John Olsen’s Emus by the Lake forms part of the Edge of the Void portfolio—a series of six prints inspired by his 1974 trip to Lake Eyre shortly after it flooded. The experience proved hugely formative; as art historian Patrick McCaughey notes, the great inland sea has since “occupied Olsen’s Dreaming.”

The term void, which recurs in both the portfolio’s title and several of its works, carries a philosophical resonance. It evokes the paradox of nothingness as an active presence. For Western existentialists, the void poses a threat to being. Lake Eyre itself shifts between vacant salt pan and water teeming with life—it consumes, then regenerates. Improbably, life springs from the void.

On one of his first visits to the lake, Olsen and naturist Vincent Serventy capsized in a storm that sent paints skyward and sandwiches floating out to sea. Rather than discourage him, the experience deepened his reverence for Lake Eyre. Standing at its shimmering edge, Olsen mused, “Gee, I’m very small-time here.”

For collectors of Olsen and modern Australian art, Emus by the Lake is a highly collectible and enlightening work. In it, lake and bird converge. All neck and bristly head, the emus capture a kind of ungainly elegance.

The Edge of the Void portfolio is held in the collections of both the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. It is also published in My Complete Graphics: John Olsen 1957–1979 by Stuart Purves and John Olsen. This particular work, Emus by the Lake, is represented at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

It is beautifully framed in a natural timber frame, ready to hang on your wall.

John OLSEN (1928 - 2023)
'Emus by the Lake' 1975
Etching on paper
Edition of 50
Image Size: 50 x 35 cm
Framed Dimensions: 84 x 64 x 2 cm
Signed: Signed, dated, titled, and numbered in pencil in margin below image.

Condition: Excellent

(c) John Olsen / Copyright Agency

illustrated, another impression from the edition