The collection of Ann Robin Banks;

thence by decent to a private collection, London

The artist Ann Robin Banks was a close friend of Cynthia Nolan and worked on the Eureka Stockade mural with Sidney Nolan. This mural was commissioned for the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1965 and is now housed at the Australian National University, Canberra.

The artist Sidney Nolan rented Ann Banks’ studio in Fulham and eventually purchased it when she moved to Scotland.

1955-56 marked a pivotal point in the trajectory of Nolan’s career. The artist travelled extensively not only to Gallipoli, Turkey, India and Cambodia but also spent nine months living on the Greek island of Hydra, reading Robert Graves on the pre-Hellenic Myths and introducing mythological iconography into his work. He also visited Italy finding inspiration in Etruscan art and the archaeological discoveries of Pompeii while simultaneously finding a great sense of familiarity in these foreign lands to native Australia. Having found strong influences on these travels Nolan went on to produce new bodies of work that reenergised his subjects.