ART GALLERIES SCHUBERT

The most famous and certainly the most internationally acclaimed of Nolan’s works are the Ned Kelly paintings produced between March 1946 and May 1947. The paintings from this era have been exhibited in Melbourne, Paris, Edinburgh, London, Rome, Sydney and Auckland.

Knowing Nolan’s background, his dislike of war, his running away from the prospect of active service in New Guinea, his own comment tat his conduct as an artist and a soldier have proven incompatible; his refusal to comment on emotional events in his own life between 1945 and 1947, all seem to point to the fact that Nolan viewed himself as the misunderstood hero/artist like his protagonist, Kelly. As Nolan himself said, “I chose Kelly because all Australians regard him as a popular figure although he was a rogue.”

Nolan recognised that the conceptual image of the black square (Kelly’s helmet/armour) had been part of modern art since World War One. What Nolan did was to put a pair of eyes into a black square to see if he could animate formal shape. He certainly achieved this. In fact his symbolism (in the form of the head of Kelly armour) was acclaimed by critics in Australia and overseas. The Ned Kelly paintings created harmony between Legend, Symbol and Visual Impact.

The Head of the musee national d’art moderne, Jean Cassou said the works were, “the work of a true poet and true painter” and “a striking contribution to modern art.”

The home-made black armour of Ned Kelly became an unforgettable symbol. What it did was to combine narrative and symbolism in an unparalleled way in Australian art. The symbolism of the black square armour poised on top of the silhouetted figure of the outlaw in the red landscape married narrative, Australian history, myth and poetry as well as creating tremendous visual impact.

London critic, Robert Melville was so impressed by Nolan’s Kelly that he ranked him in the company of twentieth century artists which included Picasso’s minoteur, Chirico’s mannequins, Ernst’s birdman, Bacon’s pope and Giaconetti’s walking men.

The figure of Kelly appealed to Nolan on many different levels. Firstly, Kelly was one of Australia’s main myths. Prior to Nolan producing the Kelly paintings, Douglas Stewart’s verse drama of Ned Kelly had made considerable impact in artistic and literary circles. Hence, Kelly appealed to the poet in Nolan. As John Olsen said of his fellow artist, “he was absolutely poetically infected to almost a divine degree”. Kelly was the ultimate Rimbaudian hero and victim and in essence he was an extension of the Nolan persona.

Nolan’s aim in life as in art was two-fold. He desired to paint and to tell stories.

“I find that a desire to paint the landscape involves a wish to hear more of the stories that take place within the landscape. Stories which may not only be heard in country towns and read in journals of explorers but which persist in the memory, to find expression in such sayings as” game as Ned Kelly.”

The Ned Kelly myth may be compared with Robin Hood, Rob Roy or Jesse James. In every country there is such a figure. In Italy it’s Punchinello and in Russia there is Petrouchka.

Ned Kelly is a theme Nolan returned to throughout his career. Some of the 1950’s paintings follow the original composition but the bright colours have gone. The ripolin enamel is matt and subdued in tone. The Australian landscape is seen “through a glass darkly – perhaps through memory and sheer physical distance”. The Kelly paintings of the 50’s according to David Sylvester of The Listener were said to have “acquired breadth and luminousness and complete conviction and should establish him (Nolan) among the half-dozen best painters under 40 in the world”

In the 1960’s between 1964 and65 Nolan produced about 25 Ned Kelly paintings in preparation for his nine panel landscape, River Bend. Kelly and his policemen are now insubstantial, wraith-like figures, subordinated to the colours and textures of the bush. Kelly’s armour is immediately recognizable and now familiar in any language, is just a tiny black square – a pictorial punctuation mark.

In 1965 uniform colour, abstraction and pop art were the fashion of the day. Nolan placed all his faith in his own unique use style and imagination and Kelly, his protagonist is absorbed by nature. The 60’s were examples of absolute Romanticism.

In the 1980’s Kelly’s roll in Nolan’s art is still changing, adapting to suit the artist’s own experiences and moods. Now it is no longer the historical documentation dictating the work as it has been in the past. “Nolan like his Kelly figure has also been a hero, a victim, a man who armoured himself against Australia and who faced it, conquered it, lost it -----ambiguity personified.” (The Bulletin 29 Dec 1962)

The Kelly paintings set Nolan on the international map. For the artist himself Kelly became the touchstone of his progression as an artist.

Kelly has become a metaphor for humankind – the hero – the fighter – the victim – resisting tyranny with a passion for freedom.