Philippe Le Miere’s ‘Upwey, Kelly’ merges two famous works of Australian art – Fred Williams’s ‘Upwey’ (1965) and Sidney Nolan’s ‘Kelly and Rifle’ (1980). Williams painted ‘Upwey’ after moving to the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in 1963, having recently returned from travelling Europe. He would head out bush, implanting the aesthetics of Gustav Courbet and Paul Cezanne onto the Australian landscape, producing exquisitely textual, near abstract compositions.

Over the bones of this style, Le Miere supplants Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly. The bushranger erupts from the horizon line, holding a rifle so stiffly that it looks like an extension of his robotic arm. Disorientingly large, Kelly is both a conqueror of the land and an awkward insertion, reflecting Nolan’s belief that both were characters – or constructions – of Australian mythology. Le Miere expounds upon this idea, casting Williams’s iconic landscapes as yet another player in the national imagination.

A shape shifting journey through popular culture, Le Miere’s work shifts the focus from the artist to the viewer, inviting new perspectives on Australian modernism. An original painting, ‘Upwey, Kelly’ will enrich collections of modern and contemporary Australian art.

Philippe LE MIERE (1975 - )
'Study for Upwey, Kelly' 2024
acrylic on canvas
Image Size: 51 x 38 cm
Dimensions: 51 x 38 cm
Signed: Signed lower right Le Miere, inscribed verso Philippe Le Miere, title and date
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Excellent

(c) The Artist or Assignee

This painting is a Study for a Major Work. As part of his creative process, Philippe Le Miere first produces a Study before a larger Major Work; both are original and unique, priced to reflect their different sizes.

This painting comes unstretched, stretched, or stretched and framed. Please contact us should you wish to discuss what option suits your needs.