I was cataloguing and flicking through a couple of books by Donald Friend today. A twentieth century Australian artist and diarist, Friend is accepted as a major artist in the Australian canon although he sits there somewhat uneasily given his decided bias towards languid depictions of beautiful youths. His draughtsmanship is astonishing for the way he captures mood and meaning as well as line and shape. It is notable how many of his nudes have a 'tropical' sense of lethargy: the quality of a dream or a daydream is never far away from them.
None of these here come from the books I was looking at today. Rather, I got a little carried away in my surfing of the internet and found these all already online: many from auction houses where Friend's works can no command many thousands of pounds.
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