Nancy Borlase and Laurie Short

Nancy Borlase AM (1914–2006), painter and writer, and Laurence Short AO OBE (1915–2009), trade union leader, were married in 1941. Arriving in Sydney from New Zealand in 1937, Borlase studied sculpture at East Sydney Technical College but soon turned to figurative painting and regularly exhibited with the Contemporary Art Society in the 1940s. After changing to abstraction, one of Borlase's vibrant paintings was acquired by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1960. Borlase won the Portia Geach Memorial Prize in 2000 for her portrait of Vida and Marie Breckenridge. Short joined the Federated Ironworkers' Association in 1937 and the Labor Party five years later. In 1951, he became the National Secretary of the FIA, a position he was to hold for more than 30 years. A key figure in the fight against communist control of unions, Short is credited with keeping the Labor party together in New South Wales while it split in other states in the mid-1950s.

Made using Jenny Sages' signature technique – combining colour pigment with encaustic wax – this portrait of Borlase and Short was bought from Sages by Margaret Olley to give to the National Portrait Gallery. However, predicting that Sages would give away any money received, Olley bought her two tickets to London to see a Pierre Bonnard exhibition instead.

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 1998
© Jenny Sages