Compatriot of Charles Blackman and Mirka Mora, Rosemary Ryan lived her life in the thick of the Australian art scene. She studied at both the National Gallery School and under George Bell, showing two works at the Australian Artists’ Association exhibition in London, 1956. On her second solo exhibition, Bernard Smith wrote for The Age that she was “the surprise of the week”, praising her Proustian sensibility, authenticity and literary penchant. 

Smith’s ideas suffuse ‘Untitled (Cabaret)’, a rendition of an iconic scene from the musical-comedy ‘The Blue Angel’ (1930). Actress Marlene Dietrich poses on a barrel, stage lit, thigh dangerously exposed. The scene captures the film’s climax, where a nightclub singer threatens to seduce a schoolteacher. Ryan’s painterly technique is soft, producing a sense of dreaminess. With a surrealist twist, she calls on historic representations of the female seductress, decadence and Dietrich, whose career was made in this particular spotlight. The show is about to begin.

As one critic observed, “to classify Rosemary Ryan would be difficult.” She was a skilled and distinctive painter, inspired by Picnic at Hanging Rock, her milieu and the critical eye of feminism and postmodernism. Whether helping to paint Mora’s Cafe Balzac, being photographed by Joyce Evans or organising a mass picnic to inspire her art, Ryan was remembered as a “generous friend, a witty conversationalist… [and] a wonderful host.” 

For collectors of modernist, pop and feminist artists, Ryan is a spark of life.

Rosemary RYAN (1926 - 1996)
'Untitled (Cabaret)'
acrylic on canvas
Image Size: 93 x 126 cm
Dimensions: 98 x 130 x 5 cm
Signed: Signed 'Ryan' lower left corner
 
Comes with Letter of Provenance
 
Condition: Very Good: Describes a work of art's image as Excellent, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear to paper or frame. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to the paint surface.
 
(c) The Artist or Assignee