John Olsen (Australian 1928-2023) McElhone Steps, 1963
McElhone Steps was commissioned by the Art Gallery Society of Victoria, with work by Russell Drysdale, Fred Williams, Albert Tucker and Leonard French; half the prints in an edition of 50 were pre-sold in 25 folios of five prints each. It was the first lithograph made by John Olsen after he had been shown the process by Robert Grieve in 1955.
"The McElhone Steps is a stairway that joins Woolloomooloo to Kings X where I lived at the time. It was a boisterous place where sailors, soldiers & drunks made their way for the bright lights of the Cross. The print, I think, is primitive, brassy & very intoxicated." – John Olsen
Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia has described McElhone Steps as “one of his most successful lithographs […] in which the possibilities of the medium, of using colour and drawing over the surface with various textured materials, are exploited to the full.” (1)
Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
The work remains in its original 1960s gilt-edged frame with linen mount.
Artist: John Olsen(Australian 1928-2023)
Title: McElhone Steps
Date: 1964
Medium: lithograph on ivory Arches wove paper
Size: 71 × 94 cm (framed)
Signed: signed and dated in pencil lower centre “John Olsen 64”
Inscriptions: chopmark (in image) l.l.: (triangle / three squares OA)
Edition: Editioned lower centre “37/50”
Printer: printed by Janet Dawson at Gallery A in Melbourne
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, U.K.
EXHIBITIONS:
Australian Prints from the Gallery's Collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 6 November 1998 - 7 February 1999 (another example)
Suburb, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 15 April – 23 July 2000 (another example)
LITERATURE:
Makin, J., McGregor. K., John Olsen Teeming with Life, Macmillan Art Publishing, Victoria, 2005, p. 12 (illus., another example)
Kolenberg, H., Australian Prints, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998, cat. no. 93, p. 112 (illus., another example)
References:
1. Hart, Deborah, The art of John Olsen, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, 1997. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1758
McElhone Steps was commissioned by the Art Gallery Society of Victoria, with work by Russell Drysdale, Fred Williams, Albert Tucker and Leonard French; half the prints in an edition of 50 were pre-sold in 25 folios of five prints each. It was the first lithograph made by John Olsen after he had been shown the process by Robert Grieve in 1955.
"The McElhone Steps is a stairway that joins Woolloomooloo to Kings X where I lived at the time. It was a boisterous place where sailors, soldiers & drunks made their way for the bright lights of the Cross. The print, I think, is primitive, brassy & very intoxicated." – John Olsen
Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia has described McElhone Steps as “one of his most successful lithographs […] in which the possibilities of the medium, of using colour and drawing over the surface with various textured materials, are exploited to the full.” (1)
Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
The work remains in its original 1960s gilt-edged frame with linen mount.
Artist: John Olsen(Australian 1928-2023)
Title: McElhone Steps
Date: 1964
Medium: lithograph on ivory Arches wove paper
Size: 71 × 94 cm (framed)
Signed: signed and dated in pencil lower centre “John Olsen 64”
Inscriptions: chopmark (in image) l.l.: (triangle / three squares OA)
Edition: Editioned lower centre “37/50”
Printer: printed by Janet Dawson at Gallery A in Melbourne
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, U.K.
EXHIBITIONS:
Australian Prints from the Gallery's Collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 6 November 1998 - 7 February 1999 (another example)
Suburb, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 15 April – 23 July 2000 (another example)
LITERATURE:
Makin, J., McGregor. K., John Olsen Teeming with Life, Macmillan Art Publishing, Victoria, 2005, p. 12 (illus., another example)
Kolenberg, H., Australian Prints, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998, cat. no. 93, p. 112 (illus., another example)
References:
1. Hart, Deborah, The art of John Olsen, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, 1997. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1758
McElhone Steps was commissioned by the Art Gallery Society of Victoria, with work by Russell Drysdale, Fred Williams, Albert Tucker and Leonard French; half the prints in an edition of 50 were pre-sold in 25 folios of five prints each. It was the first lithograph made by John Olsen after he had been shown the process by Robert Grieve in 1955.
"The McElhone Steps is a stairway that joins Woolloomooloo to Kings X where I lived at the time. It was a boisterous place where sailors, soldiers & drunks made their way for the bright lights of the Cross. The print, I think, is primitive, brassy & very intoxicated." – John Olsen
Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia has described McElhone Steps as “one of his most successful lithographs […] in which the possibilities of the medium, of using colour and drawing over the surface with various textured materials, are exploited to the full.” (1)
Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
The work remains in its original 1960s gilt-edged frame with linen mount.
Artist: John Olsen(Australian 1928-2023)
Title: McElhone Steps
Date: 1964
Medium: lithograph on ivory Arches wove paper
Size: 71 × 94 cm (framed)
Signed: signed and dated in pencil lower centre “John Olsen 64”
Inscriptions: chopmark (in image) l.l.: (triangle / three squares OA)
Edition: Editioned lower centre “37/50”
Printer: printed by Janet Dawson at Gallery A in Melbourne
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, U.K.
EXHIBITIONS:
Australian Prints from the Gallery's Collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 6 November 1998 - 7 February 1999 (another example)
Suburb, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 15 April – 23 July 2000 (another example)
LITERATURE:
Makin, J., McGregor. K., John Olsen Teeming with Life, Macmillan Art Publishing, Victoria, 2005, p. 12 (illus., another example)
Kolenberg, H., Australian Prints, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998, cat. no. 93, p. 112 (illus., another example)
References:
1. Hart, Deborah, The art of John Olsen, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, 1997. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1758