SIR SIDNEY ROBERT NOLAN, O.M., R.A. (1917-1992)

In the autumn of 1962, Nolan made his first trip to Africa, visiting Nairobi and the Serengeti National Park in Kenya, before heading to Harar in Ethiopia in the footsteps of one of his literary heroes and early inspirations, the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Along with a suite of works relating to Rimbaud in Harar, the African series consisted of paintings which described animals in the landscape, with attention to their markings, and camouflage, and their visibility in the landscape, all of which would feed into his third Kelly series painted in the mid-60s, which saw Kelly himself gradually submerging and vanishing into the landscape.

'Nolan managed to concentrate on his African series during the early days of 1963 in bitterly cold weather that contrasted strongly with memories of the light and heat as he looked as his sketches and read the notes of the unhappy trip. His main impression on seeing animals in their free state had been that they looked like brand new works, freshly painted by an unknown artist. He recalled their distinctive markings, thinking that they must possess an aesthetic sense when looking at each other, and in painting them Nolan felt he was participating in the act of recognition. ... The show of thirty-four paintings at Marlborough Fine Art was Nolan's first selling exhibition in London for three years and his return was greeted with enthusiasm by the buying public ... The Queen bought two of the pictures an hour before a private viewing was due to open and then Princess Margaret arrived at the gallery and took a liking to one of the works, only to be informed that it was already sold - to her sister.' (B. Adams, Sidney Nolan Such is Life, Melbourne, 1987, p.165)