Lot 30

Very good condition with no faults. Light surface dust and imperfections seen when inspecting close up. Gold frame measuring to be 59 x 58.5 x 3cm.


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Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Celebrating 40 Years, Christopher Day Gallery, Sydney, 23 November 2019 - 31 January 2020

Garry Shead has established a considerable reputation as one of Australia's most prominent figurative artists.

Shead's career rose to considerable heights following a period when modern art, particularly that in Sydney, favoured abstraction. During such a time, Shead instead focused on the figurative - in many ways a rebellious act against the establishment. His works are today considered whimsical, with a narrative and uniquely lyrical undertone.

As a young man, Shead discovered the work of D. H. Lawrence yet did not explore his writings within his own oeuvre until later in life. When Shead began painting this series in the early 1990s, he was living in Bundeena near where Lawrence had lived with his wife Frieda in 1922 whilst he penned the book Kangaroo. In this series, Shead explores many characters, often mirroring Lawrence and his wife Freida with himself and his wife Judith. Of the D.H. Lawrence paintings, art historian Sasha Grishin noted:

'Shead's [paintings] are a personal, intuitive response to the novel, rather than an attempt to illustrate the narrative. The imagery has much to do with the Lawrences at Thirroul, as with the characters in the novel. Richard Somers and his wife Harriet, of the novel, in the paintings appear as strange and ambiguous figures, at times taking on the features of Lawrence and Frieda, at others, having more than a passing resemblance to Shead and his wife Judith.'

Shead faithfully depicts the strange beauty of the native landscape, a character in its own right. Shead thoughtfully depicts the town and buildings of Thirroul as they are in Lawrence's writings. The artist has carefully upheld the spirit of the novel whilst creating his own unique visual language. Shead commonly uses the character of the kangaroo as a symbol of the Australian landscape - he belongs to the country, and Lawrence throughout the novel refers to the 'continent of the kangaroo'.

Shead's D.H Lawrence paintings are in numerous institutional collections across Australia and continue to be amongst Shead's most highly sought after paintings on the secondary market.

Olivia Fuller, Head of Art

© Garry Shead/Copyright Agency, 2020