John Olsen is among Australia’s most beloved artists. His imagery has been described as quintessentially Australian – expansive, vivacious and told with a sense of humour. While there is variety in his subjects - frogs, people, paella - he was best known for his landscapes, remarking “There is so much to look at and observe about the Australian landscape, how it varies from tropical to the coastal fringe, and the interior. It’s so multiple. It’s a beautiful animal, that landscape.”

In Waterfall, two figures watch on as frogs descend a nearby waterfall, evoking a sense of the playful curiosity one feels within nature. Like Olsen’s vision for life, this work sees forms of life, beautiful and awkward alike, as vitally interconnected — expressions of the same great vitality.

Olsen won the Wynne, Sulman and Archibald prizes, leading a sixty-year career that expanded the boundaries of art, uniting forms of life grand and small. His line transfixed Australia, finding form in the awkward gait of a frog and the meeting of sky and sea.

For collectors of important Australian art, Olsen's Waterfall is a life-affirming find.

John OLSEN (1928 - 2023)
'Waterfall' 2002
etching on paper
Edition of 10
Image Size: 20 x 9 cm
Dimensions: 54 x 37 x 4 cm
Signed: Editioned, titled, signed 'John Olsen' and dated lower margin.
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Excellent

(C) John Olsen / Copyright Agency 2023