''Footballer'' is a

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

painting by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n artist

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

. It depicts an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er standing before a crowd of spectators at a football match. For many years the painting was thought to be a generic image of a footballer, however Nolan later revealed that the painting is based on

Bill Mohr Wilbur T. "Bill" Mohr (29 June 1909 – 29 March 1971) was an Australian rules footballer who represented St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1930s. Career Playing as a half-back flanker initially, Mohr later became ...

, a star player for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

during the 1930s. In 2002, the painting was acquired by the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, and has become one of the gallery's most popular works.Perkin, Corrie (15 March 2008)
"Creative codes"
''The Australian''. Retrieved 24 June 2012. According to journalist

Geoff McClure Geoff McClure (1950 – 15 March 2010) was an Australian sports journalist. McClure moved from Broken Hill to work for the Melbourne afternoon newspaper '' The Herald'' in 1969. In the early 1970s, he worked for the British '' Daily Express'' ...

, ''Footballer'' "has special significance because, together with Drysdale's '' The Cricketers'', it represents virtually the entire sports-related work ever done by our masters."McClure, Geoff (29 July 2002)
"Operation Full-Back"
''The Age''. Retrieved 11 August 2012.

Background

Born in the inner-

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

working class suburb of

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

on 22 April 1917, Nolan grew up in bayside St Kilda, Melbourne's main leisure precinct. His childhood was spent playing in and around

Luna Park Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-sc ...

St Kilda Pier The St Kilda Pier in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia, is home to a colony of Eudyptula novaehollandiae, Australian little penguins, the St Kilda Pavilion, as well as the Marina of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron. It was first built in 1853 ...

and along nearby beaches, jetties and sea baths; memories of this period played an inspirational role in the imagery of Nolan's early paintings, including the ''Bathers'' series which he started in 1942. Nolan also had many sporting interests growing up, in particular swimming, cycling,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

. He regularly went on weekend trips to the outer at the

St Kilda Cricket Ground Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Junc ...

to barrack for his team, the

. In the mid-1940s, when Nolan was painting boyhood recollections of St Kilda and "heroic" figures such as

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...

, he decided to paint ''Footballer'', an "emblematic portrait of the sports-warrior".Jellie, Dugald (29 March 2012)
"To live football is to truly belong"
''The Sydney Morning Herald''. Retrieved 11 August 2012. The work was painted in the dining room at

Heide Heide (; Holsatian: ''Heid'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Dithmarschen. Population: 21,000. The German word ''Heide'' means "heath". In the 15th century four adjoining villages decided ...

, the

Templestowe Templestowe is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Templestowe recorded a population of 16,966 at the . The s ...

home of art patrons

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Sunday Reed Sunday Reed (born Lelda Sunday Baillieu) (15 October 190515 December 1981) was an Australian patron of the arts. Along with her husband, Reed established what is now the Heide Museum of Modern Art. Personal life Reed was born on 15 October 1905 ...

, on 24 August 1946. In his journal, Nolan writes: "Finished my painting of a footballer this morning and called Jim he gardener at Heideto have a look at it. He said it looked quite real, almost as if you were there, so it at least passed the critical eye of a specialist." Its completion date falls in the middle of Nolan's iconic first series of 27 Ned Kelly works, all but one painted in the Heide dining room. Together with the Kelly series, ''Footballer'' has been interpreted as a "veiled self-portrait"—both men, like the artist, stand outside society in a "space no longer governed by everyday rules."McAullife, Chris (26 July 2008)
"The games people display"
''The Age''. Retrieved 11 August 2012.Jewel: Sidney Nolan

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

. Retrieved 11 August 2012. The painting was first exhibited at the Melbourne branch of the Contemporary Art Society in 1946, and later shown in retrospective exhibitions throughout the 1960s and 70s with the title ''Fullback, St Kilda'', which led to speculation that the footballer is based on Test cricketer and St Kilda fullback Keith "Nugget" Miller, of whom Nolan was a great fan. Nolan later revealed in an interview that St Kilda's

is the subject, saying "I lived in St Kilda and I went to a lot of matches there and they had a fullback called Billy Mohr and in 1946, after coming out of the army and casting back for memories to paint, I decided to paint him."Pearce, Barry. ''Sidney Nolan''. Sydney:

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, 2007. , pp. 71–72

Composition

The footballer's red, white, yellow and black colours reference those adopted by the Saints during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. His black shorts "share a singularity and intensity akin to Ned Kelly's helmet", while the broad-striped guernsey—bold against the amorphous backdrop of spectators' faces and vertical lines of the goalpost and boundary fence—prefigures the horizontal bars of escaped

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

David Bracefell in Nolan's

Eliza Fraser Eliza Anne Fraser (c.1798 – 1858) was a Scottish woman who was aboard a ship that wrecked at an island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 22 May 1836, and who claimed she was taken in by the Bidjara language, Badtjala (Butchella) people ...

series.

National Gallery of Victoria purchase

The painting, valued in 2002 at approximately $500,000, was on the National Gallery of Victoria's wish list for many years. The gallery acquired the painting in 2002 from a private collector based in England, with costs met jointly by the

State Government of Victoria The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

and

Foster's Group Foster's Group Pty. Ltd. was an Australian beer group with interests in brewing and soft drinks, known for Foster's Lager, now called Carlton & United Breweries since the company was renamed in 2011. Foster's was founded in 1888 in Melbourne, Vi ...

.O'Connor, Angela; Roberts, Jo (6 September 2002)
"A sporting Nolan to make its debut"
''The Age''. Retrieved 14 August 2012. It was officially gifted to the gallery by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...

on Channel Nine's '' The Footy Show'', becoming the first painting to go on display at the newly built

Ian Potter Centre The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia is an art gallery that houses the Australian part of the art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia is located at Federation Square in Melbourne, Victori ...

, home of the National Gallery of Victoria's Australian art collection.

Legacy

''Footballer'' is used as the cover image for Volume II of

David Williamson David Keith Williamson Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australians, Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Vi ...

's 1986 publication ''Collected Plays'', which contains his 1977 football play '' The Club''. In 2011, the National Gallery of Victoria celebrated its 150th anniversary with a range of festivities including life-size renditions of the gallery's most loved works populated along

St Kilda Road St Kilda Road is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is part of the locality of Melbourne which has the postcode of 3004, and along with Swanston Street forms a major spine of the city. St Kilda Road begins at Flinders Street, in ...

to the Ian Potter Centre. At

Federation Square Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy ra ...

, high-flying circus performers played

kick-to-kick Kick-to-kick is a pastime and well-known tradition of Australian rules football fans, and a recognised Australian term for kick and catch type games. It is a casual version of Australian rules (similar to the relationship between backyard/be ...

as a tribute to ''Footballer'', where a shearing display was also held in commemoration of

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe i ...

' 1890 painting ''

Shearing the Rams ''Shearing the Rams'' is an 1890 in art, 1890 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. It depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed. Distinctly Australian in character, the painting is a celebration of pastoral life a ...

''.

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

issued a stamp in 2017 featuring Nolan's ''Footballer''."Celebrating two iconic Australian artists"
(14 March 2017), Australia Post. Retrieved 15 March 2017.

References

External links