John Olsen
(Australia, England, Spain, Portugal 21 Jan 1928– )
- Title
- Dylan's country
- Place of origin
-
Spain
- Year
- (1957)
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
92.0 x 72.5cm stretcher; 112.2 x 93.0 x 6.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1958
- Accession number
- 9664
- Copyright
- © AGNSW
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Inspired by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas, Olsen embarked on a series of works in 1957, from his studio in Ibiza, Spain, which strongly related to Thomas' play 'Under Milk Wood'. Olsen saw the possibility of creating a total impression of place through suggestion and an evocation of mood and atmosphere, which would allow for an imaginative response by the viewer.
In an introduction to his 1958 exhibition held at Macquarie Galleries in Sydney, he wrote:
"... the landscapes which have fascinated me more recently ... belong to my 'Seaport' series and I feel in paintings like 'Dylan's Country' that one gets a feeling of landscape as a totality as opposed to the Renaissance ideal 'here I stand; where I look is landscape'. This is too visual, and its basic flaw is that it does not inhabit the landscape. Questions come to my mind; What is it like to get a totality of the Riverina, the Dead Heart and other parts of our wonderful landscape - to travel through, to feel the rise and fall of hill and plain, to circumvent, to come back where I have been before: I cannot help thinking of Klee's lead when he said: 'The line goes for a holiday'."The idea of taking the line on an imaginary journey through a landscape, of experiencing nature and observing it at once from high above and microscopically, have remained vital elements of Olsen's work.
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
- Bibliography (7)
-
Kathie Sutherland (Australia) (Author), Brett Whiteley: A sensual lilne 1957-67, Victoria, 2010, 30.
Lynne Seear (Australia) (Editor), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Editor), Brought to light: Australian Art 1850-1965, South Brisbane, 1998, 280, 282 (colour illus.), 283.
Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Author), John Olsen, East Roseville, 1991, 38, 39 (colour illus.). cat.no. 16
Virginia Spate (Australia) (Author), John Olsen, Melbourne, 1963, 7, 17, (illus.). plate no. 11
Author Unknown (Author), Maitland Local Centenary Art Exhibition: Paintings by artists from the Hunter Valley Region (1963), Maitland, 1963. cat.no. 15; Lent by the Art Gallery of N.S.W.
Bulletin 13 Aug 1958, 13 Aug 1958.
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1958 National Art Gallery of N.S.W. 1958, 1958, 13. cat.no. 22
- Exhibition history (6)
-
John Olsen (1958), Macquarie Galleries, Aug 1958 -.
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1958, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 11 Feb 1959–08 Mar 1959.
Maitland Local Centenary Art Exhibition: Paintings by artists from the Hunter Valley Region (1963), Maitland Town Hall, 23 Sep 1963–27 Sep 1963.
John Olsen retrospective (1991-92), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], 01 Nov 1991–02 Feb 1992.
John Olsen retrospective (1991-92), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 May 1992–28 Jun 1992.
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.
