SIDNEY NOLAN
1917-1992

PROPERY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL OWNER

SIDNEY NOLAN

1917-1992
Desert Bird 1948

enamel paint on composition board
signed and dated '23-6-48 / Nolan' lower left; signed and inscribed '"DESERT BIRD" SIDNEY NOLAN 8 WONIORA AVENUE WAHROONGA / CROWS ASH' verso (on frame)
90.2 x 120.7 cm
frame: original, maker unknown, Sydney

• Lot Sold $1,300,000 (Hammer Price)
• $1,595,455 (Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium)

Provenance

Sidney Nolan, Sydney
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
Dr Roland Wettenhall, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1949
Private Collection, Victoria, by descent from the above

Exhibited

Christmas Exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 1-24 December 1948, no. 19, 35 gns
Sidney Nolan: Landscapes and Legends, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 3 June - 26 July 1987; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 11 August - 27 September 1987; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 21 October - 29 November 1987; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 15 December 1987 - 31 January 1988, illustrated (label verso)
Sidney Nolan, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2 November 2007 - 3 February 2008; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 22 February - 18 May 2008; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 6 June - 31 August 2008, no. 46, illustrated
Sidney Nolan: A Centenary Exhibition: Masterpieces from Private Collections, Smith & Singer (trading as Sotheby's Australia), Sydney, 27 March - 9 April 2017, no. 9, illustrated
Sidney Nolan: Search for Paradise, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 19 February - 13 June 2022, no. 31, illustrated

Literature

Paul Haefliger, 'Sober Note in Paintings', The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 1 December 1948, p. 5
Harry Tatlock Miller, 'Important Christmas Art Show', The Sun, Sydney, 2 December 1948, p. 13
'Assorted Painters', The Bulletin, Sydney, 8 December 1948, p. 24
Jane Clark, Sidney Nolan: Landscape and Legends, International Cultural Corporation of Australia Limited, Sydney, 1987, p. 97 (illustrated)
Barry Pearce, Australian Artists, Australian Birds, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1989, p. 110 (illustrated)
T.G. Rosenthal, Sidney Nolan, Thames & Hudson, London, 2002, p. 135 (illustrated)
Patrick McCaughey (ed.), Bert & Ned: The Correspondence of Albert Tucker and Sidney Nolan, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2006, p. 86 (illustrated)
Barry Pearce, Sidney Nolan, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, pp. 137 (illustrated), 233
Geoffrey Smith, Sidney Nolan: A Centenary Exhibition: Masterpieces from Private Collections, Smith & Singer (trading as Sotheby's Australia), Sydney, 2017, pp. 22, 23 (illustrated)
Kendrah Morgan and Nancy Underhill, Sidney Nolan: Search for Paradise, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2022, pp. 36 (illustrated), 181 (illustrated)