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Title

Le Grand Palais, Clemenceau, De Gaulle and me

2005

Artist

Kevin Connor

Australia

1932 –

  • Details

    Place where the work was made
    Sydney → New South Wales → Australia
    Date
    2005
    Media category
    Drawing
    Materials used
    charcoal on white wove paper
    Dimensions
    102.0 x 150.0 cm sheet; 120.0 x 168.2 x 4.5 cm frame
    Signature & date

    Signed and dated l.r., charcoal "Connor '05".

    Credit
    Gift of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation 2005
    Location
    Not on display
    Accession number
    271.2005
    Copyright
    © Kevin Connor

    Reproduction requests

    Dobell Prize for Drawing
    Winner - 2005
    Artist information
    Kevin Connor

    Works in the collection

    267

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  • About

    '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.

    This work won the Dobell Prize for Drawing in 2005 and was acquired by the Gallery in 2005.

  • Places

    Where the work was made

    Sydney

  • Exhibition history

    Shown in 4 exhibitions

  • Bibliography

    Referenced in 10 publications

    • Christopher Allen, The Australian Financial Review, ‘Drawn to extremes’, pg. 47, Sydney, 06 Oct 2005, 47 (illus.).

    • Claire Armstrong (Editor), Art and Australia (Vol. 43, No. 2), 'Artnews 2005: major Australian art prizes 2005', pg. 210, Sydney, Dec 2005-Feb 2006, 210 (illus.).

    • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales annual report 2006, Sydney, 2006, 32 (illus.).

    • Rosalie Higson, The Australian, ‘Artist’s maxim: make a line for the drawing room’, pg. 3, Canberra, 05 Aug 2005, 3 (illus.). Connor is pictured inspecting the work.

    • Victoria Hynes, the (sydney) magazine, 'Dobell Prize for Drawing', pg. 123, Sydney, Nov 2005, 123 (illus.). In the 'boxoffice' section of 'the (sydney) magazine'.

    • Hendrik Kolenberg, Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, ‘Introduction’, pg. 6-14, Sydney, 2012, 6, 44, 45 (illus.), 61.

    • Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, 'A fine harvest of drawings: legacy of an exceptional draughtsman', pg. 28-31, Sydney, Nov 2011, front cover (illus.), 9 (illus.), 29.

    • Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, 'Drawing conclusions', pg. 14-17, Sydney, Sep 2006, 14 (illus.).

    • Samantha Selinger-Morris, The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Dobell goes to artist with sketchy picture of his talent’, pg. 2, Sydney, 05 Aug 2005, 2 (illlus.). Connor is pictured standing in front of the work.

    • Jill Sykes (Editor), Look, Sydney, Oct 2005, 43 (illus.).

Other works by Kevin Connor

See all 267 works