5. Death of Constable Scanlon 1970 - 1971

Curator: Sidney Nolan's striking image, "Death of Constable Scanlon," immediately strikes one as a study in contrasts. The textures, especially, create a dynamic tension. Editor: Absolutely, there's such a visceral sense of the act of painting itself, isn't there? You can almost feel the thickness of the paint, the roughness of the application, contributing to this unsettling scene. Curator: Note how Nolan uses compositional devices to amplify narrative. The inverted figure, for example, speaks to a disruption of order. Editor: And look at that stark, silhouetted figure of Ned Kelly—almost like a cutout, a stark contrast to the impressionistic handling of the landscape. The painting's materiality enhances the starkness of the legend itself, doesn't it? Curator: The artist has imbued the work with a sense of mythmaking. Editor: It's as if the painting acknowledges its own status as a constructed narrative, its materials—paint, canvas—serving as tangible reminders of the labor involved in shaping our understanding of history.