Compatriot of Charles Blackman and Mirka Mora, Rosemary Ryan lived her life in the thick of the Australian art scene. She studied at both the National Gallery School and under George Bell, showing two works at the Australian Artists’ Association exhibition in London, 1956. On her second solo exhibition, Bernard Smith wrote for The Age that she was “the surprise of the week”, praising her Proustian sensibility, authenticity and literary penchant. 

Smith’s ideas suffuse ‘Untitled (after Hogarth)’, an epic mash-up of William Hogarth’s 18th century painting ‘The Orgy’ or ‘Tavern Scene’ and the 1930 musical-comedy ‘The Blue Angel’ starring Marlene Deitrich. The scene is debauched and drunken, painted with a haziness that feels dreamy and woozy. Both Hogarth’s painting and ‘The Blue Angel’ are associated with periods of decadence and over-indulgence, entwined with the fear that the female seductress – epitomised by Dietrich’s exposed thigh – would incite moral decay.

As one critic observed, “to classify Rosemary Ryan would be difficult.” She was a skilled and distinctive painter, inspired by Picnic at Hanging Rock, her milieu and the critical eye of feminism and postmodernism. Whether helping to paint Mora’s Cafe Balzac, being photographed by Joyce Evans or organising a mass picnic to inspire her art, Ryan was remembered as a “generous friend, a witty conversationalist… [and] a wonderful host.” 

For collectors of modernist, pop and feminist artists, Ryan is a spark of life.

Rosemary RYAN (1926 - 1996)
'Untitled (after Hogarth)'
acrylic on canvas
Image Size: 106 x 136 cm
Dimensions: 110 x 140 x 5 cm
Signed: Signed 'Ryan' lower left corner
Comes with Letter of Provenance
 
Condition: Very Good: Small dark spot on paint surface (lady seated centre-left) and some very slight cracking to dark brown paint in darker sections.
 
(c) The Artist or Assignee