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

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog