Art Club 8

Sidney Nolan, After Glenrowan Siege (second Ned Kelly series) 1955 - Museum of Modern Art, New York

In 1953, Nolan left Australia for Europe, and, despite regular visits home, this was a permanent move.  He was able to do this because of the financial success of his late 40s/early 50s outback pieces.  Although he was overseas, he often came back to Australian subjects in his art, and reworked Ned Kelly in the mid-50s, with an eye to the then-contemporary European school.

In this, and other pieces from the series, Nolan added facial features to the mask, lips and the merest hint of a nose here.  Although the first series is now classic Australiana, I preferred the colours in this series, even if they appear muddied rather than vibrant.  The destruction of the Glenrowan Hotel in the background is also very striking to me.

Art Club 7

In 1947 Nolan left Victoria, for the next few years living between Queensland and Sydney.  He ventured further for inspiration for his paintings, as evidenced -



Sidney Nolan, Inland Australia 1950 - Tate London

Nolan flew over and travelled through the Australian Outback several times during this period, working on pieces covering the landscape, the buildings, the flora and fauna, and the drought that was ravaging the interior at this time.

What grabs me with this painting is how realistic it is - a development from Nolan's earlier work, which were either stylised or abstract.  And yes, ladies and gentlemen of the international audience, parts of the Australian interior do look like this, almost a Mars-scape.

Art Club 6

Sidney Nolan, Flinders Street at Night c.1945

I adore this piece.  The darkness, the ill-defined ill-focussed buildings, especially to the left, the broad brushstrokes of yellow indicating the lights reflecting in the river.  If this was an impressionist piece, the reflections would likely be mottled, but I love love love the way Nolan has just plastered the strokes over the canvas...

Art Club 5

Continuing the Nolan retrospective, we return, via chronological order, to the first of his Ned Kelly series -



Sidney Nolan, Return to Glenrowan 1946 (reworked later) - Nolan Gallery, Cultural Facilities Corporation, Australian Capital Territory

This is the only work in his first Kelly series which doesn't have the armour/face showing as jet black - whether the coloured stripes were put on during the rework, or as it was originally, is not noted.  Instead of the usual effect of Kelly being the dark, intense portion of the painting, in this piece the whole landscape broods.  The dark skies, the greenish/black ground all add to a sense of dread and foreboding.

In reality, Glenrowan was the hamlet that Ned Kelly was captured at, while the rest of his gang were killed.

Art Club 4

Sidney Nolan, Hare in Trap 1946 - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

This is a painting which is leant quite a bit of meaning according to the exhibition notes.  After the war, Nolan spent much of his time at Heide, the home of his patrons, John and Sunday Reed, the latter with whom he had an affair.  She rejected his suggestion to leave her husband though, and it appears Nolan felt more and more trapped in Melbourne.

Thus this painting, a remembrance of travelling with his father and seeing a rabbit in such a trap, is a fair approximation of how Nolan was feeling at the time.  The fear and terror of the animal, indicated by the piercing blue eye [which, unfortunately, may not be visible to full effect in the picture above], the blood and fur splattered in the foreground of the picture, and the ever present sunburnt countryside, all put together, makes this work quite the bleak appraisal.

Art Club 3

Today on Art Club, as we continue the early works of Sidney Nolan, we present you with a fairground scene -



Sidney Nolan, Luna Park 1941 - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Luna Park is a Melbourne fixture, opening in 1912 in the inner city suburb of St Kilda, and entertaining generations of Victorians.  Many of Nolan's early works were based around St Kilda, where he kept a studio before being drafted into the army for World War Two.

I like this piece because it is light, airy, abstract - the roller coaster appearing so small and fragile, and in some ways taking on the appearance of a big top circus tent.

Art Club 2

Today on Art Club, we have for you part of the bound to be continuing Nolan series - I considered putting up a different artist day to day as well, but thought that would come across too scattergun - so, now that we have his most famous piece out of the day (see yesterday), onto the wider range.



Sidney Nolan, Woman on Beach 1940

One of his earliest pieces, the colours of this one are immediately striking to me. During his time at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, Nolan had devoured the modern artists such as Gaugain, van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso, and I can see the influence, particularly of the latter two, in this work.

Art Club 1

Hello, and welcome to Art Club.

This concept has been inspired by the timeless genius that is known as Jazz Club.

Great.

Each day, I will be adding a new piece to this blog.  Now, whether there are any other fans of the visual arts out in LJ-land, we are just going to have to find out.  Crazy!

To kick things off, something from the local collection - Australia even.  Sidney Nolan, the first Australian artist to break through the million dollar mark for a piece of his work.

Sidney Nolan, Ned Kelly 1946 - National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

This is part of probably his most famous series of work, following the last days of Ned Kelly, a Victorian outlaw who has been the centre of a seemingly frenzied myth-making industry ever since his 1880 execution in Melbourne.  Nolan's grandfather himself was part of the police gang sent into the countryside to track Kelly down.

The black armour with the bleak sunburnt country behind has almost made this painting an iconic piece of Australiana.  So much so, that I was more than pleasantly surprised at the depth and range of the rest of Nolan's retrospective.

Wunderbar.