“Sidney Nolan: the Gallipoli series constitutes a personal and public interpretation of a campaign that cost so many Australian lives,” Acting Director of the UQ Art Museum Michele Helmrich said.

Nolan donated this collection to the Memorial in 1978 in memory of his soldier brother, who died in a tragic accident just before the end of the Second World War.

Famed for his Ned Kelly paintings, we had the pleasure of working with Sidney Nolan’s lesser known, but equally important, Gallipoli series held by the Australian War Memorial.

For the exhibition identity we featured four of Nolan’s most striking portraits of soldiers with graphics and typography chosen to convey a reverence and a level of refinement befitting works of such significance. Poignant quotes by Sidney Nolan were used throughout the exhibition to voice Nolan’s personal and public lament on Gallipoli. The colour palette was drawn from those predominant in the works – the dark red and brown of the battlefield and the soldier’s uniforms and the deep blue of the sea.

Sidney Nolan (1917–1992) was one of Australia’s most complex, innovative, and prolific artists. In 1978 Nolan presented the Gallipoli series to the Australian War Memorial. These 252 drawings and paintings, completed over a 20-year period, were donated in memory of his brother Raymond, a soldier who died in a tragic accident just before the end of the Second World War. Gallipoli was a theme to which Nolan constantly returned throughout his artistic career.

Sidney Nolan: the Gallipoli series showcases a selection of these works, which constitute both a personal and public lament, commemorating not just the death of Nolan’s brother but a campaign that had cost so many Australian lives. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity for visitors to experience these striking and iconic works.

One of Australia's most innovative and prolific artists, Nolan was born two years after the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915, and said the events of the First World War permeated his life as he grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne. It was not until he was living on the Greek island of Hydra in the mid-1950s, however, that he started to explore the idea of a series of works with a military and heroic theme.

He made a one-day visit to Gallipoli and was profoundly moved by the place that had seen so much bloodshed. Sidney Nolan: Explanation of Gallipoli Series

OriginsIn 1955 Nolan and his wife, Cynthia, moved to the Greek island of Hydra at the invitation of George Johnston and Charmian Clift. Inspired by his reading of Robert Graves’s The Greek myths, and Homer’s Iliad, Nolan began work on a Trojan War series. At Johnston’s urging, he read Alan Moorehead’s New Yorker article which discussed the geographical proximity of Gallipoli and Troy and the similarities between these two famous campaigns. As it happened, Moorehead was then also living nearby, on the island of Spetsae, completing what would become his best-selling book on the Gallipoli campaign.

Meanwhile, Nolan’s own research had led him to the archaeological museum in Athens, where he became fascinated by classical sculpture and the depiction of ancient Greek warriors on vases. Around this time he also briefly visited Gallipoli and the site of ancient Troy.

Little wonder that Nolan soon began to explore the connections between Troy and Gallipoli in his art.

Identification disk (1957)

Gallipoli male figure in striding pose, identity disc around neck, left leg missing and replaced with angled prop, representation of rifle in figure's left hand. Nolan stated that the stump leg derives from an antique statue which he saw supported by a prop in a museum in Delphi or Athens (from interview 13 April 1978).

As a child Nolan saw these men who returned from the First World War with missing limbs and these statues of naked Greek heroes with their missing limbs would have bore a great resemblance. The upside down rifle is also a direct quotation from the 'Ned Kelly' paintings.

Gallipoli riders (c.1961)

Two Gallipoli soldiers on horseback, one with rifle. They appear to resemble Greek warriors going into battle holding a spear. At this time Nolan was again interested in Troy and was painting Trojan War scenes until 1962. In an interview on 13 April 1978, Nolan stated that the work relates to the Homeric struggle, especially the horse, as the Homeric heroes were horse breakers.

Gallipoli landscape with recumbent Greek figure (c.1956)

Gallipoli landscape with recumbent Greek figure on a piece of Greek architecture over blue sea with cliffs in background. Nolan is here overtly playing off the themes oaf the Trojan War and the Anzac story.

Australian IdentityNolan’s Gallipoli portraits represent an attempt to define the Australian national character. They provide timeless images of the ANZACs: the young and the old, the innocent and the war-weary, the bushman and the city-dweller.

Nolan’s early portraits in the Gallipoli series, such as Kenneth and Soldier, Arthur Boyd, are of imposing figures. In their slouch hats and emu plumes, these men give off a sense of bravado. A degree of optimism about the war and its outcome can be in their faces, drawn in bold washes of brown and green. In contrast, the later portraits were painted in lurid colours which accentuated the trauma of battle. These young soldiers have distorted faces, their eyes shaded or blood-shot, and they are disengaged and distant.

The portraits chart Nolan’s 20-year struggle to create a visual language with which to express the Gallipoli tragedy. Even in 1978 he still talked about painting more images as he felt he had not thoroughly explored this momentous event in Australia’s history. Instead, other ventures and travels drew him away and he never returned to the Gallipoli story.

Kenneth (1958)

Portrait of soldier wearing plumed hat and tunic, thought to bear a resemblance to Nolan's friend Kenneth von Bibra who was killed in Syria in the Second World War.

Gallipoli soldier (1961)

Head of a Gallipoli soldier in blue and yellow wearing a hat.

Head of a Gallipoli soldier (1961)

Portrait of a Gallipoli soldier. Nolan was very interested in Australian types and faces and he wanted to show that these bushmen and city lads had been isolated at Gallipoli with all their exuberance, youth and innocence, to be confronted with the horrors of war.

It relates to Nolan's concept of the hero as part of the Australian and ancient Greek ideal.

Head of a Gallipoli Soldier (c.1961)

Head of a Gallipoli soldier in green, wearing a hat. This portrait very much relates to Nolan's idea of Australian bush mythology and could easily fit in with the Burke and Wills series.

Nolan was very interested in Australian archetypes and faces and he wanted to show that these bushmen and city lads had been isolated at Gallipoli with all their exuberance, youth and innocence, to be confronted with the horrors of war. It relates to Nolan's concept of the hero as part of the Australian and ancient Greek ideal.

Young soldier

Head of Gallipoli soldier with bloodshot eyes. The bright colour of the background belie the portrait of the soldier. He appears to be in a state of shell-shock. It is reminiscent of his 'Head of a soldier', 1942, in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, which represents Nolan's reaction to the Second World War as lunacy.

When Nolan returned to the 'Gallipoli' series in 1977 the portrait types of soldiers had lost their spark of innocence and somehow felt tarnished. Time had caught up with their innocence and Australia's and disenchantment had set in. They appeared corrupted by what they had experienced and seen at Gallipoli.

Head of a Gallipoli soldier

Head of a Gallipoli soldier with white face wearing a slouch hat on green background. The bright colour of the background belie the portrait of the soldier. His face is pale and eyes hollow, he appears to be in a state of shell-shock.

Head of Gallipoli soldier in pink and gold

Head of Gallipoli soldier wearing hat; pink background at right; gold at left. The bright almost neon colours of the background belie the portrait of the soldier. He appears to be masked which could be hiding his innocence and shame.

Head of Gallipoli soldier saluting

Head of Gallipoli soldier saluting, with green background.

The LandscapeThe paintings in Nolan’s Gallipoli series depict landscapes that are a fusion of both the real and the imaginary. The landscape that Nolan would have seen when he visited Gallipoli was dominated by an impenetrable growth of thorny shrubs, similar to what visitors can see today. Then and now, the dry escarpments above ANZAC Cove are much as they were in 1915, and from Chunuk Bair, the undulating ridges and gullies unfold themselves. But Nolan’s landscapes are also poetic evocations, a lament for a place where so many lives were lost.

Nolan’s passion for landscape painting had begun during his military service in Western Victoria. There the endless blue sky and the rolling wheat fields provided him with a new artistic genre to explore and new forms to develop.

His interpretive approach to landscape continued to evolve while working on the Gallipoli series. His discovery of a German textile dye allowed him to experiment and create barren and scarred landscapes on 12 x 10-inch coated art paper. Sheet after sheet would be covered using textile dyes and wax crayons. Often the nature of the materials themselves would lead to a change of style and technique.

'Gallipoli landscape II' (1957)

'Gallipoli landscape II' (1957) by Sidney Nolan. Drawing of Gallipoli landscape with steep cliffs in brown and pink, and blue sea and a reflection of the cliffs in the water.

It is one of the earliest Gallipoli landscapes in the series.

Gallipoli landscape (c.1960)

Gallipoli landscape with hills and cliffs. The landscape is quite dark with a grey/brown mass in the foreground and a mottled expanse of dark brown with white highlights patterned by the top of a brush in the middle ground.

In the distance there are overlapping grey and green hills with a green sky applied with horizontal strokes and broken on the horizon by strokes of yellow and white crayon. Nolan gives a sense of lament and sadness in an empty landscape that has witnessed the horrors of war.

Gallipoli landscape VIII (1961)

Gallipoli landscape in green. The technique Nolan has used to scrape back the paint surface evokes a sense of an arid , unforgiving landscape.

The sky is streaked with white crayon which resembles explosions and smoke in the murky sky.

Gallipoli landscape (c.1960)

Dramatic Gallipoli landscape of shaggy cliffs in pink, brown and green, meeting a blue sky streaked with pink strokes of crayon.

The work was presented in memory of the artist's brother Raymond who drowned in 1945 on returning from military service at the end of the Second World. War.

BattleNolan’s reading of classical Greek literature inspired his depiction of Australian soldiers as “reincarnations of the ancient Trojan heroes of mythical times”. His paintings and drawings of the Australians on Gallipoli recall the images of Greek heroes, who are shown fighting naked and without their armour on vases of the classical period.

Inspired by these powerful, physical figures, Nolan depicts the modern soldier as someone caught up in a bloody and violent war.Artillery fire became a deadly part of the ANZACs’ daily lives on Gallipoli. But Nolan saw a terrible beauty in the bursting shells; he depicts them as figures that slide across the surface of the paper in almost balletic formations.

When the Anzac's arrived at Gallipoli, many British officers were awestruck when faced with the tall, bronzed Anzac's that reminded them of the Greek heroes and gods. Much was written by the British officers and soldiers about this resemblance at the time.

The Australians discarded much of their uniform, often only wearing boots, shorts and hat when going into battle.

Gallipoli figures in battle I (1962)

Group of Gallipoli figures in combat, half immersed in the sea water. The work refers to links between Anzac's and classical figures; for example, Heracles and Antaeus, wrestling giants, or Homeric heroes in battle. The soldiers wrestling also relates to black figure pottery of the 7th century BC. Black figure pottery usually represented the Gods or the heroes of Greek history and mythology engaged in scenes of battle and hunting.

Gallipoli figures in shell-burst (C.1962)

Two Gallipoli figures amidst explosion.

Gallipoli soldier in red amid explosion (1961)

Gallipoli soldier in red amidst explosion.

The artist stated (interview 13 April 1978) that this work represents a shattered body.

Gallipoli figures in battle amid shell-fire (1962)

Two naked Gallipoli figures in combat amidst shell fire. The figures are partly immersed in the sea. These refer to links between Anzac's and classical figures, for example Heracles and Antaeus, wrestling with giants, or Homeric heroes in battle. The soldiers wrestling also relates to black figure pottery of the 7th century BC. Black figure pottery usually represented the Gods or the heroes of Greek history and mythology engaged in scenes of battle and hunting. When the Anzac's arrived at Gallipoli, many British officers were awestruck when faced with the tall, bronzed Anzac's that reminded them of the Greek heroes and gods. Much was written by the British officers and soldiers about this resemblance at the time.

The SeaNolan’s images were often inspired by the photographs that he knew from The ANZAC book, and those he viewed at the Imperial War Museum in London. Many of the photographs depicted soldiers bathing, or working and relaxing in and around the shore.

A sense of the sea pervades the campaign, whose very goal was to seize control of the Dardanelles, the narrow stretch of water that separated Gallipoli and Troy. The Australians who clambered ashore on 25 April 1915 at what came to be known as ANZAC Cove would sometimes return to swim in its waters. To escape the grime, the filth, and the vermin of the trenches, they were willing to brave the Turkish shrapnel that occasionally spattered the beach.

Many of Nolan’s ideas about war and death came together in the Gallipolidiptych, a major work whose water imagery alludes to the risk of drowning. When the painting was exhibited, one critic praised the work for showing how “flesh and blood soldiers, the real overlapping the mythical, the strong holding the weak, sink or swim towards inevitable destruction”.

This is the most personal reference in this work and was often repeated in his other drowned soldiers at Gallipoli works. The most prominent reference is to Icarus, a character from Greek mythology. Icarus' father, Daedalus, attempted to escape from his exile in Crete, where he and his son were imprisoned at the hands of King Minos, the king for whom he had built the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur. Daedalus fashioned a pair of wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the sky, but came too close to the sun, which melted the wax. Icarus fell into the sea in the area which bears his name, the Icarian Sea near Icaria, an island southwest of Samos. Nolan was here alluding to the heroic audacity of the Australian soldiers at Gallipoli on that first day yet using Icarus to symbolise the lost hopes, dreams and ambitions of the young Australian men.

Drowned soldier at Anzac as Icarus (1958)

Cliffs along coastline, with drowned body floating in the sea. The body has a red cross on torso a symbol of the military medical service. With this image Nolan has used a number of references. On the surface it represents the soldiers that drowned on the first morning at Gallipoli. It is also a reference to the photo in the Anzac Book of General Birdwood swimming at Gallipoli. In 1945 Nolan's brother Raymond drowned at Cooktown whilst waiting to be demobilized from the army after serving for almost three years in New Guinea.

'Drowned Gallipoli soldier' (1958)

Figure of drowned Gallipoli soldier, body and head separated. The image of the drowned figure in the 'Gallipoli' series has two sources.

It's initial reference is to that of the Anzac's who drowned on that first morning at Gallipoli as they landed on the beach. The submerged drowned figure and Nolan's use of red, blue and brown/green merging together suggests stagnant blood-stained water, a sight that would have confronted the surviving soldiers that day on the beach.

The drowned lifeless floating figure also relates to the drowning in 1945 of Nolan's brother Raymond which he stated in an interview (13 April 1978).

[Figure in landscape] (1957) Gallipoli landscape with cliffs with figure with outstretched arms in foreground.

The figure appears to be falling or drowning and Nolan has smudged the paint with his fingers to reveal the figure.

The work was used as an illustration for a book of poems by Randolph Stow along with other similar works by Nolan (interview 13 April 1978).

Themes and influencesMs Wilkins says the exhibition is divided into themes including landscape, battle, the sea and Australian identity.

"You start off with origins - so that deals with very much where he starts developing his interest and where his information comes from," she said.

"There's also a theme on battle and that looks at soldiers fighting. He got the idea for [the imagery] from looking at Greek vases which showed the Greek soldiers fighting in hand-to-hand combat."There's also the sea and that looks at the drownings but also the lighter side where the soldiers tried to sort of bathe.“

Ms Wilkins says the works vary greatly in style and size and evidence of Nolan's other works can also be seen in some of the paintings. "Nolan is really well known for Ned Kelly and Burke and Wills and Eliza Fraser, and particularly when you look at some of the portraits you feel like some of the personalities in the portraits could almost be out of Burke and Wills or Eliza Fraser or those other works that he's done in the past," she said.

"They're overlapping. Because, of course, when Nolan does the series over a 20-year period it's not the only thing he's painting. He's doing other things as well. He's travelling around the world and having lots of other experiences."He always painted and drew in bursts, so he had frenetic periods that could last for weeks and then he wouldn't do anything for three months.“

Research Site 1: Research Site 2:

Assembled:

A. Ballas

Background painting:Gallipoli Landscape

Artist: Sir Sidney Nolan

One of Australia's most innovative and prolific artists, Nolan was born two years after the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915, and said the events of the First World War permeated his life as he grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne.

It was not until he was living on the Greek island of Hydra in the mid-1950s, however, that he started to explore the idea of a series of works with a military and heroic theme.

He made a one-day visit to Gallipoli and was profoundly moved by the place that had seen so much bloodshed.

Sidney Nolan Exhibition