Russell Drysdale

Russell Drysdale’s paintings of Australia and its inhabitants helped define our national identity, capturing the essence of the country and the character of its people. When his now iconic depictions of rural Australia first appeared in the early 1940s, there was no artistic precedent for imagery of a harsh and unyielding landscape populated by stoic, resilient people. Representing a decisive break from romantic pastoral imagery, his vision made a profound contribution to the visual representation of Australian life.

His path to an artistic career was more coincidence than planning. Recovering from eye surgery in 1932, he passed time by drawing. Impressed, his doctor showed the work to Daryl Lindsay, who introduced him to influential modernist teacher George Bell. Drysdale enrolled at the Shore–Bell School in Melbourne in 1935. His first solo exhibition at Riddell Galleries in 1938 was overwhelmingly positive. In 1941, Monday Morning was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, followed by major acquisitions by Australian institutions, establishing him as one of the best-known artists of his generation.