Sidney Nolan
Inaugural archivist for the Nolan estate, and since then the person institutions consult on the artist.
Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) is one of the most significant Australian artists of the 20th Century. Acclaimed for his ‘Ned Kelly’ suite of paintings that depict the saga of 19th Century outlaw Ned Kelly, the series is but one part of a prolific and entirely complex career.
Since working as the inaugural archivist for Sidney Nolan’s estate (1994-1999), Damian Smith is internationally regarded as an expert on this most important Australian Modernist; having produced numerous exhibitions and articles on Nolan he is regularly consulted on Nolan’s career and artworks.
Words For Art is the publisher of Sidney Nolan’s 1952 ‘Drought’ series of photographs.
In 2019 Damian Smith was featured in the ABC/BBC documentary ‘Nolan’.
Other projects include:
Exhibitions2003 – 2025 · six
- 2025Passage and Echo: Sidney Nolan x Guan WeiVermilion Gallery, Sydney, 10 July – 16 August 2025Curator
- 2017Sunshine and Moonlight: Sidney Nolan and John KellyAustralian Galleries, Melbourne, 3 October – 22 October 2017Curator
- 2011Sidney Nolan: Drought PhotographsAustralian Galleries, 3 March – 27 March 2011Curator
- 2009Sidney Nolan: A Magnificent ObsessionMaroondah Art Gallery, 2009Curator
- 2007Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950-1990Heide Museum of Modern Art, 11 November 2006 – 4 March 2007Curator (with Kendrah Morgan)
- 2003Sidney Nolan and the Photographic Eyea component of Desert and Drought, NGV Australia, curated by Geoffrey Smith, 6 June – 17 August 2003Curator
Auctions2015 – 2023 · three
- 2023Deutscher + Hackett auctionSidney Nolan ‘Early Morning Township’ 1955, 16 August 2023. Artwork sale price $2,700,000 (inc. BP)Feature article
- 2023Leski Auctions Pty LtdSidney Nolan’s personal collection of North American Slave Dolls, 27 August, 2023
- 2015Deutscher + Hackett auctionSidney Nolan, ‘On the Beach, St Kilda’, 1942, 2 December 2015, lot 56Feature article
Academic writing
Academic chapters
‘Sidney Nolan’s Irishness’ in Fintan Cullen, Fiona Barber (eds.) Routledge Companion to Irish Art (New York: Routledge), 2025
Academic papers
Master’s thesis, Sidney Nolan: the Kelly Myth, University of Melbourne, 2002, supervised by Professor Jaynie Anderson AM FASA OSI. While Nolan is famous for his Ned Kelly series of paintings from 1946-47, Smith’s research reveals that far from being a singular body of works, Nolan created no less than nine serialisations of the Kelly saga, extending from the 1950s through to the 1990s.
Archival material
State Library of Victoria
Book of the Dread: Books 1–3
Record ID 9939387523607636
Projected book of Sidney Nolan’s poetry, unpublished, with introductory essay on Nolan’s poetry by editor Damian Smith. Compiled by Sidney Nolan between 1986-1989, this was his last major project. The typescript was edited by Damian Smith between 2004 and 2017, being the centenary of Sidney Nolan’s birth.
Sidney Nolan Collection
Record ID 9939386433607636
Box 1: 5 paperbacks with Nolan signatures including 2 with minor drawings. Two auction catalogues, one annotated with manuscript prices realized. One issue of Cahiers d’Art, 1938.
Box 2: 21 catalogues, magazines, 2 postcards, three of which contain brief annotations by Nolan.
Illustrations to poems by Robert Lowell
Record ID 9939386223607636
Monotypes illustrating poems by Robert Lowell in the ‘Imitations’ series. 1965.
The Kelly Myth
Record ID 9939387893607636
Publisher’s mock-up for The Kelly Myth, with one box of associated Sidney Nolan material, including Damian Smith’s thesis “Sidney Nolan - The Kelly Myth”, dated 2002; a list of illustrated works for The Kelly Myth; some associated correspondence relating to The Kelly Myth; photos; a video entitled “Nolan, 2018”; a cassette and CDR of Orson Welles reading Paradise Garden.
Publication details provided by Damian Smith, 2022.
Blank endpapers with “End pages designed by Sidney Nolan” pasted in.
Binding note: Black cloth boards with title in gilt, covered by dust jacket with Sidney Nolan artwork on front cover, clear plastic overlay with title information in gilt and placeholder text on front flap.
See also: Record ID 992620523607636
RARELTF copy donated by Damian Smith, 2019. Includes ephemera linking Damian with Nolan.
BSMITH copy: Bernard Smith Collection. Inscribed “Bernard Smith.” Text marked pages 9-10 and annotation p.43. Slip of paper inscribed 81 found b/w image 80 and 81
See also: Record ID 995420893607636
Sidney Nolan’s signed and annotated copy of Camille Paglia’s Sexual Personae.
National Library of Australia
Papers of Damian Smith relating to Sidney Nolan, approximately 1948-1982 catalogue.nla.gov.au
Heide Museum of Modern Art
Mary Boyd artwork donated by Damian Smith to Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2016 collection.heide.com.au
