Lot 190

Gift from the artist circa 1940s
Thence by descent

Grahame King studied at the National Gallery School of Victoria during the 1930s under the influential watch of George Bell. The two lots presented here from his early period draw upon King's remembered experiences, producing a unique expression of the Australian landscape and associated historic events. Living in Warrandyte at the time of the Black Friday fires of 1939, King was directly affected by the immense destruction of this natural disaster, an experience that is portrayed vividly in the suitably titled, Black Friday (lot 190).
In 1945 a number of King's works from the same period were included in George Bell's 'Melbourne Contemporary Artists' Exhibition', where critics praised him as an 'emerging modernist, an artist who experimented with form and colour'(1). The artist's early works represented a fresh way of thinking synonymous with the new generation of post war artists that were returning to Australian shores. King's work is seldom seen on the secondary market, with this offering presenting a rare opportunity.

(1) Sasha Grishin, The Art of Grahame King, Macmilan Art Publishing, p. 15