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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Lady Nolan for dating this and the following lot to the late 1930s or early 1940s.
The present two lots are rare footballing subjects by Nolan, whose only other footballing picture appears to be his famous Footballer (1946), now in the collection of the NGV. Both of the present pictures see the young Nolan already at his most technically inventive, where 'the figures are created by the background paint', as Lady Nolan has noted. For Nolan's footballing prowess, see Cynthia's anecdote recalled alongside The Footballer in the 1987 retrospective: 'Nolan tells an amusing story about his own performance on the field as a youth. During one match he made a spectacular run, dodging ahead, covering the whole length of the ground. 'I was very fit and no one could keep up with me'; until, intoxicated by his effort and still holding the ball, he ran smack into one of the goal posts! 'I was just full of myself. I didn't see anything else. People were widdling themselves, a woman was carried away in hysterics screaming, "It's not true, it's not true, make him do it again."' ( J. Clarke, Sidney Nolan Landscapes & Legends, Sydney, 1987, p.68).
The present two lots are rare footballing subjects by Nolan, whose only other footballing picture appears to be his famous Footballer (1946), now in the collection of the NGV. Both of the present pictures see the young Nolan already at his most technically inventive, where 'the figures are created by the background paint', as Lady Nolan has noted. For Nolan's footballing prowess, see Cynthia's anecdote recalled alongside The Footballer in the 1987 retrospective: 'Nolan tells an amusing story about his own performance on the field as a youth. During one match he made a spectacular run, dodging ahead, covering the whole length of the ground. 'I was very fit and no one could keep up with me'; until, intoxicated by his effort and still holding the ball, he ran smack into one of the goal posts! 'I was just full of myself. I didn't see anything else. People were widdling themselves, a woman was carried away in hysterics screaming, "It's not true, it's not true, make him do it again."' ( J. Clarke, Sidney Nolan Landscapes & Legends, Sydney, 1987, p.68).