Sir Sidney Robert Nolan, O.M., R.A. (1917-1992)

'Between 1945 and 1947 Nolan made a number of transfer drawings about bushrangers and rural subjects - cows and horses in paddocks, farm machinery, lamps and colonial buildings. Unlike his earlier abstract transfer drawings, colour plays an important role in these drawings; it is significant that they are not simply monochrome but are pale green, bright red, or deep blue. It is a characteristic of the transfer drawings that the soft hairy line produced is not the only line, but also colour. Patches of tone, caused by accidental or controlled pressure from the artist's hand, increase the effect of colour in these works.' (A. Sayers, Sidney Nolan Drawings A Souvenir Book of the Exhibition at the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1989, p.7)
Nolan references Superintendant Francis Augustus Hare's book, The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang (1892) on three of the sheets.