Storm Approaching Wangi

Storm Approaching Wangi
Artist	William Dobell
Year	1948
Medium	oil on cardboard on composition board
Dimensions	32.5 cm × 55.5 cm (12.8 in × 21.9 in)
Location	Private collection

Storm Approaching Wangi is a 1948 painting by Australian artist Sir William Dobell. The painting depicts a storm at Wangi Wangi, New South Wales.[1]

Dobell's successful Wynne landscape entry is more conventional, although still typical Dobell in feeling. Two men and a woman are in the foreground at the edge of a lake drawing a boat to the shore. The menace of an approaching storm is typified by a stark black tree nearby, a threatening sky and a deserted background.

— Newcastle Morning Herald, [2]

The Art Gallery of New South Wales awarded the work the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in 1948.[3] Dobell was awarded the Archibald Prize that same year for his portrait of artist Margaret Olley.[2] Dobell painted the work after retiring to Wangi Wangi following the controversy over his portrait Mr Joshua Smith which was the subject of a court challenge after it was awarded the Archibald Prize in 1943.[1]

Gallery director Mark Widdup described the painting as "one of the most important landscape works of the 20th century."[4]

It is a landscape painting of historical importance becoming more significant as it was a painting that cemented the artist's credibility once more after his reputation in the art world was challenged

— Mark Widdup, [5]

Dobell sold the work to Frank and Thelma Clune in 1948. It was then sold to a corporate collection in 1991. The work was most recently sold in 2016 for AUD408,700 to a private collector.[6]

References

1. "Sketch for 'Storm approaching Wangi'". Collection. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
2. "Art Prize Pictures". Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners' Advocate. No. 22, 560. New South Wales, Australia. 22 January 1949. p. 1. Retrieved 21 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
3. "Winner: Wynne Prize 1948". Wynne Prize. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
4. Kellar, Jim (16 December 2016). "Ah, what price to own a Dobell classic". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
5. "The loss of an important art icon for Newcastle - William Dobell's Storm over Wangi". Cooks Hill Galleries. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
6. "Important Australian Art". Sotheby's Australia. Retrieved 21 August 2019.