Auction of significant Nolan painting
How many paintings in total did Nolan create? Estimates vary widely …. 10,000? 30,000? …. who knows, he was nothing if not prolific. Whatever the number, few 20th century ‘name’ painters likely sold more works from a gallery wall than did Sidney Nolan. The very first of these will go to auction in Melbourne tomorrow 10 August 2017. Remarkably, the fact that Lot 30 was Nolan’s first commercial sale is not mentioned in the Menzies catalogue. Swamp is one of twelve...
Read MoreNolan Centenary Update III
As I write this, one day after the Centenary of Sidney Nolan’s birth on 22 April 1917, the Australian weekend papers – certainly those of the Fairfax Media – have double page spreads about him. Well briefed by a Media Release entitled Sidney Nolan’s man behind Ned Kelly mask revealed and issued by the Heide Museum of Modern Art, the newspaper articles feature a double photo with his 1945 painting Ned Kelly “Nobody knows anything about my case but myself”...
Read MoreaCOMMENT on the catalogue “Transferences: Sidney Nolan in Britain”
Described as “the first exhibition of the artist’s work in a British museum since 1992,” the exhibition Transferences: Sidney Nolan in Britain opened on 18 February 2017 at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, UK and continues until 4 June. A news clip by That’s Solent TV can be seen here. The catalogue, which is reviewed here, is edited by Rebecca Daniels with contributions from her and several others. It is an impressive publication (see the contents page...
Read MoreNolan Centenary Update II
Born 22 April 1917, the centenary of Sidney Nolan’s birth is fast approaching and it is pleasing to note that plans, at least in the UK, are well afoot and publicised. Details may be seen on the Centenary page on the Sidney Nolan Trust website. aCOMMENT is maintaining a new dedicated website on which are listed all planned activities when announced. The Nolan 100 is a growing online collection of images of Sidney Nolan’s works selected by collectors, artists,...
Read MoreaCOMMENT on “We who love: the Nolan slates”
Rarely does one have the opportunity to see a body of little known and seldom exhibited works originating in a brief, discrete, yet significant period in the early career of an artist as famed as Sidney Nolan, probably the best known Australian painter of the twentieth century. We who love: the Nolan slates at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne, and before that at University of Queensland Art Museum, gives such an opportunity. Apart from what it may tell us about...
Read Morevale Mary Nolan
With sadness aCOMMENT records the death of Lady Mary Nolan at her home The Rodd on the border of England and Wales on 6 April 2016. She was 89. Sidney Nolan’s third wife, he her second husband, her death has brought forth tributes aplenty many of which lament her passing in terms such as “a door has been closed” and “the light goes out”. On 26 April, four days after Nolan would have turned 99, she was laid to rest with him in Highgate Cemetery East beneath the...
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