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Title

Study for 'Sleep'

1948

Artist

James Gleeson

Australia

21 Nov 1915 – 20 Oct 2008

Artist profile

  • Details

    Place where the work was made
    Sydney New South Wales Australia
    Date
    1948
    Media category
    Drawing
    Materials used
    pencil, pen and blue ink, sienna and black ink wash on sketchbook page
    Dimensions
    14.0 x 22.6 cm sheet
    Signature & date

    Not signed. Not dated.

    Credit
    Gift of Frank O'Keefe 1993
    Location
    Not on display
    Accession number
    173.1993
    Copyright
    © Gleeson/O'Keefe Foundation

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    Artist information
    James Gleeson

    Artist profile

    Works in the collection

    502

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  • About

    Gleeson utilised bricks as imagery very early, e.g. 'We inhabit the corrosive littoral of habit' 1940, 'Structural emblems of a friend' 1941 and 'The oracle' 1948. This drawing is for the reclining male figure in 'Sleep' painted in London. His desire to reveal what lies beneath the surface, a defining theme in Gleeson's work, was illustrated for him by exposed brickwork in bombed buildings in London after the war.

    Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, 'James Gleeson: drawings for paintings', Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2003, pg. 47.

  • Places

    Where the work was made

    Sydney

  • Exhibition history

    Shown in 1 exhibition

  • Bibliography

    Referenced in 2 publications

Other works by James Gleeson

See all 502 works