The Australian landscape is a rare subject for Anne Marie Hall. In ‘Healesville Sanctuary’, a curious and captivating work, she envisions the zoo nestled in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. A trio of people, one with a baby in arms, gather in bucolic bliss – a koala perches above, a kangaroo bounds in the background and a platypus swims in the bottom left corner. Below the work, Hall has written "Ray, Marlene & Jean at Healesville Sancturary."

As always however, Hall’s depiction has a twist. Like a wayward shadow, a snake crawls from a figure's feet recalling the Garden of Eden. On a day out at Healesville Sanctuary, the artist finds myth and magnetism, purity and threat. She follows in the tradition of Australian modernism where artists like Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan unearthed unexpected complexity in panoramic views.

For collectors of Hall and modernist art, Healesville Sancturary, newly framed, signed and dated 1979, is a rich find.

Anne HALL (1945 - )
'Healesville Sanctuary' 1979
mixed media on paper
Image Size: 23 x 19 cm
Dimensions: 48 x 42 x 2 cm
Signed: Signed Anne Hall '79 lower right and inscribed with title: Ray, Marlene and Jean at Healesville Sanctuary
 
Condition: Very Good
 
© The Artist or Assignee