The Menage at Soria Moria
INTRODUCTION . The Ménage at Soria Moria is a fictitious two act solo performance piece exploring the relationship between Sunday Reed and Sidney Nolan. Their story, particularly the heady days at Heide during the 1940s until Nolan left in July 1947, is well documented. Soria Moria also examines the less well known degeneration in their relationship over the next 35 years. In particular it imagines what might have prompted Nolan’s increasing animosity. The play is dedicated to...
Read More“First Class Marksman” – Taking aim at provenance
Sidney Nolan’s 1946 painting First Class Marksman is unique on a number of counts. It is the only one of the so-called first series Kellys which was not painted at Heide;1 it is the only work in the first series not in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia;2 it is the one work in the series described by Nolan himself as being pivotal;3 and it holds the record price for a painting by an Australian artist.4 However First Class Marksman is far from...
Read MoreErn Malley: The Hoax and Beyond
Ern Malley first visited Heide in the late spring of 1943. He returned 66 years later in July 2009 to read his poems during an exhibition which examined the genesis, reception and repercussions of the hoax through a range of art works and archival material. The exhibition included a selection of remarkable images by Sidney Nolan, Douglas Robert’s satirical portrayal of Max Harris’ trial, facsimiles of surrealist collages by hoaxer Harold Stewart and works by contemporary...
Read More“Absolutely Modern” – Absolute Must
Based on the story of 1940s Heide, Philippe Mora’s recent film “Absolutely Modern” tells of Modernism, the female muse and the role of sexuality in Art. “We know that certain minds can create an order in the chaos of appearances which other minds can contemplate with delight. We know that certain eyes can see in nature shapes and colours to which our eyes were blind”. So wrote Sir Kenneth Clark in his 1945 essay Art and Democracy just...
Read MoreRe-discovered Nolan images include a second 1947 “Mrs Fraser”
ABSTRACT. Sidney Nolan’s 1947 painting Mrs Fraser, now in the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery, is one of his best known works. I recently discovered an image of a companion work, along with images of several other hitherto unreported works from the February 1948 exhibition of twelve Fraser Island paintings at Moreton Galleries in Brisbane. There now remains just one of the dozen with no known image. BACKGROUND Sidney Nolan turned 30 on 22 April 1947. His...
Read MoreSidney Nolan interviewed by Michael Heyward, London, 5 April 1991
Interviewed endlessly, Sidney Nolan became the consumate interviewee. Apparently relaxed and in his element, he deftly handled questions to reveal as much or as little of himself as he chose, or to cast on events and people alike the emphasis he wished. Listening to the tapes, reading the transcripts – it is he who sets the pace, the interviewer who follows. This trend is much less evident in a late interview with Michael Heyward in May 1991 just eighteen months before he died –...
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