Conservators and scientists are forensically examining Sidney Nolan’s iconic series of Ned Kelly paintings, looking for hidden stories beneath the top layers of paint.<\/p>\n
Using imaging technology normally reserved for crime labs and medical research, the team at the Canberra Museum and Gallery can see through the paint to reveal what is underneath.<\/p>\n
Australia’s leading Nolan scholar, Paula Dredge, said the artist preferred to leave parts of his work unmentioned so people could discover things for themselves.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr Paula Dredge (left) says Sidney Nolan liked leaving parts of his works a mystery for people to solve. (ABC News: Mark Moore)<\/p>\n
“He liked the idea of being a bit mysterious and not explaining everything too much,” Dr Dredge said.<\/p>\n
“He would often say, ‘There’s more to this story, but I’m not going to tell you.'”<\/p>\n
She said because he used household paint like Ripolin, which self-levels so the paintings are quite flat, textural inconsistencies can been seen through the paint layer.<\/p>\n
“They give you some clues that there’s something underneath,” Dr Dredge said.<\/p>\n
“But often you can’t really tell what’s underneath until you do some sort of imaging.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Areas of uneven texture on the surface of Sidney Nolan’s paintings, like these on Return to Glenrowan, are a clue that something else could be underneath. (ABC News: Mark Moore)<\/p>\n
Dr Dredge said she first saw a hidden painting under one of Nolan’s works during a project with the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
“We took one of the early Kelly paintings to the Australian Synchrotron [and] we did an X-ray map of it,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We found that there was a whole other head underneath the Kelly mask.<\/p>\n
“That was a real highlight discovery at the time, so ever since I’ve been trying to see those hidden paintings.”<\/p>\n
Canberra Museum and Gallery conservator and research team member Celia Cramer said the infrared camera they are using can see through a surface, such as the top layers of paint, along with whatever is reflected under that surface.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Canberra Museum and Gallery conservator Celia Cramer says the team has found hidden newspaper clippings, words, and figures in some of Nolan’s paintings. (ABC News: Mark Moore)<\/p>\n
She said the team has uncovered hidden figures, words and newspaper clippings unseen by anyone but the artist himself.<\/p>\n
“We’ve seen a landscape that’s been painted over with a yellow background,” Dr Cramer said.<\/p>\n
“Possibly so that it draws attention to the main character, or possibly he didn’t like it.<\/p>\n
“This recent one that we got, we’ve seen an early composition [but] it’s not making sense. We’re going to try and turn it upside down and see if maybe he painted it the other way around.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr Paula Dredge says she believes Sidney Nolan would appreciate new technologies being used to unveil mysteries in his works. (ABC News: Zaarkacha Marlan)<\/p>\n
Dr Dredge said because Nolan was very interested in science she thought he would appreciate new technology being used to find out new things about his paintings.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes when we find these things it just opens up new possibilities, new mysteries, new questions,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Nolan’s work is just always a new discovery.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The project comes 50 years since Sidney Nolan gifted the selected works to the Australian people. (ABC News: Zaarkacha Marlan)<\/p>\n
“There’s always new things that are hidden, things that are new to find in his paintings,” Dr Dredge said.<\/p>\n
“You never reach the bottom, you never get to a space where there’s not another mystery.”<\/p>\n
The infrared examination of Nolan’s Ned Kelly series is part of a larger project, celebrating 50 years since he gifted the works to the Australian people.<\/p>\n
The project’s discoveries will contribute to the Canberra Museum and Gallery’s landmark exhibition Nolan: The Backstory, which is set to open in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservators and scientists are forensically examining Sidney Nolan’s iconic series of Ned Kelly paintings, looking for hidden stories…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2666,449,458,459,64,63,81,2667,130983,130988,130992,460,134,9684,62573,130993,58292,8837,130987,130989,130990,130984,2289,2668,130986,130991,33394,20628,9672,130985,68153,20375],"class_list":["post-213594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-act","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian","tag-canberra","tag-canberra-museum-and-gallery","tag-collage","tag-conservators","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-examination","tag-fluorescence","tag-forensic","tag-hidden","tag-icon","tag-infrared-reflectography","tag-kelly-and-horse","tag-kelly-and-sgt-kennedy","tag-layers","tag-local-news","tag-local-stories","tag-ned-kelly","tag-outlaw","tag-painting","tag-scientists","tag-series","tag-sidney-nolan","tag-spectroscopy","tag-x-ray"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}