As an artist, Sidney Nolan (1917 - 1992) is best known for his depictions of the Australian outback, and for his historical paintings 'well known for dramatic shifts between dark, moody themes and bright uplifting creations' (Eva Breuer). In 1946 he began a series of paintings on the theme of the bushranger Ned Kelly and other historical figures such as Eliza Fraser and Burke and Wills. Nolan is attributed with giving the Australian stories of exploration and other 'legends of failure', including Gallipoli, a timeless and definitive quality.

Nolan was born in Melbourne and studied intermittently at art school. During World War II he was conscripted and served at Dimboola in the Wimmera District of Victoria from 1942-5. Sidney Nolan rejected the academic traditions of his short art training. Instead, his main influence was the radical poetry by the poets Rimbaud and Rilke. This love of literature is seen as visually evident in Nolan's work. Other key influences were the modernist artists such as Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Henri Rousseau. Locally the arrival of the Russian artist Danila Vassilieff in Melbourne, with his simple and direct art, was significant for Nolan.

Nolan spent his final years in London where, in addition to painting, he illustrated books and designed sets for the ballet and opera. Sidney Nolan is held by many to be Australia's most internationally famous artist and is referred to as one of the major artists of the twentieth century in Western art. Much of his work is on display in the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1974, Nolan donated 24 of his works to the Australian public, held as the Nolan Gallery's Foundation Collection at Lanyon, ACT.

Labels: Sidney Nolan Artist