Pioneers

Details

Artist

Nancy Borlase

Title

Pioneers

Year

c.1939

Medium

oil on board

Size

24.5 x 37 cm

Details

signed lower right: NB

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Further Information

Nancy Borlase arrived in Sydney aged 23 to continue her artistic studies at the East Sydney Technical College with Rah Fizelle and Grace Crowley, after her education in New Zealand. He held her first solo exhibition in 1960 at the Macquarie Galleries and was a member of the Contemporary Art Society (1952 – 1970).

The modernist painting, Pioneers, with its rounded hills, is reminiscent of the undulating landscapes of Lloyd Rees, particularly the Bathurst works or is perhaps derived from the rolling green pasture country of New Zealand’s North Island. The balanced composition, with the central square home surrounded by serpentine forms; simplified forms and harmonious colour are typical of Borlase’s works of the 1940s.

Branching from her own painting, Borlase established herself as the art critic for the Bulletin and the Sydney Morning Herald between 1973 – 1981. She continued her own practice, being awarded the Portia Geach Prize for portraiture in 2000.