Kevin Connor
(Australia 1932– )
- Title
- Le Grand Palais, Clemenceau, De Gaulle and me
- Place of origin
-
Sydney →
New South Wales →
Australia
- Year
- 2005
- Media category
- Drawing
- Materials used
- charcoal on white wove paper
- Dimensions
-
102.0 x 150.0cm sheet; 120.0 x 168.2 x 4.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.r., charcoal "Connor '05".
- Credit
- Gift of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation 2005
- Accession number
- 271.2005
- Copyright
- © Kevin Connor
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
'I love drawing in Paris in my sketchbook, just wandering about drawing people. I did a drawing in my sketchbook outside the Grand Palais and this statue of Clemenceau is there and very small, at the bottom right-hand side of the picture
you can see the new statue of De Gaulle … ' (Kevin Connor, from ABC interview, 4 August 2005).Kevin Connor’s expressive, atmospheric drawing is a vivid evocation of the artist’s abiding love of French art, history and culture. Connor has visited the French capital regularly since the 1950s, with annual trips more recently to work for
short concentrated periods. While walking adjacent to the Grand Palais during a visit in 2003, he found himself in direct line of view with two statues of Clemenceau and De Gaulle, and was inspired to make a pen and ink sketch as they appeared to him: two figures seen in dramatic perspective, from the grand-scale foreground rear view of Clemenceau with greatcoat and fluttering scarf, to the distant profile of De Gaulle, striding through a wintry parkland of wiry, leafless trees (ill in Hendrik Kolenberg, Sketchbook drawings by Kevin Connor in Sydney, Paris and London, AGNSW, Sydney, 2006). On working up his sketch to this larger drawing two years later, he inserted a small portrait of himself at work on the scene, at bottom left, in witty conjunction with these two elder statesmen.- Bibliography (10)
-
Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Anne Ryan (Australia) (Author), Helen Campbell (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Sydney, 2012, 6, 44, 45 (illus.), 61.
'A fine harvest of drawings: legacy of an exceptional draughtsman' by Hendrik Kolenberg, pg. 28-31., Look Nov 2011, Nov 2011, front cover (illus.), 9 (illus.), 29.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2006 2006, 2006, 32 (illus.).
'Drawing conclusions' by Hendrik Kolenberg, pg. 14-17., Look Sep 2006, Sep 2006, 14 (illus.).
'Artnews 2005: major Australian art prizes 2005', pg. 210., Art and Australia (Vol. 43, No. 2) Dec 2005-Feb 2006, Dec 2005-Feb 2006, 210 (illus.).
'Dobell Prize for Drawing' by Victoria Hynes, pg. 123., the (sydney) magazine Nov 2005, Nov 2005, 123 (illus.). In the 'boxoffice' section of 'the (sydney) magazine'.
‘Drawn to extremes’ by Christopher Allen, pg. 47., The Australian Financial Review 06 Oct 2005, 06 Oct 2005, 47 (illus.).
Look Oct 2005, Oct 2005, 43 (illus.).
‘Dobell goes to artist with sketchy picture of his talent’ by Samantha Selinger-Morris, pg. 2., The Sydney Morning Herald 05 Aug 2005, 05 Aug 2005, 2 (illlus.). Connor is pictured standing in front of the work.
‘Artist’s maxim: make a line for the drawing room’ by Rosalie Higson, pg. 3., The Australian 05 Aug 2005, 05 Aug 2005, 3 (illus.). Connor is pictured inspecting the work.
- Exhibition history (3)
-
Dobell Prize for Drawing 2005, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 05 Aug 2005–16 Oct 2005.
Kevin Connor (2006), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 28 Apr 2006–25 Jun 2006.
Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Grafton Regional Gallery, 15 Feb 2013–24 Mar 2013.
