Title
Escaped convict
1962
Artist
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Details
- Date
- 1962
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- polyvinyl acetate and oil on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 152.3 x 122.0 cm board
- Signature & date
Signed l.r., "N". Dated verso, "1962".
- Credit
- Purchased 1963
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- OA28.1962
- Copyright
- © The Trustees of the Sidney Nolan Trust/DACS. Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Sidney Nolan
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
'Escaped convict' is part of a second series based on the legend of Mrs Fraser, which had captivated Nolan following his first visit to Fraser Island, Queensland in 1947.
In the legend, the brig 'Stirling Castle' ran aground off Great Sandy Island. The crew, including Captain and Mrs Fraser, abandoned ship and eventually landed on the northern tip of the island. Captain Fraser perished and the remaining survivors were captured by the island's Aboriginal inhabitants.
Mrs Fraser survived until her rescue by convict John Graham, who found her and brought her back to safety. Finding that Mrs Fraser had rescinded her promise to intercede for his free pardon, Graham then escaped the authorities, hiding in the impenetrable jungle of the island which today bears the name of his betrayer.
In this series, Nolan experimented with a new medium of oil mixed with polyvinyl acetate creating a soft, sensuous, translucent quality. This was a departure from the past two decades when the artist had relied on the fast-drying effects of Ripolin enamel which resulted in a flat, opaque surface. Here Nolan has scoured and scraped the paint away, creating an illusion of rich glaring light, rather like the effect of tempera or watercolour.
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Nolan [1962], Skinner Galleries, Perth, Perth, 26 Nov 1962–22 Dec 1962
Nolan. Recent paintings, Skinner Galleries, Perth, Perth, 26 Nov 1962–22 Dec 1962
Acquisitions 1962, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Apr 1963–12 May 1963
Sidney Nolan retrospective exhibition. Paintings from 1937 to 1967, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Sep 1967–29 Oct 1967
Sidney Nolan retrospective exhibition. Paintings from 1937 to 1967, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Melbourne, 22 Nov 1967–17 Dec 1967
Sidney Nolan retrospective exhibition. Paintings from 1937 to 1967, Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 09 Jan 1968–04 Feb 1968
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 8 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, 116 (colour illus.).
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1962 Acquisitions, Sydney, 1963, 16. cat.no. 17
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Robyn Bondfield., Nolan's Fraser, 'Nolan's Fraser', South Brisbane, 1989, (colour illus.). not paginated
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Elwyn Lynn, Hemisphere, 'Sidney Nolan: Myth-maker of Australian painting', pg. 18-25, Sydney, Oct 1963, 21 (illus.).
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Hal Missingham, Sidney Nolan. Retrospective exhibition. Paintings from 1937 to 1967, 'Introduction', pg. 5-8, Sydney, 1967, 4 (illus.), 5, 22. cat.no. 103
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Hal Missingham (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, Sydney, Oct 1967, 369 (illus.).
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Elwyn Lynn, Sidney Nolan - Australia, Sydney, 1979, 128, 129 (colour illus.).
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Skinner Galleries, Perth, Nolan, Perth, 1962. cat.no. 4; Priced in pen £1,800.
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