Book Description

HUGH Sawrey (1919-1999) was one of Australia's most well-known artists during his lifetime. In a professional career that spanned nearly 35 years, he produced an enormous volume of work depicting scenes of the outback and the pastoral industries that operated there.From the time he left school, his formative years were taken up with a succession of low paying itinerant jobs across rural Australia. From shearing to stock work, he experienced first-hand many of the subjects he later included on his canvases. While his creative abilities were evident from the outset, drawing and painting could only be conducted in downtime, often with rudimentary materials, and he never had the opportunity to properly develop his craft until well into his 40s. However, by the 1960s Hugh Sawrey managed to acquire some formal training and presented his first solo show in Brisbane in 1965. His works struck a chord with local collectors and he quickly found recognition. Interest continued to build in his work over subsequent years and this allowed him to develop and hone the quality of his output. From the very start, horses were the foundation stones of many of his representations of rural life and early 20th century society. And over time he focused his painting abilities on their representation in ever more dynamic and expressive ways. Today, 20 years after his death, it is the depiction of the horse that is his most enduring legacy in the world of art. During his life there were few Australian artists that could match his abilities to capture the weight, strength and personality of the horse and their symbiotic relationship to people. And today, long after working horses have been largely replaced by machinery, the equine paintings of Hugh Sawrey stand as one of Australian Art's most extensive contributions to this historical genre. A thousand Miles Beyond showcases a wide range of equine themed work covering his professional working life from 1965 to 1991 and includes a detailed essay placing his works in a larger Australian visual art context. Edited by Anthony Sawrey.