The nineteenth century French poet, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) and the French Post-Impressionist painter, Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) both had an enduring influence on Sidney Nolan and his art. This drawing is from Nolan’s Rimbaud/Cézanne series, named after these two influential artists, and it is one of 50 art works from this series in the Nolan Collection. Inspired by the intense imagery of Rimbaud’s poems and the expressive vitality Cézanne’s drawings in particular, Nolan worked rapidly on this series which he completed in just six months.

This drawing depicts an artist at work in front of his easel. It is one of the few works in this series that centres on a single figure, and it is comparatively more ordered and structured in its compositional arrangement. This drawing could be a self-portrait, or it might be viewed more critically as a caricature, parodying the artist. In front of his canvas, the artist poses, brush in hand, sporting a beret, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. Who is the woman in his heart-shaped pocket – his muse or his alter-ego?

RIMBAUD/CEZANNE SERIES

During his late youth Sidney Nolan developed a keen interest in literature and especially in poetry, which the artist also composed and often inscribed into his works of art. The nineteenth century French poet, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), a talented and bohemian young writer, had an enduring influence on Nolan who named several works of art after the poet. During his short, tumultuous life, Rimbaud challenged literary and social conventions, and his poetic musings, which are richly textured and imbued with emotion and symbolism, have inspired numerous writers, musicians and artists. According to Nolan, ‘Reading Rimbaud one got art’ (Agnews, 1997).

The French Post-Impressionist painter, Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), although very different in temperament to the more rebellious Rimbaud, also made a strong impression on Nolan. The artist first saw Cézanne's paintings in Melbourne in 1939 in the Herald Exhibition of British and European Contemporary Art. Cézanne’s treatment of pictorial space, and particularly the ways he flattened and broke up the picture plane with patches of colour to create multiple viewpoints had a significant influence on Nolan. In this Rimbaud/Cézanne series, created in 1978, Nolan finds inspiration in Cézanne’s drawings that were reproduced in The Drawings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné, by Adrien Chappuis, published in 1973.

In this collection of drawings Nolan brings together these two unlikely French counter-parts, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Cézanne, in a dialogue. Viewed as a collection these sketches of skulls, roses and guns and floating and disembodied figures appear arbitrary and child-like. Nolan is not concerned with narrative or form but rather with the artistic process and in capturing the creative spirit of his two artistic muses.

Reference:

Agnews, Nolan’s Nolans: A Reputation Reassessed, exhibition catalogue, Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, 11 June – 25 July 1997.