#Nolan 100
No 93. Artist and painting - Charles Nodrum
Published:
This is one of 30 to 40 drawings Nolan made in an afternoon whilst talking to his friend Elwyn Lynn. Some were easier to read than others and this one was clear and simple: a one armed headless artist is painting a man wearing a hat and backpack.
The talk with Lynn was serious, not just chit-chat, so would have required Nolan’s attention. That being the case, he was engaged in multi-tasking (new-speak) and automatic drawing (old-speak) and this seems to give a clue towards a simple interpretation of this work: automatic drawing has no need of the head, and in this case it almost seems as if the brush itself is working independently and using the artist to accomplish its own ends. For an artist who could (and all too often did) slide into slickness, it exemplifies on a formal level the exact opposite. It’s engagingly awkward; the lines are slow and a bit wobbly, as if wondering where to go. It’s not making a statement, it’s asking a question; it’s even puzzling over how to ask the question in the first place.”
Charles Nodrum. Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne. www.charlesnodrumgallery.com.au
Sidney Nolan, Artist and painting, 1984, pastel on paper, 57 x 76.5 cm. Private Collection, Melbourne. © Sidney Nolan Trust.
The Nolan 100
No.1 - Four Abstracts - Alexander Downer
No.2 - Self Portrait - Angus Trumble
No.3 - Arabian Tree - Kendrah Morgan
No.4 Riverbend I - Francine Stock
No.5 - Desert - Andrew Logan
No.6 Dog and Duck - Jane Clark
No.7 Vivisector - Tim Abdallah
No.8 In the Cave - Rebecca Daniels
No.9 Young Soldier - Clare Woods
No.10 Ned Kelly - Shaun Gladwell
No.11 Bird - Deborah Ely
No. 12 Hare in Trap - Nicholas Usherwood
No.13 Untitled (Catani Arch, St Kilda) - David Rainey
No.14 Death of a Poet - Simon Martin
No.15 Study for Samson et Dalila - Elijah Moshinsky
No.16 Rimbaud at Harar - Edmund Capon AM OBE
No.17 Quilting the Armour - Jackie Haliday
No.18 Snake - David Walsh
No.19 Angel and the Tree - Dr Nicky McWilliam
No.20 Brian the Stockman at Wave Hill Mounting a Dead Horse - Damian Smith
No.21 Steve Hart Dressed as a Girl -Jennifer Higgie
No.22 Women and Billabong - Anthony Plant
No.23 Agricultural Hotel - Philip Mead
No.24 Policeman in a Wombat Hole - Kay Whitney
No.25 Peter Grimes - David Lipsey
No.26 Self Portrait in Youth - Barry Pearce & Duncan Fallowell
No.27 Riverbend I - Ian Dungavell
No.28 Drowned Soldier at Anzac as Icarus - Paul Gough
No.29 Thames - John Tooley
No.30 Girl - Amelda Langslow
No.31 Ned Kelly and Policeman - Daniel Crawshaw
No.32 Tarred and Feathered - Nick Cave
No.33 Self Portrait - Denise Mimmocchi
No.34 Peter Grimes's Apprentice - George Vass
No.35 The Emu Hunt - Roger Law
No.36 Luna Park - Paula Dredge
No.37 Rose in Coffee Pot - Anthony Collier
No.38 The Cardplayers - Nevin Jayawardena
No.39 Bathers - Lesley Harding
No.40 Aboriginal Girl - Jennie Milne
No.41 Pretty Polly Mine - Michael Brand
No 42. Roses in a Merric Boyd Vase - Jack Galloway
No 43. Brett Whiteley - Jonathan Watkins
No 44. Island - Nick Yelverton
No 45. Luna Park - Bill Granger
No 46. Face of the Damned - Kate McMillan
No 47. Central Australia - Leanne Santoro
No 48. Crane - Brian Adams
No 49. Myself - Simon Mundy
No 50. Going to Work, Rising Sun Hotel, 1948 - David Ferry
No 51. Figure at Harar - Andrew Turley
No 52, Greek Figures - Simon Pierse
No 53. Randolph Stow - Suzanne Falkiner
No 54. Landscape No.27 (Convalescence) - Suzanne Falkiner
No 55. Self portrait - Oliver McCall
No 56. McMurdo Sound - Mike Clements
No 57. Faun, Woman, Rider, Horse - Mark Fraser
No 58. Season in Hell (Benjamin Britten) - Anne Bean
No 59. The Slip - Humphrey Ocean
No 60. Central Australia - Chris Drury
No 61. Riverbend - Christina Slade
No 62. Head - Celia Johnson
No 63. Myth Rider - Desmond Browne
No 64. Stockman - Bridget McDonnell
No 65. Untitled (flower) - Roma Piotrowska
No 66. Chinese Landscape - Celia Perceval
No 67. Untitled - Des Hughes
No 68. Crucifixion - Rod Bugg
No 69. Icebergs - Laurence Hall
No 70. Bather in a Lily Pool - Amanda Fitzwilliams
No 71. Breaks like the Atlantic Ocean on my head - Michael Berkeley
No 72. Carcase in Swamp - Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
No 73. Ern Malley - Isabella Boorman
No 74. Mrs Reardon at Glenrowan - Adrian Kelly
No 75. Landscape Carnarvon Range, Queensland - Catherine Noske
No 76. Abraham and Isaac - Sarah Bardwell
No 77. Rosa Mutabilis - Catherine Hunter
No 78. Artist drawing nude - Victoria Lynn
No 79. Boy and the moon - Natalie Wilson
NO 80. Explorer and Township - Helen Idle
No 81. All Tastes Like Dust in the Mouth... - Carolyn Leder
No 82. Young Boy Who Was Good at Latin - Roxy Shaw
No 83. Mrs Fraser - Anne Carter
No 84. Paradise Garden - David Oliver
No 85. Leda and the Swan - Marilyn Sweet
No 86. Burke and Wills at the Gulf - Jenny Watson
No 87. Dream of the latrine sitter - Ryan Johnston
No 88. Footballer - Gerard Vaughan
NO 89. Sketch for Ned Kelly - Amanda Fuller
NO 90. Woman in Lagoon - Jinx Nolan
No 91. Cherries in a bowl - Peter Blake
No 92. Fountain - Heywood Hill
No 93. Artist and painting - Charles Nodrum
No 94. Death of Constable Scanlon - Anita Taylor
No 95. Untitled (abstract) - David Jaffe
No 96. Digital image - Joe Studholme
No 97. Seated figure and bird - Sally Aitken
No 98. Burke and Wills expedition 'Gray sick' - Gary Sangster
No 99. Kangaroo at Ayers Rock - Pru and Anthony Napolitano
No 100. The Galaxy - Elizabeth Langslow