"South Coast - Frieda and Roo" (D&H Lawrence Series)
Oil on Board
77x102cm
Signed Lower Right
Prov: Purchased directly from the artist.
Private Collection Adelaide
$40,000-60,000
Few literary figures captured Garry Shead’s imagination as profoundly as D. H. Lawrence. Fascinated by the novelist’s brief but influential stay on the New South Wales south coast in 1922, Shead developed one of the defining bodies of work of his career, drawing inspiration from Lawrence’s novel Kangaroo and the passionate relationship between Lawrence and his wife, Frieda. Rather than illustrating episodes from the novel, Shead created a deeply personal interpretation in which history, autobiography and mythology merge, with the artist and his wife Judith frequently assuming the roles of Lawrence and Frieda.
“South Coast Frieda and Roo” belongs to this celebrated series. The recurring figures of Frieda and the kangaroo are among its most recognisable motifs, the latter serving not simply as an emblem of Australia but as a direct reference to Lawrence’s Kangaroo, the novel inspired by his time at Thirroul. Set against the distinctive landscape of the Illawarra coastline, Shead transforms biography into allegory, creating an image in which landscape, literature and personal narrative become inseparable.
Today, the D. H. Lawrence paintings are widely regarded as one of the landmark achievements of Shead’s career. Their intellectual depth, lyrical imagery and recurring symbolism distinguish them within contemporary Australian art, while their presence in major public collections reflects the enduring significance of an artist whose work consistently explored the intersections of history, literature and the Australian landscape. Shead’s achievements include winning the Archibald Prize in 1993 and the Dobell Prize for Drawing in 2004, and his work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia and every major Australian state gallery.
About D.H.Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) was one of the most influential—and controversial—English novelists of the twentieth century. He wrote novels, poetry, essays and travel writing, but is best known for works such as Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and, most famously, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. His exploration of love, sexuality, human relationships and the conflict between instinct and modern industrial society led to several of his books being censored during his lifetime. Today he is regarded as one of the great figures of English literature.
His connection to Australia is surprisingly significant. In 1922, Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, travelled to Australia and lived for several weeks at Thirroul on the New South Wales south coast. During that stay he wrote Kangaroo (published in 1923), the only major novel by a world-renowned literary figure to be set in Australia. The novel explores Australian politics, national identity and the landscape through the experiences of an English couple closely modelled on Lawrence and Frieda themselves.
