art@evabreuerartdealer.com.au
website: www.evabreuerartdealer.com.au


New in the Gallery

Garry Shead (b.1942)

Garry Shead (b.1942)
Wye Wurk 1994
Oil on board
90 x 120cm
Signed 'Garry Shead 94' lower left
Provenance:
Private collection, Queensland
Schubert Gallery, Gold Coast
no.11266

Visit our website to view other paintings by Garry Shead


Arthur Boyd (1920-1999)

Arthur Boyd (1920-1999)
Pulpit Rock, Bathers and Muzzled Dog c.1987
Oil on canvas
152.3 x 123cm
Signed 'Arthur Boyd' lower right
no.9184

Illustrated: Exhibition Catalogue, Arthur Boyd, Australian Embassy, Washington DC, 1986
Exhibited: Arthur Boyd, Australian Embassy, Washington DC, 30 May – 21 June 1986.

Born into a lineage of gifted painters, potters, musicians and architects, Arthur Boyd became the most celebrated member, in Australia’s cultural history, of that revered artistic family. Arthur Boyd is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, all state galleries, many regional galleries and many other important public collections both in Australia and overseas.

The Shoalhaven River is one of the most important subjects in Arthur Boyd’s remarkable body of work. The Boyd’s purchased the first of two properties, Riversdale, in 1973 and the second, Bundanon in 1979. Pulpit Rock, Bathers and Muzzled Dog c.1987 assaults the viewer with a vivid depiction of nature vs man-made hedonism. A dramatic painting with much wall power, it is concerned with the destruction of beauty, peace and tranquility in the natural environment through ignorant and pleasure seeking pastimes such as water skiing. This is clearly evident in the violent juxtaposition of a muzzled dog chasing a helmet wearing human figure (which appears to morph into an animalistic symbol of speed and greed) against a serene seemingly untouched escarpment of natural landscape. (Janet McKenzie, Arthur Boyd: Art and Life, pp.186-189)

Visit our website to view other paintings by Arthur Boyd


Zhong Chen (b.1969)

Arriving in the gallery soon

Zhong Chen (b.1969)
Rainy Day 6
Oil on linen
90 x 122 cm

Visit our website to view paintings by Zhong Chen


Ray Crooke (b.1922)

Ray Crooke (b.1922)
Mother and Child c.1985
oil on canvas
60 x 50cm
Provenance: Private collection, Sydney
no.11274

Visit our website to view paintings by Ray Crooke


Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
New Guinea Series 1968
ripolin and mixed media on paper
52 x 79cm (sight size)
Signed: 'Nolan' lower right
Provenance: Savill Gallery, Sydney. (Label attached verso)
The Everad Read Gallery, Johannesburg. (Label attached verso)
Private collection, Sydney
no. 11272

Visit our website to view works on paper by Sir Sidney Nolan


Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Central Australia 1967
ripolin on paper
52 x 76cm (sight size)
Signed: 'Nolan 1967' lower right
Provenance: Private collection, Sydney
no. 11273

Visit our website to view works on paper by Sir Sidney Nolan


James Gleeson (1915-2008)

James Gleeson (1915-2008)
Figure in Psychoscape c.1965
oil on board
14.5 x 11 cm
Signed 'Gleeson' lower right
Provenance: Private collection, Sydney
no.11271

Visit our website to view paintings by James Gleeson


Adriane Strampp (b.1960)

Arriving soon in the gallery

Adriane Strampp (b.1960)
Untitled 2004
Oil on canvas
150 x 350 cm (total - 3 panels)
Provenance: Private Collection Sydney
Eva Breuer Art Dealer, 2004
no.6648a

Visit our website to view other paintings by Adriane Strampp




Current Exhibition

Wayne Eager (b.1957)
New Paintings 2010

Wayne Eager (b.1957)
Green Grass 2010
acrylic on linen
120 x 65 cm
no.11232

Visit our website to view other paintings by Wayne Eager




Upcoming Exhibition

Food & Art
On view from 26th March 2010

David Boyd (b.1924)

David Boyd (b.1924)
Two Children with apple and orange 1999
Oil on board
16.5 x 19cm
no.3740

Visit our website to view other paintings from Food & Art


Children in Art
On view from 6th April 2010

Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)

Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)
Mother and Child 1977
Etching 32/60
60.5 x 45cm (plate size)
75.5 x 53cm (sheet size)
Edition of 60, with 8-10 APs
Printer: Max Miller, Sydney
Publisher: Port Jackson Press, Sydney
Exhibited: 'Recent Paintings and Drawings', Fischer Fine Art Limited, London, September 1977, cat. 74
no.7059

Note: The mother in this etching is the artist's sister Fran, with her baby (Source: Brett Whiteley: The Graphics 1961-1992, Deutscher Art Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1995)

Visit our website to view other paintings from Children in Art


Pam Sackville (b.1944)
New Paintings 2010

Opening Saturday 17 April 2010, 3-5PM

Paintings available to view now

Pam Sackville (b.1944)
Pears in a Napoleon Dish 2008
Watercolour on arches paper
75 x 105cm
no.9647

Visit our website to view other paintings by Pam Sackville




Featured Graphics

John Coburn (1925-2006)

John Coburn (1925-2006)
Cosi fan Tutti 1990
Screen Print (13 colours)
Edition A/P on BFK Rives
artist's proof: 10
60 x 50cm (image)
76 x 56.5cm (sheet)
signed, dated LR, inscribed with title LC and with edition LL
printed by Michael Phelps, Sydney
commissioned by Opera Australia on the theme of one of
the operas performed in that season. Due to timing his
print was not part of a set of 5 prints by other artists, also on
opera themes, commissioned around the same time.
no.11222

Visit our website to view graphics by John Coburn


David Wadelton

David Wadelton
Still Life - Hand and Foot
Lithograph 42/60
64 x 45.5cm
Commissioned by the Australian Opera for its
Australian Opera's 40th Anniversary Print Portfolio
(to be sold individually)
no.7735

Visit our website to view graphics by Important Australian Artists




Current Exhibition

March
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Wayne Eager

Upcoming Exhibitions

March
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Food & Art

April
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Children in Art
Gallery 2: Pam Sackville

May
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Brian Seidel

Please send us an email if you wish to be added to the weekly newsletter list.

Artwork of the Day - Nolan - River Shooting (Kelly)

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
River Shooting (Kelly) 1964
Oil on board
120 x 150 cm
verso: 17 Nov 1964 Nolan
28 (circled) River Shooting / E5357 x S. Nolan
Marlborough Galleries Label, Stock No. NON4742 /
Centre Between Column (on stretcher)
no.8362

Provenance:
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery New York,
Corporate collection London

Exhibited:
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery New York 1964,
Grosvenor Fair London 2005

River Shooting (Kelly) 1964 is part of a small series of important paintings which precede and directly inform the monumental River Bend I (Australian National University) and River Bend II 1964-65. The role of Ned Kelly in Nolan’s art has been a constantly changing one throughout his career. His fascination with the Kelly myth was not a form of historical documentation, rather as Jane Clark explains, it adapted “ to suit the artist’s own experiences and moods… He has been a hero, a fool, a man who armoured himself against Australia, who faced it, didn’t face it, conquered it, lost it - ‘ambiguity personifed’.”1

The central focus of River Shooting 1964 is the wounded policeman, Constable Scanlon, who was murdered by Kelly at Stringybark Creek in the Wombat Ranges of North-eastern Victoria in October 1978 leading to the Gang’s apprehension two years later at Glenrowan, and to Kelly’s execution.

Nolan returned to the Ned Kelly subject late in 1964 after returning from travels through Africa and Antarctica. The dominant image of Nolan’s Kelly as mythic hero, which established the 1940s Kelly series as a quintessentially Australian symbol, is transformed in River Shooting into a universal figure; his humanity rather than his heroicism the emphasis here. The emphasis on the mythic hero figure, commanding in the landscape, has been reversed with the image of Kelly a vital but almost ghost-like presence among the colours and textures of the Australian bush.

From the early 1960s onwards Nolan worked consistently in oils for the first time. His earlier work up to around 1950 had relied heavily on the use of Ripolin enamel. River Shooting 1964 exemplifies Nolan’s prolonged search to achieve in his words a “stereoscopic effect” of the lush Australian bush. Nolan explained that he “found some solutions in Paul Cézanne’s Dans le parc du chateau (London National Gallery). I noticed that Cézanne had very broken shapes that he cut through with the trunks of trees. The stereoscopic effect comes partially from the sudden placement of the straight edge against the mottled and divided background.”2

1Clark. J., Sidney Nolan: Landscapes and Legends, ICCA, Sydney, 1987, p.163.
2 Sidney Nolan quoted in Lynn. E., Sidney Nolan: Australia, Sydney, 1979, p.130.

GALLERY NEWS 29 JANUARY 2010: Sidney Nolan, Leonard French, Brett Whiteley, Roger Kemp

83 Moncur Street Woollahra NSW 2025
tel: 02 9362 0297 fax: 02 9362 0318
email: art@evabreuerartdealer.com.au
website: www.evabreuerartdealer.com.au


Important Australian Paintings

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Kelly 1959
Polyvinyl acetate on board
151 x 120.25 cm
signed lower left: N
verso: Feb 23rd 1959 / N
no.8163

Provenance: Private collection New South Wales

Exhibited: Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950 - 1990, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 11 November 2006- 4 March 2007

Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly paintings are among the most important in his oeuvre. Painting the first of his Kelly series in 1946-47 (National Gallery of Australia), Nolan returned to the Kelly figure many times and it is the 1950s Kelly paintings in particular which establish “a new magic and imaginative power.”1 In these later Kelly paintings the ‘naïve’ style of the 1940s Kelly series has been replaced by a more human, emotional intensity. In Kelly 1959 Nolan combines the heroic image of Ned Kelly with the classical image of martyrdom. This work highlights Nolan’s interest in the mythic and uniquely Australian Kelly saga as a story which parallels classical legend. Painted while Nolan was in New York on a Harkness Fellowship, Kelly 1959 is executed in polyvinyl acetate (the medium used for the Leda and Swan series also painted at this time) which Nolan scraped across the board in multiple transparent layers of luminous and varied colour.

1 Clark. J., Sidney Nolan: Landscapes and Legends, ICCA, Sydney, 1987, pp.120-21.

Visit our website to view other paintings by Sir Sidney Nolan


Leonard French (b.1928)

Leonard French (b.1928)
Winter Fountain c.1987-93
enamel and gold leaf on hessian on composition board
122 x 137 cm
Signed: l.r. 'French'
Provenance: Private collection Perth
no.11197

Leonard French's works frequently depict epic stories, such as the Iliad, the Odyssey and events from the Bible. These stories allow him a platform to explore universal themes, most frequently the struggle and spiritual journey of a hero. His highly individual and distinctive works reveal a plethora of influences, from Byzantine mosaics (his symmetry and precision), to Gothic (bright colours outlined in black), Romanesque architecture (squat, solid figures) Cubism and the work of Léger to name but a few. This work, Winter Fountain, exemplifies all these elements. The two figures in the work – one black, one white and both with distinctive rounded heads, first began appearing in French’s work in the late 1980’s. Like many facets of French’s work they appear to be highly symbolic, but with the exact meaning intended by the artist obscured. Other works wit these figures include The Release (in the collection of the Bendigo Art Gallery), Duet and The Tightrope (both in private collections.) Winter Fountain from the Duality series, expresses a deep sense of self and individual mortality. The series which was created during the late eighties explores the human condition as the figure struggles with between light and dark images of self. French's work is represented at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, all state galleries, most regional galleries and is also included in many major international collections, including the MoMA, New York. French also completed numerous monumental commissions in Australia, the most famous being the glass ceiling in the Great Hall at the National Gallery of Victoria.

Visit our website to view other important Australian paintings


Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)

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.

Visit our website to view other paintings by Brett Whiteley


Roger Kemp (1908-1987)

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.”

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

Visit our website to view other paintings by Roger Kemp


Kevin Connor (b. 1932)

Kevin Connor (b. 1932)
Movie World People 1993
Oil on linen
71 x 91.5cm
no.6155

Kevin Connor is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, most state galleries, many regional regional galleries as well as many other public collections throughout Australia. He has been the recipient of numerous coveted awards including the 1975 and 1977 Archibald prize, 1991 Sulman Prize and the 1992 and 2005 Dobell Prize. Movie World People 1993 is a bold, painterly work. Connor's brush work is loose and immediate, the paint application heavy, enlivening the painting with a distinct sense of movement.

Visit our website to view other paintings by Kevin Connor


James Gleeson (1915-2008)

James Gleeson (1915-2008)
Untitled (Two Figures in Psychoscape) c.1965
oil on board
19 x 14.5cm
Signed 'Gleeson' lower right
Provenance: Sydney Antique centre
Grafton House Gallery
Private collection Cairns
no.11139

Visit our website to view other paintings by James Gleeson


David Boyd (b.1924)

David Boyd (b.1924)
Three Children by the sea c.1999
Oil on board
26 x 22 cm
Signed: "David Boyd" lower left
Provenance: Private collection Sydney
no.11017

Visit our website to view other paintings by David Boyd




Contemporary Paintings

Elisabeth Kruger (b.1955)

Elisabeth Kruger (b.1955)
Spill 2007
oil on linen
122 x 122cm
no.10885

Visit our website to view other paintings by Elisabeth Kruger


Wayne Eager (b.1957)

Wayne Eager (b.1957)
Fragrance, 2008
acrylic on linen (framed)
152 x 122cm
no.10424

Visit our website to view other paintings by Wayne Eager


Tony Irving (b.1939)

Tony Irving (b.1939)
Beyond the fence 2009
oil on linen
80 x 130cm
no.11146

Visit our website to view other paintings by Tony Irving


Judy Cassab (b. 1920)

Judy Cassab (b. 1920)
Women with Sphinx 2007
Oil on canvas
39.5 x 50 cm
Signed 'Cassab 07' lower right
Provenance: The artist
no.10678

Visit our website to view other paintings by Judy Cassab


Anna Platten (b.1957)

Anna Platten (b.1957)
Head and House 2007
charcoal on paper
125 x 100cm
no.10769

Finalist in the Kedumba drawing prize 2007

Visit our website to view other artworks by Anna Platten


Paul Procee

Paul Procee
My Spineless Cousin 2009
Oil on copper
25 x 20cm
no.11195

Visit our website to view other paintings by Paul Procee


Philippa Blair (b.1945)

Philippa Blair (b.1945)
Knockout 2007
oil on canvas
152.5 x 152.5 cm
no.9863

Visit our website to view other paintings by Philippa Blair


Geoffrey Proud (b. 1946)

Geoffrey Proud (b. 1946)
Cloudy Day, Rain Sprite
pastel on paper
67 x 47cm
signed 'Proud' lower right
no.10161

Visit our website to view other pastels by Geoffrey Proud




Featured Graphic

Arthur Boyd (1920-1999)

Arthur Boyd (1920-1999)
Lovers in a Landscape
Etching A/P
26.5 x 30cm (image)
37.5 x 52.5cm (paper)
signed Arthur Boyd, VI/VI, A/P
no.10436

Visit our website to view other graphics by Arthur Boyd


John Coburn (1925-2006)

John Coburn (1925-2006)
Rare Bird 1987
Screen print A/P (6 colours)
artist' proof: 10
48 x 70cm (image)
54.9 x 74.9cm (sheet)
signed, dated LR, inscribed with title LC and edition LL
printed by Michael Phelps, Sydney
commissioned by the New South Wales State Cancer Council for its Bicentennial Collection: A portfolio of Australian artists (a boxed set with 11 other artists)
no.10386

Visit our website to view other graphics by John Coburn

Current Exhibition

February
Gallery 1 & 2: Summer Exhibition


Upcoming Exhibitions

March
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Wayne Eager

April
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Pam Sackville

May
Gallery 1: Autumn Exhibition
Gallery 2: Brian Seidel

Please send us an email if you wish to be added to the weekly newsletter list.

Staff Picks - Gallery Associate Laura Ryan

Christopher Beaumont (b.1961)
Still life with Blossom 2009
Oil on fine linen
25 x 30 cm
no. 10472

The space in these works is a virtual or abstract space while the rendering of objects wholly representational. I had a great interest in astronomy as a child. The heavens are an abstract emptiness with objects moving on principles of geometry. The world of atoms & molecules are often pictured as coloured spheres in this same black space. Atoms and molecules don’t actually look like this at all but this helps us to understand them conceptually. It is the same space of 3D computer modelling. I have grown up in a time when these images are commonplace and this is definitely an influence on the way I conceive of paintings. -Christopher Beaumont, 2007

Mike Parr (b.1945)
Zastruga Self Portrait 1986
Oil crayon & charcoal on paper
69.5 x 100cm
no.2772

Zhong Chen (b.1969)
Concubine Concubine
Oil on linen
122 x 122cm
no.10983

The pixel paintings incorporate images of Chinese portraits, animals and landscape, each of which is central to the genre of traditional Chinese ink brush painting. Zhong has painted Chinese beauties, Peking opera characters, Door gods and Imperial dogs in his recent body of paintings. By using traditional Chinese inspired images Zhong conveys a sense of his cultural identity. The choice of images are pop, as the folk art of China are an important part of the everyday and popular culture. Woodblock prints and paper cut outs are placed on windows and doors in China. Door god images are placed on doors to protect from the evil spirits. The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ paintings show images of traditional inspired Chinese lovers relating to Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy. David Thomas writes, “Paradoxes abound, not the least of them being the telling of a highly romantic tale through the calculated images of a computer. But these paintings are undeniably contemporary images, sophisticated in their marriage of ancient Eastern customs with new Western technology. The elegant faces may be based on age-old concepts of Chinese beauty, but they materialise as pixelated images of the computer age.” (1)

(1) David Thomas, “Zhong Chen : The Unity of the past and the present”, Zhong Chen Catalogue, Melbourne, 2002.

Stephen Nothling (b.1962)
A Rough Guide to all the Wrens 2007
Oil on canvas
100 x 150cm
no.9237

Samuel Wade (b.1979)
Orchard
oil on canvas
76 x 51cm
no.10036

By portraying these everyday visions using a traditional art training, the artist constructs a dialogue between commonplace existence and artistry, where subtle ironies along with a reverence for the art of the past are explored. The iconic figures of mother and child or a figure exuding pre-Raphaelite beauty may appear on a station platform, for instance. Special care in the portrayal of atmosphere and time of day acknowledges the legacy of the impressionts, while the introspective possibilities offered by the tradition of portraiture are explored. -Sam Wade 2009

Geoffrey Proud (b. 1946)
Emma – Twilight 2008
oil on canvas
100 x 88cm
no.9841

Often quirky and verging on the surreal, Geoffrey Proud's paintings in oil and pastel are like fractured fairytales. Depicting a world of innocence with a sometimes ominous edge, Proud's paintings are fantastic and bizarre. His choice of subjects is broad, including children and childhood narratives, flowers, still lifes and nudes. Alternating between expressionist impastoed brushwork and sensitive detail, he experiments freely with vibrant colour and varying textures. The highly glazed surfaces of his recent oils give his scenes an ethereal and otherworldly quality. Proud has won numerous awards including the Sulman Prize in 1976 for a painting on perspex, and the Archibald prize in 1990 for his portrait of writer Dorothy Hewett. He has exhibited consistently in all state capitals since 1966 and is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; many State and regional gallery collections; Parliament House collections in Canberra and Sydney; Artbank; IBM collection; and the Elton John collection, London.

Garry Shead (b.1942)
The Rocking Horse 1986
Oil on board
90 x 120 cm
no.11133

As Sasha Grishin describes the series: “Throughout the series the constant recurring motif is that of the fully clad male dancer, usually shown in an evening suit and occasionally appearing slightly awkward and uncertain of himself, accompanied by a nude, or an almost nude female dancer. On one very basic level there is the aspect of voyeuristic erotic wish-fullfillment, drawing on the surrealist strategy of undressing the woman with the male gaze that had been so effectively employed by Renne Magrite. Shead’s female dancers are of great sensuous beauty and lyrical charm. There is a hint of a more metaphysical dimension of this dance, relating it to the dance of life as interpreted by artists like Edvard Munch. The Dance is performed on an allegorical stage like the arena of life, sometimes with an awareness of an audience and sometimes under the harsh glow of the spotlights. In most of the ‘Dance Sequence’ paintings there is an indication of an open door in the background, at times shown as the source of light, but in all instances the door way is a path for esacpe. Shead achieves in this series of paintings a great lryicism in the paint surface, a warm sensuousness through which the female flesh glows in a rich radiance. Increasingly these intimate interior settings allude to ambiguous and seductive dream-like reality where ideas and interpretations float free from gravity and verbal associations."

Reference: Grishin S, Garry Shead and The Erotic Muse, Craftsman House, 2001 p.166.

Jean Sutherland (1902 - 1978)
Asters in a White Vase c.1927
Oil on canvas
56 x 41cm
no.3146

Jean Sutherland is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria as well as many important collections throughout Australia. Sutherland was the recipient of many awards including the 1923 National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Art Scholarship.

Asters in a White Vase c.1927 is a luminous, delicately painted still life.

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Untitled (Bird) 1959
Ripolin enamel on paper
30.3 x 25.3 cm
Verso: Nolan / 10th April 1959 / New York
no.96003

Provenance: The artist
Private collection Sydney

Nolan is arguably Australia’s most significant and internationally acclaimed artist. Kenneth Clark refers to him as one of the major artists of the 20th century. He is well known for dramatic shifts between dark, moody themes and bright, uplifting creations. Always fresh and spontaneous, he never relied upon one style or technique but rather experimented throughout his lifetime with many different methods of application, and also devised some of his own.

He commenced formal training twice through the National Gallery of Victoria School of Art but felt compelled to educate himself instead. One of his greatest influences was the French Romantic poet Arthur Rimbaud whose image has been interpreted frequently in many of Nolan’s paintings. A love of music and literature is evident in many of his works both thematically and visually.

Several themes are captured in separate periods and series of works such as Gallipoli, The St Kilda period, Dimboola, Leda and the Swan and the Sonnets. But perhaps the most powerful and recurrent imagery is his iconic depictions of Ned Kelly, the idealistic bushranger and murderer well known in Australian folklore. This series began in 1945 and continued to surface in different techniques throughout Nolan’s lifetime.

Song Ling (b.1961)
Moonlight 2 2008
acrylic on canvas
71 x 56 cm
no.10235

I like to use symbolic imagery from traditional culture in my work as there are many layers of meaning for me. But with these new paintings I am not just looking for symbolism and meaning, but also concentrating on the aesthetic to create paintings of beauty.

With this current series of works I am seeking to represent the Childhood images, Chinese Zen style traditional ink and brush paintings and Asian comic characters in a new way; to give an ancient and pop image a contemporary look, to bring the symbol into a new technological context.

The modern printing process and digital technologies use the dot to produces images. I use a hand-painted dot to create my works.

The colours I use are often found in Chinese folk art and embroidery; I choose colours which have the strongest contrast to create tension in the work. Old technique versus new technique, traditional versus modern; color versus color. But still, I want to create paintings of beauty. Song Ling 2009

James Stephenson (b.1970)
View of Chetsingh Ghat 2009
Oil on board
29 x 19cm
no.10441

The works in this series take their inspiration from Hinduisms most holy site, the ancient north Indian city of Varanasi, situated on the Ganges River. Painted in situ on the city’s ghats (stone steps which descend the rivers bank), these works focus on the everyday ritual bathing performed by locals and pilgrims from all over India, and explore the beauty of one of the worlds great cultural centres.

James Stephenson trained at the Julian Ashton School and has won numerous awards including The Henry Gibbons Prize for Drawing in 1999.

Gallery 1: Important Australian Art

John Coburn
Study for 'In the Beginning was the Word' c.1991
Mixed media on paper
24 x 32cm
signed lower right: Coburn
inscribed with title lower centre
Provenance: The Artist
no.6797

John Coburn
Study for screenprint 'Dreaming Land' c.1981
Mixed media on paper
20 x 32cm
signed lower right: Coburn
inscribed with title lower centre
Provenance: The Artist
no.6803
cat no.35

John Coburn (1925-2006)
Desert Landscape II 1979
Oil on canvas on board
49 x 61cm
no. 3550a
cat no.4

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

Garry Shead
The Rocking Horse 1986
Oil on canvas
90 x 120 cm
Provenance: Private collection Sydney
no.11133

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Central Australian Landscape c.1981
Ripolin enamel on board
90 x 121 cm
signed lower right: Nolan
no.5552

Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)
Flowers 1985
Spray enamel on canvas
177 x 155 cm (sight size)
183 x 160.2 cm (stretcher size)
initialled lower right: N
no.2813

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

Garry Shead
Dancer c.1998
Oil on board
59 x 43 cm
no.11134

Donald Friend (1915-1989)
At Alawa c.1963
Mixed media on paper
77 x 57cm (sight size)
Provenance: Private Collection Sydney
no.1548a

Tim Storrier
The Night Line / Comet 2009
acrylic on canvas
61.5 x 122.5 cm
no.11150

Ray Crooke (b. 1922)
Villagers Relaxing
oil on canvas
75 x 61cm
signed lower left 'R. Crooke'
no.11049