In 1981, general director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir John Tooley invited opera director Elijah Moshinsky to put on ‘Samson et Dalila’. Then considered a kitsch opera, Moshinsky wanted to reimagine this biblical tale, deciding to enlist Australian artist Sidney Nolan to create the stage design. Nolan agreed before departing on a month’s long journey through the Silk Road.

The deadline neared. When Nolan finally returned, he and Moshinsky submerged into an intensive creative process, working everyday to bring their vision to life. They talked Jung, tragedy and the libretto, Nolan expelling work that merged Aboriginal and Western art, giving new form to the human condition. As Moshinsky remembers, he became “aware of [an artist] who had a visionary grasp on his art, who could somehow actualise the mythic, the essential behind ordinary reality.”

‘Dalila’, a limited edition print, comes from this time. It captures the complex character of Delilah, a biblical figure most famously betrayed by Samson. Vulnerable against a plum backdrop, there is a timelessness to Nolan’s depiction – an emotional rawness that strikes a resonating chord. For collectors of Nolan, modernist works of art or admirers of the opera, ‘Dalila’ is both collectable and intriguing. It is also framed and ready to hang.

Sidney NOLAN (1917 - 1992)
'Dalila' 1982
screenprint on paper
Edition of 100
Image Size: 44 x 70 cm
Dimensions: 81 x 105 x 3 cm
Signed: Signed, titled and editioned below image
Condition:Very Good: Describes a work of art's image as Excellent, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear to paper or frame. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to the paint surface.
(c) Sidney Nolan / Copyright Agency