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• Auction House:
  Bonhams Australia
• Sale Name:
  Sir Sidney Nolan Works from the Estate of Lady Nolan, Part III
• Sale Date:
  24 Nov 2020 ~ 6pm (AEDT)
• Lot #:
  20
• Lot Description:
  Sidney Nolan
  (1917 - 1992)
  Antarctica, 1964
  oil on board
  122.0 x 122.0cm (48 1/16 x 48 1/16in).
  signed, dated and inscribed verso: '30 Aug 1964 / Nolan / Antartica [sic]'
  RELATED WORKS: Antarctica, 1964, oil on composition board, 121.9 x 121.9cm (NGA 2017.228); Antarctica, 1964, oil on composition board, 121.9 x 121.9cm (NGA 2017.229), and Antarctica, oil on composition board, 121.9 x 121.9cm (NGA 2017.230), all in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2017 from the estate of Lady Nolan; Mt. Erebus, 1964, oil on composition board, 122.0 x 123.0cm, in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Antarctica, 1964, oil on composition board, 122 x 122cm, in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, purchased 2019 from the estate of Lady Nolan ; Antarctica, 1964, oil on composition board, 121.00 x 121.0cm, in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London
• Provenance:
  Sir Sidney Nolan, United Kingdom, until 1992; Lady Nolan, United Kingdom, until 2016; The Estate of Lady Nolan, United Kingdom
• Exhibited:
  Sidney Nolan: Antarctic Series, Nolan Gallery, Lanyon, Australian Capital Territory, 4 June – 7 September 1986, cat. 2 (label attached verso)
• References:
  Rodney James, Sidney Nolan - Antarctic Journey, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, 2006, cat. 21, p. 73
• Notes:
  Allan Moorehead, the distinguished Australian author who inspired Nolan's journey to Antarctica in 1964, was struck by 'the similarity of great extremes' of Antarctica and Central Australia, 'dry deserts, the one of ice and the other of rock and sand, where rain seldom falls, and the occasional storms, rising to the pitch of hurricanes, leave behind them an absolute silence and stillness.' Both too had a history of intrepid, sometimes foolhardy, exploration and in many cases tragic failure, a human condition that Nolan first addressed in his Burke and Wills series depicting those doomed adventurers' 1860-61 trans-Australia expedition. In his Antarctic series he turned to the 'Heroic Age' of exploration of the early twentieth century and expeditions such as Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1914. In the present work, Antarctica, 1964, Nolan draws on J.M.W. Turner and Caspar David Friedrich, masters of the Romantic sublime, to conjure a thrilling vortex of sea, ice, and mountains at the end of the world. For other important works from this series see lots 10, 40, 64, 72, 79, 89 and 107. 1. Allan Moorhead, introduction to Sidney Nolan, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1965 and Sidney Nolan: Recent Work, Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1965
• Estimate:
  A$80,000 - 120,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.