John Olsen

(Australia, England, Spain, Portugal 21 Jan 1928– )

Title

Australian flux

Place of origin

Sydney → New South Wales → Australia

Year

1960

Media category

Watercolour

Materials used

charcoal, watercolour, gouache on ivory wove paper

Dimensions

67.3 x 92.7cm sheet; 83.0 x 108.0cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r., pencil "John Olsen/ 60".

Credit

Gift of Terry Clune and the artist 1960

Accession number

WA8.1960

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

"If the bow is properly pulled a line will not only have a vitality of its own but will embrace the void of the paper. The line shall ask questions; push and pull me this way and that, find a force that will compliment or contrast. A good drawing is the reconciliation, a bad drawing is the waste of it". (John Olsen, quoted in Deborah Hart 'John Olsen – encounters with drawing', Sydney: Australian Galleries, 1987)

This drawing was made the year John Olsen returned to Sydney after a period living in rural Spain; he found the city an invigorating contrast to the culture in which he had immersed himself. Included among many distinctive characteristics he noted on his return was the quality of light, the energy of the people and the urban landscape. He made a number of exuberant, complex drawings and paintings at this time, expressing his imaginative response to the vitality of life in Sydney.

Bibliography (9)

Lynne Seear (Australia) (Editor), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Editor), Brought to light: Australian Art 1850-1965, South Brisbane, 1998, 282.

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Sydney, 1995, 88-89 (colour illus.), 123. cat.no. 79

Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Patricia McDonald (Editor), Haruo Arikawa (Japan) (Author), Chikashi Kitazaki (Japan) (Editor), Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent, Tokyo, 1992, 154 (colour illus.). cat.no. 97

Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Author), John Olsen, East Roseville, 1991, 56 (illus.). fig.no. 12

Jean Campbell (Australia) (Author), Australian watercolour painters: 1780 to the present day, Roseville, 1989, 211 (colour illus.).

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Twentieth century Australian watercolours from the collection, Sydney, 1989. cat.no. 60

Jean Campbell (Australia) (Author), Australian watercolour painters 1780-1980, Adelaide, 1983, 197 (colour illus.).

Dennis Colsey (Australia) (Author), Hal Missingham (Australia, b.1906, d.1994) (Author), One hundred years of Australian landscape painting: Art Gallery of New South Wales Travelling Art Exhibition 1968, Sydney, 1968, 27 (illus.). cat.no. 34

Virginia Spate (Australia) (Author), John Olsen, Melbourne, 1963, 9, 18, (illus.). plate no. 17

Exhibition history (10)

Purchases and Acquisitions for 1960, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 22 Mar 1961–23 Apr 1961.

One hundred years of Australian landscape painting: Art Gallery of New South Wales Travelling Art Exhibition 1968, Various, 1968–1969.

John Olsen retrospective (1991-92), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], 01 Nov 1991–02 Feb 1992.

Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 28 Apr 1992–28 Jun 1992.

John Olsen retrospective (1991-92), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 May 1992–28 Jun 1992.

Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 14 Jul 1992–06 Sep 1992.

Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18 Nov 1995–14 Jan 1996.

Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 1996–1996.

Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 1996–1996.

Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.

Collection

John Olsen