Judith White
Icons: Sydney Harbour Drawings 1980-1990
9 September - 4 October 2025
In the 1980's I was struck by images of the Harbour, the Bridge and the Opera House becoming potent symbols of Australia.
The marketing of Australia as a tourist destination was loaded with these images, often embodying elemental notions of a national character.
They became icons.
The outback was still considered a daunting, even dangerous destination.
All the drawings formed the basis of much larger paintings and were completed in situ.
Mobile phones hadn't been invented.
In some drawings the juxtaposition of an interior space with an outside world was a construct, taking on a psychological rather than political. Part of this was the deliberate absence of the human figure, with a sense of someone having just moved out of frame. In other drawings, the presence of the Bridge or the Opera House acts as a visual force; a dominant, strident or hovering presence.
I was invited into office complexes and private homes with harbour views. Business and private residence could claim superior cultural significances and implied wealth 'their Harbour view'. This was the era of David Williamson's Emerald city.
 City View To The Harbour 1990 Pencil and conte on paper 31 x 20 cm $650 |
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 Office Window 1987 Pencil on paper 42x59cm $1,200 |
 Morning Blues 1987 Pencil and conte on paper 50 x 65 cm $1,200 |
 Interior At The Window 1988 Pencil and conte on paper 42 x 56 cm $1,200 |
 Icon At The Rocks 1986 Pencil on paper 27 x 35 cm $850 |
 City View To The Heads 1989 Pencil on paper 21 x 39 cm $650 SOLD |
 Bridge: Suburban View 1987 Pencil and conte on paper 42 x 59 cm $1,200 |
 Bridge: Park View 1986 Pencil and conte on paper 42 x 59 cm $1,200 |
 Apartment Window 1987 Pencil and conte on paper 42 x 60 cm $1,200 |
 Accountants View 1987 Pencil on paper 42 x 59 cm $1,200 SOLD |
 Blue Duck At The Window 1990 Pencil and conte on paper 57 x 42 cm $1,200 |
 Bridge Over The Harbour 1985 Pencil and conte on paper 43 x 59 cm $1,200 |