Title
(Woman and child)
1939
Artist
-
Details
- Other Title
- Headdress Sculpture
- Date
- 1939
- Media category
- Drawing
- Materials used
- pencil, pen and ink on cream laid paper
- Dimensions
- 34.6 x 21.6 cm sheet
- Signature & date
Signed l.l.corner, black ballpoint pen "D F.". Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Margaret Olley 1992
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 85.1992
- Copyright
- © Reproduced with permission of the Estate of Donald Friend/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
-
Donald Friend
Works in the collection
- Share
-
About
During his time in London as a young artist, Donald Friend was inspired to visit West Africa and see first-hand the tribal art that was influencing contemporary European artists such as Picasso and Braque. Travelling to Nigeria in 1938, he lived for a time at Ikerre in Ekiti province where, provided with a large house and servants in the compound of the Ogoga (ruler), Friend pursued his interest in the culture of the local Yoruba people. He drew, painted, observed their customs and way of life and recorded his impressions in a detailed manuscript that he intended for publication – but which was eventually abandoned. This is one of a number of drawings that he created to accompany that text. They illustrate a range of subjects from Yoruba artefacts or early brass heads, to Benin bronzes and contemporary wood-carvings incorporated into buildings.
-
Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Donald Friend Retrospective 1915-1989, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 Feb 1990–25 Mar 1990
Donald Friend Retrospective 1915-1989, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 14 Apr 1990–06 Jun 1990
Donald Friend Retrospective 1915-1989, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 26 Jun 1990–19 Aug 1990
A wall hanging, watercolours, drawings and oil painting by Donald Friend 1915-1989, Australian Galleries, Sydney, Paddington, 09 Mar 1992–28 Mar 1992
-
Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
-
Anne Gray, Art and Australia (Vol. 39, No. 3), 'Donald Friend in Nigeria', pg. 428-435, Sydney, Mar 2002-May 2002, 431, 432. pg. 431 & 432 details influence and context of Friend's practice; pg. 435 describes the artist's Nigerian manuscript for which this drawing was intended as an illustration.
-