Rix catching the horse

In 1922 Hilda Rix Nicholas first visited Delegate in the Monaro ranges when she was touring regional New South Wales by car with her friend Dorothy Richmond. The visit initiated a new phase of Rix Nicholas’ life and painting career. She returned to the region again in 1926, following an overseas trip to France, and by 1928 moved there permanently when she married Edgar Wright of Knockalong Station, Tombong. Rix Nicholas designed a large studio that was built on the property and that took in the luminosity and expanse of her rural setting. The Monaro provided enduring inspiration for Rix Nicholas. The people and landscapes of her surrounds became the focus of her art for the remainder of her life.

Rix Nicholas’s 'Rix catching the horse' c1949 is a standout work from the artist’s late career, encapsulating the light-infused style of realism by which she characterised the country in which she painted. In this large-scale portrait, the artist’s only child poses, it appears, somewhat reluctantly and impatiently for the painting. The work reveals Rix Nicholas as the consummate figure painter, with an ability to characterise her subjects with great warmth and humanity. 'Rix catching the horse' is also indicative of the distinct luminous palette that Rix Nicholas developed and finessed throughout her career. Here, the blue tones that colour the work lend to the feel of the crisp, clear ambience of the region suggesting the light of a wintery afternoon.