Collection
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Title
The hillside
1932
About
Drawing was fundamental for Lloyd Rees; during the 1930s he made drawings to the exclusion of all else. His 1930s highly detailed and refined drawings of the environs of Sydney Harbour remain among the most popular works of his oeuvre.
"Drawing was simply an obsession and I was completely absorbed in the discovery of form and composition. The drawings were by no means naturalistic in the sense of simply selecting a subject and drawing it, for there were things brought in and things left out. They were highly worked and I had an intense interest in the manipulation of them. I drew in the morning and then took the work home and looked at it in the afternoon and if I saw anything superfluous, I rubbed it out". (Lloyd Rees, 'Peaks and Valleys, an autobiography', 1985, p.166)
Rock faces and cliffs were a favoured subject of Rees. The subject of this drawing is Waverton, then Bay Road, near North Sydney, where Rees lived at various addresses between 1918-19, 1920-22 and 1931-34.
© Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004
Details
Date
1932
Materials used
pencil
Dimensions
20.0 x 26.0 cm sheet
Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., pencil "L. REES 1932".
Credit
Purchased 1932
Location
Not on display
Accession number
170
URL / Share
Lloyd Rees
The hillside
Place
Where the work was made
Waverton
Shown in 9 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Society of Artists Annual Exhibition (1932), Education Department Gallery [Loftus Street], Sydney, 02 Sep 1932–30 Sep 1932
Lloyd Rees (1942), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Aug 1942–30 Aug 1942
Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70):
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 02 Oct 1969–02 Nov 1969
- Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane Nov 1969–Dec 1969
- National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne 01 Feb 1970–28 Feb 1970
- Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart 17 Mar 1970–13 Apr 1970
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 01 May 1970–31 May 1970
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 18 Jun 1970–21 Jul 1970
- Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle 01 Aug 1970–31 Aug 1970
Australian images: Prints, drawings and watercolours from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Dec 1979–28 Jan 1980
Lloyd Rees Drawings (1995-96):
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 09 Mar 1995–14 May 1995
- Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst 09 Jun 1995–16 Jul 1995
- Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat 01 Sep 1995–15 Oct 1995
- Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane 04 Nov 1995–01 Jan 1996
- Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Launceston 24 Jan 1996–11 Mar 1996
Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Dec 1997–15 Mar 1998
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
Affinities: Brett Whiteley & Lloyd Rees (2001), The Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, 10 Feb 2001–08 Jul 2001
Painting with Pencil - Lloyd Rees: Sydney Drawings 1930-36, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 12 Dec 2015–10 Apr 2016
Referenced in 15 publications
Bibliography
Clary Akon, Limelight Magazine, 'Nature by design: the art of Lloyd Rees', pg. 96-97, Sydney, Jun 2013, 96 (colour illus.).
Christopher Allen, The Weekend Australian, 'Tangible Life Forms', pg 12-13, Sydney, 01 Jun 2013-02 Jun 2013, 12 (illus.), 13.
Lou Klepac, Affinities: Brett Whiteley & Lloyd Rees, 'Introduction', pp 2-4, Sydney, 2001, 8.
Hendrik Kolenberg, Lloyd Rees Drawings - Centenary Retrospective, 'The thirties', pp 43-64, Sydney, 1995, 52 (illus.). cat.no. 45
William Moore, The Courier Mail, 'Art and artists: Society of Artists', Brisbane, 17 Sep 1932.
Roland Wakelin, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'The artistic development of Lloyd Rees', pp 490-492, Sydney, Oct 1969, 496 (illus.). 'Lloyd Rees special number'
Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Sydney, 1997, 54 (illus.). cat.no. 43
The Australian Financial Review, 'Illustrating love of landscapes' pg. L3, Melbourne, 19 Apr 2013-21 Apr 2013, L3 (colour illus.).
100 years of Australian drawing, Sydney, 1985, 75. cat.no. 39
Australian images: Prints, drawings and watercolours from the collection, Sydney, 1979, 9.
Lloyd Rees drawings, Sydney, 1978, 32. cat.no. 22
Lloyd Rees Retrospective, 'Catalogue: drawings', pp 32-35, Sydney, 1969, 33. titled 'The Hillside'; cat.no. 127
Australian art, Oxford, 2001, 134.
Sun, 'For Art Gallery', Sydney, 30 Aug 1932. Purchases from the Society of Artists exhibition
Australian art, 'Order and transcendence: art between the wars 1919-39', pp 120-139, Oxford, 2001, 133, 134 (illus.). plate no. 76