Skip to main content
Lot 120

Sidney Nolan
(1917-1992)
Beach, 1939

2 December 2025, 19:30 AEDT
Sydney

AU$5,000 - AU$8,000

Ask about this lot

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992)

Beach, 1939
titled and dated verso: 'Beach / 1939'
oil and mixed media on cardboard
25.0 x 30.0cm (9 13/16 x 11 13/16in).

Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Sir Sidney Nolan, United Kingdom, until 1992
Lady Mary Nolan, United Kingdom, until 1997
Private collection, United Kingdom, gifted from the above

EXHIBITED
Nolan, Hatton Gallery, University of Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; Temple Newsam House, Leeds; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; City Art Gallery, Bristol; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Scottish Royal Academy, Edinburgh; City Art Gallery, Wakefield, March - November 1961, cat. 6
Nolan '37-'47, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, May - June 1962, cat. 3, as 'Beach', 1939


Sidney Nolan left Heide in 1947 soon after the completing his first Ned Kelly series and over the following year he severed his connection with John and Sunday Reed. A decade later the prestigious Whitechapel Gallery in London mounted Nolan's first retrospective only to discover that Nolan's early works were still held at Heide and the Reeds were unwilling to return the works to the artist. The exhibition forged ahead without them leaving a significant gap in the artist oeuvre. It was another four years before the Reeds conceded and returned some of his early paintings. A new retrospective exhibition including the present work toured major galleries in England and Scotland in 1961 and in 1962 the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London mounted its own exhibition dedicated to his early works. The present work, Beach, was the only painting from 1939 selected.

Additional information