Image: Sidney NOLAN Kelly I 1965, colour screenprint. QUT Art Collection. Purchased 1967.
The work is a colour screenprint and measures 70 centimetres tall by 55.5 centimetres wide. The printmaker noted is Chris Prater.
In the centre of this work, we encounter the lone figure of Ned Kelly, with only the head and shoulders and part of a torso on display. The figure is drawn with thick bold straight lines giving the figure’s appearance a block-like quality and is suggestive of a bushranger’s armour. A square shape sits in the middle of the canvas with well-defined sharp lines making up each side giving the quality that the head shown is in a square box. Beneath the square protrudes two vertical lines denoting the neck of the figure which then slope down to the left- and right-hand sides to represent the figure’s shoulders. Only this portion of the body of the figure is shown.
The figure is of a gaunt man, who appears to be wearing a full-face helmet or mask. Vigorously painted black brushstrokes move up against one another across the white background of the paper exposed beneath. Squares have been cut out of the helmet to expose parts of the face. The skin of the face is coloured a dusty pink and the body, neck and face are shown in a smudged black colour that also includes dirty brown tones.
Facing front on and staring out into the distance spiral circles form the figure’s eyes, giving him a somewhat crazed expression accentuated as they are behind the mask or helmet’s cut out shapes. A strong nose and a downturned smile, perhaps a grimace, are the other remaining facial features. The entire background of the work and the space behind the figure is rendered in a muddy olive-green paint, with a burnished dark gold finish.
One of Australia’s most significant modernist artists, Sidney Nolan is well known for his depictions of Australian history, personalities, landscapes, and bush life. His iconic series of the bushranger Ned Kelly with his archetypal black iron armour was a subject matter he returned to throughout his career and one which can be found here in Kelly 1 with his signature bold colours, brushwork and quirky composition. The Kelly works contributed to the development of the image of Ned Kelly as a symbol for Australian identity.
The work is displayed in a light oak frame with a wide cream mat which forms a border, and the artist has signed his surname Nolan, in pencil, in the far-right hand bottom corner of the print. The work is editioned 10 of 65 in pencil in the far-left hand bottom corner of the print. The date of the work has not been included.