Sydney looked stunning today: 28oC of cloudless blue skies and intense light. It was beautiful in Coogee today - perfectly formed waves on the beach and crowds of happy, mellow people.
With all this perfection outside I still wanted to take an hour or so to check out the John Olson retrospective on at the Art Gallery of NSW.
This is probably his most well known work (below) - Sydney Sun (painted in 1965) - a very large work in three pieces - and so apt to see up close like this on such a spectacular Sydney day.
Olson came back to Sydney in 1960 after living in Majorca Spain for a few years. He painted "Spanish Encounter" (below) on his return. I hadn't seen this amazing work before and was struck by how much the decade younger Brett Whiteley must have been influenced by Olsen's work.
John Olsen lived at Woolloomooloo/Kings Cross then at Watson's Bay during the days it was little more than an outlying village of Sydney. He saw all the beauty of the harbour and the brashness, the voluptuousness and the venality of the city (the Emerald City)..........
...... and I saw some connections of style and imagery with this early work of Claire's we have hanging on the wall in our Coogee apartment !! .........
I got back to Coogee around 5.00pm and decided I'd try to find something of John Olsen in these crowded beach scenes.....
With all this perfection outside I still wanted to take an hour or so to check out the John Olson retrospective on at the Art Gallery of NSW.
1 comment:
I got to see the John Olsen retrospective while in Melbourne in January. Brilliant. Have always loved his work. Keep enjoying Sydney. xx
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