Wikipedia
Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Monomotapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. It was founded by African and Indian Ocean traders linked to the Global Monsoon Complex, including Swahili and Somali merchants and seafarers.
Sofala may refer to:
- Sofala, a former seaport in Mozambique
- Sofala Bank, the continental shelf off the coast of Mozambique
- Sofala Province, a province in Mozambique
- Sofala, New South Wales, a former gold rush town in western New South Wales
- 1393 Sofala, a main-belt asteroid
- Sofala (Drysdale), a 1947 painting by Russell Drysdale
Sofala is a 1947 painting by Australian artist Russell Drysdale. The painting depicts the main street of the New South Wales town of Sofala. The painting won the Wynne Prize for 1947. The Art Gallery of New South Wales describe the work as "one of [his] finest paintings, representing the artist at the height of his powers." and that "the painting transcends literal description of a particular place to become an expression of the quintessential qualities of an inland Australian country town".
Drysdale painted the work after a trip in 1947 with fellow painter Donald Friend to the country around Bathurst, including the villages of Hill End and Sofala. In Sofala, Drysdale made some sketches of the main street and took some photographs. On return to Sydney, both Friend and Drysdale worked on a painting of the main street. Friend said of Drysdale:
The painting was exhibited in the Macquarie Galleries in December 1947. During this exhibition, Hal MissinghamDirector of the Art Gallery of New South Walesnominated the painting for the Wynne Prize. The awarding of the Prize to Sofala "marked a dramatic move away from the traditional pastoral imagery of Australian landscape painting". Following the award the art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald said of the work:
The painting was originally purchased by John Stephen, Drysdale's brother-in-law. It was acquired in 1952 by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.
Several of the buildings in the painting can still be seen in Denison St, Sofala, including the Royal Hotel in the left foreground and the former hospital in the middle distance.