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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Australian Art Collection of Sandra Powell & Andrew King
• Sale Date:
  19 Mar 2014 ~ 6.30pm
• Lot #:
  10
• Lot Description:
  Sir Sidney Robert Nolan
  (1917-1992)
  Horse, 1945
  ripolin on board
  63.5 x 76.2cm
  inscribed and dated 'Horse/1945' on the reverse
• Provenance:
  Christie's, Australian and European Paintings, Melbourne, 23 November 1998, lot 34, (illustrated)
• Exhibited:
  Nolan '37-'47', Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 15 May - 9 June 1962, cat. 20; Sidney Nolan: 1939 to 1979, Arts Centre, New Metropole, The Leas, Folkestone, 5 May - 3 June 1979, no. 9; Sidney Nolan Retrospective Exhibition, Paintings from 1937 to 1967, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 13 October 1967 - 4 February 1968, cat. 13 (labels to verso); Sidney Nolan: Paintings, Drawings and Theatre Designs, G
• References:
  Nolan '37-'47', Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1962, p. 6; Sidney Nolan: 1939 to 1979, Arts Centre, New Metropole, The Leas, Folkestone, 5 May-3 June 1979; Hal Missingham, Sidney Nolan Retrospective Exhibition, Paintings from 1937 to 1967, Sydney, 1967, p. 17; Charles Osborne, Sidney Nolan: Paintings, Drawings and Theatre Designs, Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 1983
• Notes:
  Sidney Nolan's fascination with animals is demonstrated in the numerous representations of various species. These include horses which are often with or around Ned Kelly: Zeus in the form of a swan in Nolan's many versions of the mythological story Leda and the Swan; elephants from his visit to the African continent, and introduced and native animals of the Australian desert such as hares, emus and camels. Hal Missingham, on the occasion of the artist's 1967 retrospective exhibition, in which this painting was included, remarked on how 'Nolan looks at [animals] with the beauty and wonder of everything assimilated through transparent eyes in an unimpeded mind'1. It is possible that the idea for Horse 1945 originated from Nolan's recent memories in the army. He was drafted between 1942 and 1944 as Lance Corporal and stationed in Seymour, Dimboola, Horsham, Nhill and Ballarat. While conscripted, Nolan painted his fellow soldiers and the surrounding landscape with the limited supplies that were sent from his patron Sunday Reed. Although the abstract yellow and red-striped horse blanket does not point to any particular Light Horse Regiment, it is here used for theatrical effect, bringing out the horse from its dark and mysterious dreamlike landscape. The dusty red ground recalls the dry and arid land which Nolan would have witnessed during Dimboola's record breaking drought of 1944 or possibly, it could be a reference to the rosy waters of the Pink Lake nearby. What is peculiar is the absence of any narrative which is common in many of Nolan's animal paintings. Painted in the year Nolan was finishing up his Luna Park paintings and starting on the Ned Kelly series, Horse 1945 is a remarkable and humble portrait of a horse in the hot and dusty Australian country. 1 Hal Missingham, Sidney Nolan Retrospective Exhibition, Paintings from 1937 to 1967, Sydney, 1967
• Estimate:
  A$50,000 - 80,000
• 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.