Ned Kelly with carcass, 1971 (blue crayon)

A$7,500 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Original etching printed in sepia from Nolan s Dust series, 255 x 300 mm, print on sheet measuring 640 x 480 mm, the etching surrounded by a hand-drawn Ned Kelly Helmet in light and dark blue chalks, signed with Nolan s backward N . Framed in museum timber frame measuring 990 x 810 mm. An unique work incorporating etching and drawing. Sidney Nolan s “Dust” series of etchings is based on an earlier series of drawings he produced in London during the winter of 1954 – 55, now held in The British Museum, London (see Stephen Coppel s Out of Australia : prints and drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas , The British Museum Press, 2011). The original series was created based on Nolan s experience on The Birdsville Track in 1952, while he was on set for the filming of John Heyer s The Back of Beyond for the Australian Shell Film Unit. In 1954 Nolan was appointed Australian Commissioner for the Venice Biennale, with a number of his paintings on view at the Australian Pavilion. At the same time, his series of drawings from The Back of Beyond were exhibited at the Venice Film Festival, where Heyer s documentary won the Grand Prix. The film is part documentary and part drama, and tracks the journey of early Australian explorers in the desolate and unforgiving Australian outback. 1952 was a year of terrible drought in the Northern Territory, and six months prior to the filming by Heyer, Nolan was also commissioned to document the hardship up north by Brisbane s Courier-Mail. The serie

• Binding: Hardcover

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