In a strange land
(1919)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
76.2 × 61.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mrs E. M. Gerard Shaw, 1946
© the Artist's Estate. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images
Gallery location
Gallery 8
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
Dod Proctor’s sister-in-law, Mrs E. M. Gerard (Ranee) Shaw, is the subject of this painting. Of North Indian and Scottish descent, she lived much of her life in India. The portrait was painted partly outdoors in Newlyn, Cornwall, in the same year that the sitter married the artist’s brother. The theme is one of cultural uprooting and exile, indicated by the biblical reference of its title, which comes from Exodus 2:22: ‘I have been a stranger in a strange land’. Having noted her sister-in-law’s frequently sad expression while posing, the artist provides an ordered coastal setting to anchor what is essentially a portrait of profound psychological detachment.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in black paint l.r.: Dod Procter.
Accession Number
1516-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Emotions and Mental States Landscapes Portraits
Subjects (specific)
blue (colour) coastlines farmland gaze (psychoanalytical concept) hands (animal components) seated figures women (female humans) yellow (colour)