Title
Shopping day
(1953)
Artist
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Details
- Date
- (1953)
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 59.7 x 75.0 cm stretcher; 70.5 x 86.0 x 6.3 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed l.r. corner, red oil "Russell Drysdale". Signed u.r. corner verso, red/brown oil "Russell Drysdale/ ...". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by MEPC Australia Ltd 1988
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 523.1988
- Copyright
- © Estate of Russell Drysdale
- Artist information
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Russell Drysdale
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
One of many paintings of Aboriginal people arising from Russell Drysdale's extended journeys throughout northern and western Australia, 'Shopping day' ranks among his most powerfully emotive portrayals of the human condition, and reveals his emphatically humanist approach to his subject.
Drysdale's portrayal is based on his memories of Aboriginal groups he had observed coming into the country towns of far north Queensland, from outlying settlement camps. It conveys, with great sensitivity and eloquence, the dispossession of Indigenous people during the early 1950s when they were obliged to integrate into white society.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 10 exhibitions
Russell Drysdale (1953), Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 18 Nov 1953–04 Dec 1953
Russell Drysdale: a retrospective exhibition of paintings from 1937 to 1960, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 05 Oct 1960–06 Nov 1960
Russell Drysdale: paintings 1940-72, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 14 Jun 1985–21 Jul 1985
A changing relationship: Aboriginal themes in Australian art, c.1938-1988, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 08 Jun 1988–31 Jul 1988
Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan, 28 Apr 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, Kyoto, 14 Jul 1992–06 Sep 1992
Russell Drysdale 1912-1981, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 19 Dec 1997–09 Mar 1998
Russell Drysdale 1912-1981, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 Mar 1998–10 May 1998
Russell Drysdale 1912-1981, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 18 May 1998–28 Jun 1998
Russell Drysdale 1912-1981, Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 20 Jul 1998–30 Aug 1998
Russell Drysdale 1912-1981, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 23 Sep 1998–15 Nov 1998
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
Federation: Australian art and society 1901-2001, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 08 Dec 2000–11 Feb 2001
Beneath the monsoon: Visions north of Capricorn, Artspace Mackay, Queensland, 07 Feb 2003–06 Apr 2003
Beneath the monsoon: Visions north of Capricorn, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns, 24 Apr 2003–01 Jun 2003
Beneath the monsoon: Visions north of Capricorn, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, 06 Jun 2003–10 Aug 2003
Russell Drysdale: the drawings, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 17 Feb 2012–25 Mar 2012
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Bibliography
Referenced in 25 publications
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Paula Dredge, Margaret Sawicki, Steven Miller and Lindsay Parker, S.A. Parker Framing Works, 'Works in the collection with known Parker frames', pg. 27-68, Sydney, 2004, 65 (illus.).
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Geoffrey Dutton, Russell Drysdale, 'Russell Drysdale - the man and his work', pg. 7-84, London, 1964, 50, 152 (illus.), 189. plate no. 82
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Lou Klepac, Russell Drysdale: paintings 1940-72, Sydney, 1985, 10, 11 (colour illus.). cat.no. 36
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Edwards and Shaw (Printer), Russell Drysdale: retrospective exhibition 1937 - 1960, Sydney, 1960. cat.no. 80
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James Gleeson, Sun, 'Exciting oils by Drysdale', pg. 36, Sydney, 18 Nov 1953, 36.
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Sasha Grishin, Australian art: a history, 'Fashionable modernism in Sydney', pg. 310-321, Carlton, 2013, 310 (colour illus., detail), 320, 321 (colour illus.), 550, 559. plate no. 31.7
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Paul Haefliger, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Exhibition by Russell Drysdale', pg. 2, Sydney, 18 Nov 1953, 2.
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Stuart Hill and Martin Mulligan, Ecological pioneers: a social history of Australian ecological thought and action, 'Seeing the land in a new light: people and landscapes in Australian art', pg. 34-71, Cambridge, 2001, 68.
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Robert Hughes, London magazine, 'Russell Drysdale', pg. 66, London, Dec 1964, 66 (illus.).
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Lou Klepac, The life and work of Russell Drysdale, 'Black oil', pg. 131-142, Kensington, 1983, 138, 309 (colour illus.), 368. plate no. 127
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Catherine De Lorenzo, A changing relationship: aboriginal themes in Australian art, c.1938-1988, 'Be Aboriginal', pg. 5-25, Sydney, 1988, 8 (illus.), 9, 41. cat.no. 19
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John McDonald, Federation: Australian art and society 1901-2001, 'Inhabitants of the land', pg. 47, Canberra, 2000, 47, 48 (colour illus.), 253.
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Janet Morse, Look, 'A new conception of the land', pg. 28-29, Melbourne, Oct 2000, 28 (colour illus.), 29.
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Graham Parker and Kim O'Loughlin, Russell Drysdale 1912-81: Education guide, Victoria, 1998, (colour illus.).
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Barry Pearce and Haruo Arikawa, Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent, Tokyo, 1992, 145 (colour illus.). cat.no. 88
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Barry Pearce, The Weekend Australian, 'Time makes its judgment', pg. 2-3, Sydney, 12 Aug 2000-13 Aug 2000, 3 (colour illus.). This colour supplement is a 'Review Special' published for the 'Weekend Australian'. It consists of a four-page, colour wrap-around for the 'Weekend Australian Review'. 'The Australian' was the media sponsor for the AGNSW Exhibition 'Australian Icons', for the Olympic Arts Festival 2000.
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Julie Roberts, Art and Australia (Vol. 37, No. 2), 'Seeing the light', pg. 222-230, Sydney, Dec 1999-Feb 2000, 230, 231 (colour illus.).
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John Saxby, Look, 'A window opens on new stories about building the collection', pg. 26-28, Sydney, May 2015, 28.
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Geoffrey Smith, Russell Drysdale 1912-1981, Melbourne, 1997, 11, 142, 143 (colour illus.). cat.no. 55
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Graeme Sturgeon, The painter's vision, 'The way of life', pg. 161-199, Sydney, (1987), 183, 184 (colour illus.), 203. plate no. 118
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Wendy Symonds (Editor), Look, Heidelberg, Apr 1998, cover (colour illus.), 3, 15.
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Daniel Thomas AM and Paul Haefliger, Russell Drysdale; a retrospective exhibition of paintings from 1937 to 1960, Sydney, 1960, 44 (illus.), 59. plate no. 28; cat.no. 80
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Judith White, Look, 'Russell Drysdale speaks: his thoughts from 55 years ago', pg. 34-36, Sydney, Jul 2014, 36 (colour illus.).
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Gavin Wilson, Beneath the Monsoon: visions north of Capricorn, 'Beneath the Monsoon: visions north of Capricorn', pg. 7-38, Mackay, 2003, 11, 13 (colour illus.), 70.
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author unknown, Nation, 'Outback into art', pg. 15, Sydney, 22 Oct 1960, 14, 15 (illus.).
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