From Library Journal
Outside of Australia, Sidney Nolan (1917-92) is mostly known for his depictions of Ned Kelly and other Australian icons of "heroic failure"; while those paintings are among his most exciting and important, his work is much broader in content. Rosenthal (The Art of Jack B. Yeats) offers the first survey of Nolan's work since his death, significantly expanding on Jane Clark's Sidney Nolan: Landscapes & Legends, a catalog of a retrospective held in 1987 at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. Primarily self-taught, Nolan painted Australia's beaches and deserts, its people and myths, as well as creating intense images of a sensual Leda and the Swan and lush details of flowers (some of which grouped together formed the base of his massive, abstract tryptych, "Oceania"). His paintings are brash, colorful, and often surreal. Rosenthal chooses to tour this iconoclast's work thematically, effectively organizing and exploring the artist's output (including sections on his illustration, sculpture, and theater work) while introducing some regional stories to readers unfamiliar with Australiana. Throughout, high-quality reproductions (primarily in color) are well integrated with the text. This is a most welcome look at this compelling 20th-century artist; recommended for large public and academic collections. Rebecca Miller, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Sidney Nolan, arguably the greatest Australian artist in the Western tradition, is best known for his 1940s and 1950s paintings of Ned Kelly, iconic outlaw of the Australian outback. In these powerful and original paintings the extraordinary Australian landscape itself plays a formidable part. But the Kelly series formed just a fraction of Nolan's prodigious output. He was an impassioned artist who worked until close to his death in 1992, still experimenting, still intellectually curious, still playful. This book, with its wealth of illustrations—270 in color, including five polyptychs on foldouts—is the first to cover Nolan's entire career, from his early paintings to the enormous, multi-paneled works known collectively as Oceania. Some series, like Ned Kelly, center on the heroic and tragic figures of Australian history—the shipwrecked Mrs. Fraser, the explorers Burke and Wills, the soldiers at Gallipoli, the miners of the Eureka Stockade—while others are based on ancient myths such as Leda and the Swan or Oedipus and the Sphinx. Nolan, restless in mind and body, was a constant traveler, and the book reproduces paintings from his journeys in Australia, Europe, the United States, Africa, Antarctica, and Asia. This is also the first book to deal fully with Nolan's multifaceted work as a painter of literary themes, and as a book illustrator, theater designer, and sculptor. 375 illustrations, 270 in color.
