Title
The red shawl
1913
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- The red shawl (Olave Cunninghame Graham)
- Date
- 1913
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
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96.8 x 76.2 cm stretcher; 124.2 x 103.8 x 8.3 cm frame
:
0 - Whole, 95.5 x 75.1 cm, SIGHT DIMENSION
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. corner, orange oil "G.W. LAMBERT.1913.".
- Credit
- Purchased 1934
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 847
- Copyright
- Artist information
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George Lambert
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The subject of this theatrical portrait is Olave Cunninghame Grahame, niece of George Lambert’s friend Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, a Scottish socialist MP, horseman and Argentine cattle rancher. Lambert has painted a portrait rich in symbolic associations with his subject’s aristocratic Spanish heritage. His style of painting also recalls the strong contrasts of light and shade found in earlier Spanish paintings, instilling a sense of drama.
Olave sits draped in a mantón de Manila, a Philippine shawl richly embroidered with floral and chinoiserie motifs popular with the Spanish diaspora and fashionable ladies of the 19th century. The draped fabric is used to emphasise her figure and accentuate her dramatic pose. Just as the red flower in Olave’s hair is a nod to flamenco dancers who use the shawls in performances, so too it suggests her own performance of identity in the painting.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Society of Artists Annual Exhibition (1934), Education Department Gallery [Loftus Street], Sydney, 07 Sep 1934–05 Oct 1934
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, Dubbo Regional Art Gallery, Dubbo, 05 May 2001–12 Aug 2001
People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, 14 Sep 2001–28 Oct 2001
People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, Albury Regional Gallery, Albury, 04 Jan 2002–27 Jan 2002
People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 09 Feb 2002–24 Mar 2002
People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, Hazelhurst Arts Centre, , 06 Apr 2002–02 Jun 2002
People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, 05 Jul 2002–18 Aug 2002
George Lambert retrospective: heroes & icons, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 29 Jun 2007–16 Sep 2007
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Bibliography
Referenced in 8 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art from Australia: 2016 calender, Sydney, 2015, n.pag. (colour illus.). month of November
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Heather Crosby, Weekend Liberal, 'Keeping the dream alive', pg. 10, Dubbo, 26 May 2001-27 May 2001, 10 (illus., detail).
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Anne Gérard, Look, 'Oz arts: our painters in the Paris Salons', pg. 37-39, Sydney, Dec 2006-Jan 2007, 39 (colour illus.).
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Anna Gray (Editor), Art and Artifice: George Lambert (1873-1930), 1996, cover (illus.), 9, 14, 28, 31, 33-35, 50, 53, 55, 60-61, 63, 68, 70, 84, 90, 118, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 143, 148, 153, 155, 163, 171, 175, 178, 180. PS Worksheet 434
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Anne McLaughlin, People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation, 'People and destiny: George Lambert and Federation', pg. 10-33, Dubbo, 2001, 24, 25 (colour illus.), 28, 31, 38.
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Jane Raffan, Portrait: magazine of Australian & international portraiture, 'All dressed up', pg. 48-51, Canberra, Autumn 2013-Winter 2013, 49 (colour illus.).
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Frank Walker, Herald Sun, 'What lies beneath 95% of gallery's art collection hidden in basement', pg. 18, Port Melbourne, 30 Dec 2007, 18 (colour illus., detail).
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Editor Unknown (Editor), The Home (Christmas number), Sydney, Dec 1934, cover (colour illus.). Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales.
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