Untitled study for The Ritual (1986) [W/P]

This work, discovered in Arkley’s studio collection after his death, obviously formed a full-scale preparatory drawing for the canvas first shown at Tolarno in September 1986: see The Ritual 1986. Purchase of the drawing by State Library Victoria in 2024 reunited it with the painting, acquired for the Library in 1988.

Arkley’s mature paintings and larger works on paper were made typically by projecting compositions directly onto the canvas or paper, but here he used the more traditional technique of transferring the outline from a full-scale preliminary drawing, or ‘cartoon’ (the Renaissance name for such works, well known through famous examples by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael). For a comparable study by Arkley, see Untitled [Nubrick study] (c.1986) [W/P].

The present drawing is on 4 sheets, each measuring approximately 75.8 x 60.0 cm (or smaller), and originally joined together with masking tape. The SLV catalogue lists the work as “preparatory airbrush stencil for The Ritual,” including full details and photos of each individual sheet, and the composite image reproduced here: see https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9940875358307636. For her assistance with information and photographs, I am indebted to SLV Librarian Olga Tsara (February 2025).

Provenance

• Artist’s collection (A196)
• Private collection
• Acquired from the above by State Library Victoria, 2024