Ned Kelly in art: the Sidney Nolan collection in Canberra

At the Canberra Museum and Gallery, the Sidney Nolan exhibition is a permanent collection of his paintings. Sidney Nolan gifted the 24 artworks to the people of Australia in 1974. All of the pieces are ripolin enamel on board.

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) was one of Australia’s best-known artists, living near Melbourne in the state of Victoria. He was interested in the bushranger Ned Kelly (1854-1880) who lived in Nolan’s local region. He painted a series of 27 Kelly pieces (1946-1947 and mid-50s) showing Ned Kelly in his black iconic iron mask and armour that he wore while fighting the constabulary. Sidney Nolan was also fascinated by the policemen of Kelly’s era.

The photographs show: Kelly and horse (1946) - top photo, Kelly (1945), and Kelly and Scanlon (1945).

The Foundation Collection in the Canberra Museum and Gallery includes Nolan’s earliest paintings with 15 from the 1940s Kelly series as well as pieces from the Burke and Wills series, and St Kilda series (a suburb of Melboure where Nolan lived for a short time).

Robert Burke (1821-1861) and William Wills (1934-1861) were two explorers who led an expedition of 19 men across Australia from south to north and back again – i.e. from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. The south-north journey - on foot, horse, and camel - was 3,250 kilometres (2,000 miles). They reached the Gulf but both died on the return journey. The photograph below is Nolan’s 1948 painting called Burke and Wills Expedition.

Other pieces include Under the pier (1945) from the St Kilda series, Policeman (1946) and Policeman in wombat hole (1946).

http://www.museumandgalleries.act.gov.au

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