Sidney Nolan

Sir Sidney Robert Nolan is a renowned Australian painter for his arts on Ned Kelly but was also known for his printmaking. Born on the 22nd of April, 1917, He spent most of his life as a painter even as a child. If he still lived today he would be 91 years of age but died on the 28th of November, 1992 in London.

Nolan was the eldest of the four children in his family. He was born in the suburb of Carlton in Melbourne but later moved to the bay side St Kilda, also in Melbourne. He left school at the age of 14 to attend Prahran Technical College, Department of Design and Crafts to do a course which he had already begun by part-time correspondence. When he was 16, he started to work for Fayrefeild Hats and Abbotsford by making advertisements and display stands with dyes and spray paint. In 1934, when he was 17, he attended night classes, in no particular order, at the National Gallery of Victoria Art.

He was close friends with John and Sunday Reed who were art patrons or art supporters. His involvement with the Reeds ended up breaking his relationship with his first wife Elizabeth Patterson but married again to John's sister Cynthia after being refused to marry him by Sunday Reed. His last marriage was to Mary Boyd.

He is most famous for the Ned Kelly Series in which some he painted in the Reed's living room. In most of his paintings you can see that he has not put in Kelly's head or eyes but in every scene he painted, Kelly was always wearing his suit of amour.

In 1950 Nolan moved to London where he stayed until his death. Some of his paintings are now in the National Art Gallery of Australia. From my perspective, I think that they look very simple but sometimes just a little can do so much.

The Trial by Sidney Nolan