• Shop

Making HistoryNolan at the Newsagent

Installation view, Making History: Nolan at the Newsagent 2017, photograph: Christian Capurro

In July 1942 the young Sidney Nolan held a ground-breaking exhibition in the window of Sheffield’s newsagency in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg. It was the idea of Nolan’s benefactors, John and Sunday Reed, to take art ‘to the people’ rather than to an exclusive audience in an art gallery. The works were mostly experimental landscape images and the prices low, but nothing sold and many of the paintings subsequently languished in obscurity.

Nolan at the Newsagent re-creates this remarkable but little-known venture, bringing together the surviving compositions, which have been identified through photographs of the display taken at the time. The exhibition is the fourth in the Making History series, which focuses on artists central to Heide’s rich legacy and highlights artworks and material from the museum’s collection and archive.

When
18 November 2017 – 20 May 2018
Location
Heide Cottage
Curator/s
Kendrah Morgan with guest curator Mark Fraser

Sidney Nolan’s exhibition at Sheffield’s Newsagency, Heidelberg, Melbourne 1942, archival photograph, John and Sunday Papers, State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Sidney Nolan’s exhibition at Sheffield’s Newsagency, Heidelberg, Melbourne 1942, archival photograph, John and Sunday Papers, State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Sidney Nolan, Landscape with Train c. 1942, ripolin enamel on composition board, 39 x 47.1 cm, bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982, © The artist

Sidney Nolan, Landscape with Train c. 1942, ripolin enamel on composition board, 39 x 47.1 cm, bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982, © The artist

Sidney Nolan, Monochrome Abstract c.1942, enamel on metal roof tile, 15 x 23 cm, gift of Barrett Reid 1993, © Sidney Nolan Trust

Sidney Nolan, Monochrome Abstract c.1942, enamel on metal roof tile, 15 x 23 cm, gift of Barrett Reid 1993, © Sidney Nolan Trust

Sidney Nolan’s exhibition at Sheffield’s Newsagency, Heidelberg, Melbourne 1942, archival photograph, John and Sunday Papers, State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Sidney Nolan’s exhibition at Sheffield’s Newsagency, Heidelberg, Melbourne 1942, archival photograph, John and Sunday Papers, State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Sidney Nolan, Page from Wimmera sketchbook 1942, pastel, watercolour and pen, and ink on paper, 13.5 x 18.7 cm, purchased with funds provided by the Friends of Heide 1997

Sidney Nolan, Page from Wimmera sketchbook 1942, pastel, watercolour and pen, and ink on paper, 13.5 x 18.7 cm, purchased with funds provided by the Friends of Heide 1997

Sidney Nolan, Golden Landscape 1942, oil on hessian on plywood, 38.6 x 50.6 cm, bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982, © Sidney Nolan Trust

Sidney Nolan, Golden Landscape 1942, oil on hessian on plywood, 38.6 x 50.6 cm, bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982, © Sidney Nolan Trust

Loading
Current Exhibitions
Loading