REVIEW: Sidney Nolan, Mrs Fraser and Convict, 1962-4
oil and enamel on composition board
151x121cm within a front-loading frame
depicts a woman and man, Mrs Fraser and the convict, standing naked on a beach before a heavy grey sky, with a strip of ocean visible at the horizon
the man is stood straight but askew, with yellow stripes across his body, and appears to be supporting the woman, who is appears limp
relatively few compositional elements set within a relatively flat image with an indeterminate pictorial depth
figures are located in the left-hand side of the foreground, not quite life-sized but scaled such that they occupy nearly the full-height of the image; the right-hand side of the image is largely vacant of detail, bisected only by an imprecise horizon occurring at a slight diagonal across the centre of the image via a narrow blue strip of ocean demarcated by the bright white of board
overall cool mid-keyed palette applied over a plain white ground
figures depicted in a really dilute burnt sienna with a loose and subtractive type of mark; light cad yellow stripes across the male figure
ground plane has discrete areas of semi-transparent colour applied with broad and loose brushstrokes around the figures, shifting, left to right, from predominantly greens and green-grays to include pinks, purples and off-whites
the light cad yellow striping the figure is reprised in the right of the foreground, and, similarly, the stripes ‘rhyme’ with the horizontality of the ground plane and horizon
the sky is an opaque and smooth blue-gray enamel, with limited trace of the Nolan’s hand; its treatment contrasts with the looseness of the figures and ground plane
Phenomenological and Iconographic analysis
the weight of the stormy sky is the dominant aspect of the work, communicating a sense of threat and foreboding; in a marked contrast, the thin depiction of the figures suggests an frailty and ephemerality relative to the the permanence of the landscape; this is emphasised by the near-human scaling and the awkward postures of the figures
their appearance of exhaustion might suggest a close escape
the markings on the male suggest possibility a convict outfit or indigenous tribal markings, introducing an ambiguity as to whether he is the capturer or liberator
story relates to Eliza Fraser but the figures have an archetypal quality which permits a broader allegorical reading of Adam and Eve
Sidney Nolan was an Australian modernist particular who regularly sought to depict mythology within the Australian landscape, utilising historical events such as the reign of the Kelly Gang, the shipwreck of Eliza Fraser, and the fatal trek of Burke and Wills; he’s best known, however, for his Ned Kelly series of the mid-1940s
Mrs Fraser and Convict was painted in 1962-4 for the cover of Patrick White’s A Fringe of Leaves which was based on the shipwreck of Eliza Fraser off Fraser Island
It was Nolan’s third exploration of this story (having painted others between 1947-8, 1957-8 and then again in 1971-7)
Eliza Fraser was aboard the Stirling Castle which wrecked on a reef off Fraser Island. She claimed to later have been captured by the Badtjala people and subsequently rescued by John Graham, an escaped convict. There are other versions of the story, including that to which Nolan aligned himself, of another escaped convict, David Bracewell, who, seeking pardon in exchange for assistance, was threatened by Fraser with betrayal for his taking advantage of her
The Mrs Fraser paintings are thus often linked to his relationship with Sunday Reed, with Mrs Fraser being a icon of his perceived betrayal by Reed after she rejected his proposal of marriage
thematically relates to the other Mrs Fraser paintings completed by Nolan
has technical similarities to Nolan’s thin treatment of the figures and landscapes within the Burke and Wills series, and, similarly, engages with mythology
begs comparison to Patrick White’s literature, particularly A Fringe of Leaves, but also Voss which has a similarly mythologising aspect
