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Click on the image to magnify		space Country child
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(about 1948) Vaucluse, Sydney
oil on canvas
76.6 x 61.5 cm
inscribed in black paint l.r.: Russell Drysdale
Private collection

Country child continues Drysdale's preoccupation with the lone female figure in the outback landscape. Firmly placed in a desolate wasteland suggested by the stark trees, barren mountain range and arid earth, Drysdale's country girl holds a small potted plant. This small splash of greenery, held tightly with both hands, provides a remarkable contrast and element of hope in the uncompromising surrounds.

Country child was owned by Colonel William Quasha, a former American officer whose collection of contemporary Australian art also included Drysdale's Tree form (1945).1

1 Tree form (1945), oil on canvas, 61.0 ¥ 76.2 cm, private collection.

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