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Details
- Other Title
- Sofala Street
- Date
- 1947
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil, pen and ink on canvas
- Dimensions
- 51.5 x 61.2 cm stretcher; 76.5 x 86.8 x 8.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated u.r. corner, black oil "DONALD. 47".
- Credit
- Gift of Margaret Olley 1995
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 140.1995
- Copyright
- © Reproduced with permission of the Estate of Donald Friend/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Donald Friend
Works in the collection
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About
"Its single street, deep in the Turon valley is lined with a forest of verandah posts: the whitewash on shanties and abandoned stores cannot disguise their age-hitching posts, spring carts and bearded old-timers drowsing in the shade create the atmosphere of a different world ...".
George Farwell, 1947Jaded by a frenzied city existence, Donald Friend and fellow artist Russell Drysdale made a trip from Sydney to the Bathurst area in August 1947, prompted by an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the former gold-rush towns of the area. Stopping in Sofala, described in Friend's diary entry as 'a lovely crazy old village - perfect', the two artists made sketches of the main street from the same viewpoint.
Their respective paintings are a fascinating contrast of temperaments: Friend's quaint and light-hearted in mood, Drysdale's classical and brooding.Friend was one of a remarkable group of figurative artists, dominated by Drysdale and Dobell and including Sali Herman and Jean Bellette, which flourished in spite of a tendency amongst a number of Sydney painters of the period, towards abstraction.
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2001
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Exhibition history
Shown in 10 exhibitions
Unknown, Macquarie Galleries, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 10 Dec 1947–24 Dec 1947
Christmas 1947, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 10 Dec 1947–24 Dec 1947
Unknown, Macquarie Galleries, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 02 Jun 1948–14 Jun 1948
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
The Artists of Hill End, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 Jul 1995–17 Sep 1995
The Artists of Hill End, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, 06 Oct 1995–19 Nov 1995
The Artists of Hill End, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, 10 Feb 1996–31 Mar 1996
The Artists of Hill End, Broken Hill City Art Gallery, Broken Hill, 19 Apr 1996–26 May 1996
The Artists of Hill End, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 07 Jun 1996–29 Jul 1996
Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Feb 2002–May 2003
Margaret Olley and Donald Friend (2006), Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, 09 Nov 2005–15 Jan 2006
Margaret Olley and Donald Friend (2006), S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 21 Jan 2006–19 Mar 2006
Margaret Olley and Donald Friend (2006), Dell Gallery, South Bank, 22 Apr 2006–28 May 2006
Donald Friend: A charmed life, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 09 Nov 2006–04 Feb 2007
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012
Margaret Olley: painter, peer, mentor, muse, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 07 Jan 2017–26 Mar 2017
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Bibliography
Referenced in 12 publications
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Helen Campbell, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Out of Sydney: city and hinterlands', pg. 185-186, Sydney, 2000, 202 (colour illus.), 300.
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Jackie de Diana, Look, 'Art and Australia: More views of European preludes and parallels', pg. 16-17, Sydney, Nov 2010, 13 (colour illus.).
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Christine France, Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection, 'Donald Friend / Margaret Olley', pg. 128-139, Sydney, 2002, 129 (colour illus.), 132, 143, 147.
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Paul Haefliger., The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Christmas art show stimulating', Sydney, 10 Dec 1947. page number unknown
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Lou Klepac, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Donald Friend', pg. 112-123, Sydney, 2000, 116 (colour illus.).
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Lou Klepac, Donald Friend: a charmed life, Canberra, 2006. Checklist of works.
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Tatlock Miller., Sun, '28 give Christmas art show', Sydney, 10 Dec 1947. page number unknown
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Barry Pearce, Donald Friend Retrospective 1915-1989, 'Introduction', pg. 9-20, Sydney, 1990, 58 (colour illus.). cat.no. 34; Collection: private collection
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Renée Porter, Margaret Olley: painter, peer, mentor, muse, 'Margaret Olley: a celebration of life in paint', pg. 8-89, The Rocks, 2017, 12, 14, 15 (colour illus.), 111.
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Kathie Sutherland, Brett Whiteley: A sensual lilne 1957-67, Victoria, 2010, 32.
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Gavin Wilson, The artists of Hill End, Sydney, 1995, 38 (colour illus.), 118. plate no. 15
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Editor Unknown (Editor), Margaret Olley Art Trust, Sydney, circa 1994, (colour illus.).
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