‘Painting’, dated 1993–39, looks within Sidney Nolan’s visual language. Against a textured backdrop, he paints loops of black – roads, rides or perhaps the skeleton of his Moonboy, brought to life between 1939 and 1940. Moonboy, inspired by the silhouette of his friend John Sinclair at St Kilda beach, roused controversy. It was at once a geometric abstraction and totally simplified portrait, alien yet familiar.

Within the loops of ‘Painting’ a pink and white symbol spins, perhaps inspired by the rides of St Kilda’s Luna Park where Nolan spent his youth. St Kilda recurs throughout this period of Nolan’s work, a site of childhood memory, garish beauty and literary metaphor.

For collectors of Nolan, this early painting will excite. Mysterious yet captivating, it is alive with experimentation. What you see in it is up to you, but there remains traces of what would become iconic to Nolan’s visual language.

Sidney NOLAN (1938 - 1992)
'Painting' 1938-39
oil on board
Image Size: 31 x 35 cm
Dimensions: 39 x 45 x 4 cm
Signed: Unsigned
Comes with Letter of Provenance

EXHIBITIONS:
- Nolan, Hatton Gallery, University of Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; Temple Newsam House, Leeds; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; City Art Gallery, Bristol; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Scottish Royal Academy, Edinburgh; City Art Gallery, Wakefield, March - November 1961, cat. cat 1 or 2 as Painting, 1938.
- Sidney Nolan: 1937 to 1979, Arts Centre, New Metropole, Folkestone, 5 May - 3 June 1979, cat. 1-15 as Experimental works early 40s.

Condition is Excellent.

(C) Sidney Nolan / Copyright Agency 2023