Works on Paper in current stockroom

(alphabetically by artist surname)

Black Backed Parrakeet

Australian Colonial Art (life dates unknown)

Black Backed Parrakeet1827

watercolour on paper

signed "Black backed Parrakeet, Australasia 1827 M.H."

20.5 x 18cm

Essay

These exquisite watercolours from the early 1820s were painted by an unknown artist, ‘M.H.’ and were executed most likely in England from specimens brought back from the early days of the Sydney colony. Works associated with Australia from the first quarter of the 19th century are extremely rare.

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Modiste Garnissant un Chapeau (Milliner Trimming a Hat)

Category: International Traditional Works on Paper

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Modiste Garnissant un Chapeau (Milliner Trimming a Hat)

charcoal on paper

44.5 x 55.6 cm

Provenance

Galerie Georges Petit, 3ème Vente Atelier Edgar Degas, Paris, 5th April 1919, Lot 400 Christie’s, New York, 14th November 1996, Lot 130
Private collection

Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale 24 June 2014. Lot 395

Essay

Modiste garnissant un chapeau is a preparatory drawing for the pastel (illustrated centre opposite) with the same title, which is in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. The fine charcoal work (illustrated opposite page) was acquired from the artist’s studio sale by Ambroise Vollard, the most important French art dealer of the early twentieth-century.

Modiste garnissant un chapeau exemplifies Degas’ talent for capturing the elegance of a gesture and the beauty in a fleeting pose. His drawings, pastels and oils were regularly exhibited together at the Impressionist exhibitions. This work captures a dynamic yet graceful moment as a milliner trims a broad-brimmed hat.

Degas’ series of images of milliners at work first appeared in the 1880s. He would frequently accompany friends to their appointments, entranced by the dextrious modelling by the milliner’s hands as they trimmed hats with colourful feathers and sumptuous materials.

This magnificent work was recently exhibited in a groundbreaking touring exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco at the Legion of Honor that examined, for the first time, Edgar Degas’ fascination with the subject of millinery. The theme of hat-making represents a crucial area of Degas’ exploration of Parisian modern life and was a focus for his formal experimentation for more than thirty years.

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Panther

Category: Australian International Modern Works on Paper

William Kentridge (b. 1955)

Panther2017

lithographic print on Japanese paper

55.5 x 71.8 cm

edition 30/50

Essay

In 2016 the world renowned South African artist William Kentridge undertook the creation of a 500 meter-long frieze, which spread across the walls flanking the Tiber River in Rome. The artist portrayed dominant tensions witnessed throughout the city’s rich history. More than eighty figures, up to ten meters high represented Rome’s greatest victories and defeats from mythological times to the present, forming a silhouetted procession on Piazza Tevere. Panther speaks to that incredibly ambitious project titled Triumphs and Laments.

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Abstract and Sun/Ball

Category: Australian Modern Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Abstract and Sun/Ballc. 1955-57

mixed media on paper

30.5 x 25.5cm

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Black Chair with Eyes in Cutouts

Category: Australian Modern Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Black Chair with Eyes in Cutoutsc. 1956

mixed media on paper

signed "Black chair with cutouts (eyes in)."

30.5 x 25.5cm

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Drought Figure I

Category: Australian Modern Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Drought Figure Ic. 1953

ink on paper

initialled "n." lower right

25 x 30cm

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Eyes and Figure

Category: Australian Modern Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Eyes and Figurec. 1956

mixed media on paper

initialled "n." lower left

30 x 25cm

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Figure and Truck in Outback Landscape

Category: Australian Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Figure and Truck in Outback Landscapec. 1953

ink on paper

25.5 x 30.5cm

Provenance

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.

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Figure in Landscape

Category: Australian Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Figure in Landscapec. 1958

mixed media on paper

30.5 x 25.5cm

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Gallipoli Soldier I

Category: Australian Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Gallipoli Soldier Ic. 1962

mixed media on paper

23.5 x 20cm

Provenance

The collection of Ann Robin Banks;

thence by decent to a private collection, London

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

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Gallipoli Soldier II

Category: Australian Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Gallipoli Soldier IIc. 1962

mixed media on paper

23.5 x 20cm

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Hand and Sun

Category: Australian Modern Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Hand and Sunc. 1955-57

mixed media on paper

30.5 x 25.5cm

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Mask

Category: Australian Modern Works on Paper

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Mask1956

mixed media on paper

signed "27th.Aug.56.Italy. n." on reverse

30.5 x 25.5cm

Provenance

The collection of Ann Robin Banks;

thence by decent to a private collection, London

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

Essay

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.