Antarctica

Antarctica: five responses from the collection, 2020-2021

From childhood Sidney Nolan had been fascinated by the pioneering Antarctic explorers, Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton and the Adelaide geologist Douglas Mawson. Sir Edmund Hillary’s successful epic overland crossing (1955–58) of Antarctica further ignited Nolan’s ambition to travel to that continent, and in January 1964 an opportunity arose for him to undertake an eight-day visit. Nolan recalled:

I had this cliché idea of Antarctica being flat, an enormous paddock across which dogs would run and explorers would battle … but I found a majestic kind of great continent, very much higher than Switzerland, and glaciers the size of Sydney Harbour coming down at steep angles. One felt this instantaneous fear at the first sight of it, that it would annihilate one; but this was overcome by the sense of wonder in it.

Upon his return to his London studio Nolan completed a sequence of sixty-eight works, which became known as his Antarctica series.

Maria Zagala, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs

From childhood, Sidney Nolan had been fascinated by the heroic and pioneering Antarctic exploring expeditions of the early twentieth century. In January 1964 an opportunity arose for Nolan to undertake an eight-day visit to that continent and he later completed a sequence of sixty-eight works, which became known as his Antarctica series.

According to his detailed inscriptions, this example from the series was completed in London, on 30 August 1964, and although the exact location is uncertain, it is most likely a view looking towards the mainland and the Transantarctic Mountains, which stretch down to the Ross Sea. Antarctica demonstrates Nolan working at the height of his virtuosic painterly powers and highlights his use at the time of a new fast-drying gel medium, which allowed him to paint ‘wet on wet’ with an unprecedented intensity and speed. Through the use of this gel material, brushes and his own hands, he achieved unusual striped colour combinations, alluding to the crystalline effect of frozen water.

The compressed energy of the frenetic marks and the fragile Antarctic environment captured in this work resonate with global anxieties associated with climate change.

Tracey Lock, Curator of Australian Art