George Russell (Russell) Drysdale Australia, 1912-81

Sir George Russell Drysdale was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex England in 1912. He studied painting in Melbourne under George Bell and later in London and Paris. From 1962-1972 he was appointed a member of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Canberra and was a member of the Board of Trustees, Art Gallery of N.S.W. from 1963-1976. His distinctive techniques were largely shaped by the influence of British wartime painters Sutherland and Paper. He later went on to express the same dramatic style in scenes of Australian outback, depicting the tragedy of drought conditions: the erosion, decay and bleached carcasses of animals. This development represented the beginning of a new era of Australian regional art and later included paintings of ghost towns and outback pubs and the elongated figures of outback characters for which he is so well known. Throughout his career, his first love was drawing and his sketchbooks are the signposts pointing to the people, places and events that have given him his unique place in Australian art.

Russell Drysdale is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1967 of 1,647, of which 1,206 (73%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $2,976,000 for Grandma's Sunday Walk sold by Mossgreen Auctions in June 2017. In addition to this sale, a further 13 works by this artist have been sold for over $1 million. This year 12 works have been offered for sale. Works by Russell Drysdale are held by the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia and a further eight major public national galleries (see list below).