Sir Russell Drysdale AC (1912-1981), painter, went to art school in his twenties, having first endured a series of operations on his eyes. After studying art in London and Paris in the thirties, he returned to Australia. Over the course of the 1940s he produced a series of melancholy, foreboding works - including The rabbiters, West Wyalong, The drover's wife, Sofala and The cricketers - which not only laid down the terms of reference for most subsequent depictions of the landscape, but came to be seen as key representations of the Australian spiritual condition. Drysdale lived through a series of crushing personal vicissitudes in the 1960s to produce a further significant body of work before his death.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
Accession number: 2003.24
Currently on display: Gallery Five (John Schaeffer Gallery)
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On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
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