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Nolan’s agonised labour of loss JUST three weeks from his 21st birthday in 1945, Sidney Nolan’s younger brother Sapper Raymond Nolan died in a drowning accident. Nolan and his father were making plans to meet him after he was demobbed and it was, according to the head of art at the Australian War Memorial Lola Wilkins, “a totally silly accident… it was a human tragedy”. It was a tragedy that would spark an outpouring of artistic grief. Years later in 1978, Sidney Nolan was to donate a collection of 252 works of art to the Australian War Memorial in memory of his brother. Though Wilkins believes that because of their age difference of six years Nolan wouldn’t have known Raymond all that well, he was bitterly affected by this loss and the loss of all young Australian warriors. In the memorial’s new exhibition, “Sidney
“Young Soldier”.
In an outpouring of artistic grief, artist Sidney Nolan donated a collection of 252 works to the Australian War Memorial in memory of his brother. HELEN MUSA explains the passion behind the paintings. Nolan: the Gallipoli series”, a large diptych produced in 1963 forms the centrepiece. The left-hand panel shows a brother drowning with a father in the background trying to save him. It also shows writhing figures in the water reminiscent of Dante’s “Inferno”, another subject that Nolan was later to address. “Nolan’s work was produced quickly,” Wilkins says, “but this painting was a labour of love, or a labour of agony, with so many layers of paint scraped back and manipulated… on the edges of the diptych… you can even see Nolan’s hand print.” For Wilkins, it’s been a nightmare choosing just 81 works for the Memorial’s new show. She fears the public knows relatively little about the Gallipoli series, preferring to laud the archetypal Australian bush images of Ned Kelly, Burke and Wills and Mrs Eliza Fraser. And yet there was a huge body of works on the subject of Gallipoli. “It’s very much about Nolan creating themes,” Wilkins says, explaining that he had been born in 1917 and probably saw returned soldiers walking around with lost limbs. “He was a bit like a magpie – he just collected images,” Wilkins says. Nolan’s fascination with inferno-like figures also has an interesting connection to Gallipoli, so close to the ancient ruins of Troy. The artist conjured up parallels between the heroes of Troy and the heroes of Gallipoli, seen in his “Trojan War” series held by the Art Gallery of SA. But to Wilkins, the heads of the Gallipoli soldiers are really like the heads of explorers and men of the bush. “With Nolan, you get that overlapping,” Wilkins concludes. “Sidney Nolan: the Gallipoli series”, Australian War Memorial, until November 18.
“Kenneth”.
“Gallipoli Landscape VIII”.
“Gallipoli Landscape”.
“Gallipoli”.
Choirs face formidable judges By Helen Musa THE Australian National Eisteddfod’s choirs division kicks off once again at Llewellyn Hall on August 14. This year the Eisteddfod organisers are hoping for a good turn out, especially at the championships on Saturday night August 15 and the open popular on the same afternoon. Two high-profile adjudicators, Anne Williams and George Torbay, will raise the temperature as will the injection of excitement in the form of “choralography,” where choristers perform choreographed movements while singing. The participants will be performing in front of two formidable judges. Williams is the director of the prizewinning Eltham East Primary School Choir and winner of a 2004 Churchill Fellowship that enabled her to travel to Canada, Slovenia and Finland to study choirs. Torbay was long-time chief conductor for 16 CityNews August 6-12
the NSW Department of Education & Training, conductor and adjudicator for the Pacific Basin Music Festival in Hawaii, then, last year, the director of music and judge on Channel 7’s “Battle of the Choirs.” He and Williams will co-adjudicate the Open and Championship sections. The competition starts on August 14 at 9.30am with primary school choirs – Grade 4 and under, followed by the Welsh section, then primary school choirs – Grade 6 and under. On Saturday morning August 15 are the open contemporary choral followed by open sacred choral. The pace builds on Saturday afternoon session with the spectacular “Australia – Britain Section,” followed by the Open Popular Section then, after a break, the 12 Years and Under Championship and the 19 Years and Under Championship. The battle concludes at 8.30pm on Saturday with the $5000 Australian Open Choir Championship.