SIDNEY NOLAN

The Sir William Dobell Art Foundation
Fine Australian Paintings, Sotheby's, Sydney, 25 August 2003, lot 101
Private collection, Sydney; purchased from above

This tapestry appears not to have faded, there is a very small dark stain 5mm in diameter near signature. Otherwise this work is in overall good original condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Prior to the establishment of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop in 1976, Australian artist wanting woven interpretations of their paintings had to work with the established European manufactories.  John Coburn's Sydney Opera House tapestries (The Curtain of the Sun and The Curtain of the Moon), for example, were made at the well known Aubusson Workshops in France.  On the other hand, John Olsen's 1966 Joie de Vivre, Verdure and Nude with Clock, and Arthur Boyd's 1967 Nebuchadnezzar were woven in Portugal, at the equally historic Tapecarias de Portalegre.  With the Australian connection firmly established by these two artists, it is logical that Sidney Nolan should also have chosen to commission his first tapestries from Portalegre in the early 1970s. 

The finished tapestries were exhibited at David Jones' Gallery, Sydney in two exhibitions: Sidney Nolan Paintings and Tapestries in November 1973 (a show which included four tapestries as well as twelve works from the Miners series), and Five Tapestries by Sidney Nolan in March 1975.  Amongst the works known to have been exhibited at these shows are Constable Fitzpatrick and Kate Kelly, The Death of Constable Scanlon, The Trial, Glenrowan and Kelly and Horse.  The latter two tapestries are now held in public art museum collections, respectively the Benalla Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. 

Also shown at this time was the present work, which is a composite of two Kelly subjects: Burning at Glenrowan and Siege at Glenrowan.  In their painted form, these are the only two vertically-oriented panels in the original 1946-47 set.  When butted together, they read as a single work, albeit twice the size of the 3 ft by 4 ft masonite sheet standard.  The tapestry represents a seamless integration of the two verticals as a single horizontal work.
The iconic status of the Ned Kelly paintings having been reinforced once again by his 1966 Art Gallery of New South Wales retrospective, Nolan's choice of a selection of these pictures for translation into the large scale and sensual luxury of woollen tapestry is hardly surprising.  Yet this second-degree, interpreted object - scaled-up, grandly decorative and impeccably crafted - succeeds in retaining much of the raw pictorial power of its source images.  As Tom Rosenthal describes them: 'In... Burning at Glenrowan and Siege at Glenrowan Nolan has checked his irony and his sense of the absurd and concentrated on the carnage that took place at the final encounter between the Kelly gang and their pursuers.  This is no ritualised Western, no Gun Fight at the OK Corral with goodies and badies.  The locals are in danger, getting hurt and shot, and the place is an inferno.'

1. Tom Rosenthal, Sidney Nolan, Thames and Hudson, London, 2002, p. 76 - 77