A rare collection of Sidney Nolan’s earliest works are going under the hammer - Sydney Morning Herald

Before artist Sidney Nolan became well-known for his Ned Kelly works – a series of paintings depicting the famous bushranger as a simplified series of dark squares and rectangles set against colourful backdrops – he was an army deserter living in an artistic paradise of sorts.

Now a rare collection of 47 works produced by Nolan during this period are going up for auction.

Valued collectively at around $500,000, these pieces give a glimpse into the life and mind and development of Nolan in his earliest days as an artist, before he became famous, and before the implosion of his relationship which saw him leave Sunday Reed, Heide, and these works behind.

Figures in an interior with hanging lamp, Kelly Series (1947) by Sidney Nolan.

These pieces come from the collection of Lady Mary Nolan, who died in 2016, and before that were from the collection of Sidney Nolan, who died in 1992.

Most works from this period were donated to institutions – these are the ones that Nolan decided to hold on to after getting them back from the Reeds in the late 1950s.