Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Episode 38: Sydney Nolan's Ned Kelly Series

This is an episode Julia and Marie had lots of fun with! For starter, we should thank listener Arina Miteva for the suggestion on this one.

For anyone who is unaware of either of the names (as both of us were), Sidney Nolan is an Australian painter who often highlighted the Australian landscape in his work.

One of his most famous series is the Ned Kelly Series. Ned Kelly has become as much myth as historical figure in Australia as one of the most infamous bandits in the outback. Most of our information on the series came from the National Gallery of Australia. (Great website with LOTS of information!)

One reason this series is well loved is because it incorporates Australian landscape in many of these pieces.


 The court room shows Nolan's very collage-like style. He pulls into the courtroom different elements of Australian locations and personal experience.


You will notice that every time Ned Kelly appears he's in strangely shaped clothes... this is the actual armor Ned Kelly would have used in his last stand and this becomes iconic for dear ol' Ned!

Thank you again Arina and if you have any suggestion feel free to tell us!

4 comments:

  1. Dear Julia and Marie, I'm grateful to you one more time! Hope you had fun discussing this artist ;)
    People easily appreciate "tarditional" Monet, Da Vinci etc. But Nolan is really innovative and definitely had a sense of humour.. :D

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  2. It was lots of fun learning about Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly! We really appreciate your suggestion. If you have any others please let us know, we love getting listener input!

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  3. I loved the blog about Sydney Nolan. It's great to hear the outside perspective. We (as a nation) see Ned Kelly as a type of larrikin- we love him. Not so much Robin Hood as the bad boy rock and roll image I think. The way Nolan stylised his amour has become iconic here but the paintings are so fresh and different I just never get sick of them. He was also brother in law to the famous Arthur Boyd who also chartered new territory in art.
    I'm definitely hooked now on your podcast thanks again for your time and love for our Sydney & Ned!
    Cheers Sue from Oz

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    1. Thank you for sharing this Sue! We're going to copy this onto our facebook page so everyone gets a chance to see the perspective of the Aussie's :)

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