Title

Pyrmont and city

1992

Artist

Kevin Connor

Australia

1932 –

Details

Other Title

Pyrmont and the city

Place where the work was made

Pyrmont → Sydney → New South Wales → Australia

Date

1992

Media category

Drawing

Materials used

brush and black ink, white gouache on thick white wove paper

Dimensions

104.0 x 132.8 cm sheet ; 125.5 x 155.5 x 5.7 cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r. corner, black ink "Connor 9 [illeg.]".

Credit

Gift of the Trustees of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation 1993

Location

Not on display

Accession number

104.1993

Copyright

© Kevin Connor
Reproduction requests

Dobell Prize for Drawing

Winner - 1993

Artist information

Kevin Connor
Works in the collection

267

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About

'Pyrmont and the city' is the culmination of numerous smaller plein air drawings in ink and gouache of Pyrmont, an inner suburb of Sydney, which has provided fertile subject matter for Connor since the early 1980s.

The drawing shows the area before it was developed, changing in character from semi-industrial to residential, with modern apartment blocks, a casino and recreation areas. ‘It was a wilderness – abandoned old buildings, grass, old stairways and the old railway’ (Kevin Connor, 2003). It also represented a new development in Connor’s oeuvre in the use of white gouache with ink, which accounts for its painterly nature. A second related drawing, 'Pyrmont (view to Blackwattle Bay)' 1992 is also in the Gallery’s collection.

This work won the Dobell Prize for Drawing in 1993 and was acquired by the Gallery in 1993.
Exhibition history
Shown in 8 exhibitions
- Kevin Connor: recent work (1992), Australian Galleries, Sydney, Paddington, 19 Oct 1992–07 Nov 1992
- Dobell Prize for Drawing 1993, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Apr 1993–09 May 1993
- Great gifts, great patrons, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Aug 1994–19 Oct 1994
- Expressive figuration: drawings by Kevin Connor, Pam Hallandal and Jan Senbergs, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 14 Dec 1996–02 Feb 1997
  
  Expressive figuration: drawings by Kevin Connor, Pam Hallandal and Jan Senbergs, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 18 Apr 1997–01 Jun 1997
  
  Expressive figuration: drawings by Kevin Connor, Pam Hallandal and Jan Senbergs, Albury Regional Gallery, Albury, 23 Jan 1998–01 Mar 1998
- Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Dec 1997–15 Mar 1998
- Dobell Drawing Prize 1998 (Touring show), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 14 Mar 1998–19 Apr 1998
  
  Dobell Drawing Prize 1998 (Touring show), The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, 24 Jul 1998–06 Sep 1998
- Dobell Prize for Drawing: the first ten years, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 12 Sep 2004–30 Nov 2004
- Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Grafton Regional Gallery, , 15 Feb 2013–24 Mar 2013
  
  Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, 30 Mar 2013–05 May 2013
  
  Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 05 Jul 2013–18 Aug 2013
  
  Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, National Art School, Darlinghurst, 29 Aug 2013–06 Oct 2013
  
  Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah, 18 Oct 2013–24 Nov 2013
  
  Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 Years of the Dobell Drawing Prize, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, 11 Apr 2014–18 May 2014
Bibliography
Referenced in 14 publications
- Peter Cochrane, The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Art prizes’ short lists announced’, pg. 8, Sydney, 27 Apr 1993, 8.
- Tony Costa, Look, 'The art that made me - Archibald winner, Tony Costa on Kevin Connor, Sidney Nolan, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Ian Fairweather', pg. 23-25, Sydney, Sep 2019-Oct 2019, 24 (colour illus.).
- Elizabeth Fortescue, Daily Telegraph Mirror, ‘Prize drawings on the quirks of fate’, pg. 26, Sydney, 24 Apr 1993, 26.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, 'Drawing the spotlight', pg. 18-19, Sydney, Jun 2002, 18 (colour illus.).
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, ‘The drawings’, pg. 17-142, Sydney, 1997, 109 (colour illus.). cat.no. 103
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, 'Introduction: painting in watercolour', pg. 8-16, Sydney, 1995, 11.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, ‘The first Dobell Prize for Drawing’, pg. 23, Heidelberg, Jun 1993, 23 (colour illus.).
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, ‘Introduction’, pg. 6-14, Sydney, 2012, 6, 20, 21 (colour illus.), 60.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, The Dobell Prize for Drawing: 1993-2004, ‘Introduction: the first ten years’, pg. 8-9, Sydney, 2004, 8 (colour illus., detail), 9, 16, 17 (colour illus.), 51.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, 'Drawing a winner: a decade of Dobell prizes shows us how and why', pg. 24-27, Sydney, Aug 2003, front cover (colour illus.), 7 (colour illus.), 24.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, 'A fine harvest of drawings: legacy of an exceptional draughtsman', pg. 28-31, Sydney, Nov 2011, 29.
- Elwyn Lynn, The Weekend Australian, ‘Entries timid, unresolved except in a few cases’, pg. 4, Canberra, 03 Apr 1993, 3-4.
- Elwyn Lynn, The Weekend Australian, ‘Colourless prizes…without surprises’, pg. 13, Sydney, 10 Apr 1993, 13. weekend review supplement
- Judith Wright, Look, 'Drawing at its best', pg. 15, Melbourne, Mar 1999, 15 (colour illus.).