David Dridan 1960s landscapes popular; South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula promoter in art/wine

David Dridan and his oil on composition board Curtain Springs (1964) landscape..

David Dridan gained attention in the late 1960s for his South Australian landscape paintings. He became active in promoting landscape art on Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, as well as its wine and tourism.

Dridan was born in Adelaide cinema manager/Renmark land agent  Harold Clyde Dridan and his wife Thelma. He was educated at Renmark Town School followed by St Peter’s College and studied art 1949-50 at the South Australian School of Art under Jacqueline Hick and Joseph Choate, who was also art master at Thebarton Technical School then St Peter's College. 

Dridan did further studies at East Sydney Technical College in 1956, encouraged by Russell Drysdale, who became a lifelong friend. In 1961, on a grant from the British Council, Dridan went to London and studied gallery administration at the Victoria and Albert Museum, also taking in the London Polytechnic, Tate Gallery and National gallery.  He returned to South Australia and served as curator at the Art Gallery of South Australia and senior art master at St Peter’s  College.

Dridan founded a private gallery at North Adelaide in 1966 and in 1975 Dridan founded his winery, and over 25 years commissioned artists to create works on the heads (ends) of his wine barrels. When he sold the winery, he had the 27 artworks framed and conserved as the Clarendon barrel-end collection. In the early 1970s, he served as a member of the board to advise the federal government on official portrait commissions and developing the national collection.

Dridan was curator of the State Bank of South Australia  collection of Australian art that suffered water damage in the mid 1980s when the water tank atop the State Bank building (later Santos building) ruptured. Dridan founded The Barn gallery at McLaren Vale in the 1990s, and was awarded an Order of Australia in the 2007 for service to the arts and to the community.  

He founded the Fleurieu Art Prize for Australian landscapes and was a regular contributor to the Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale. Dridan was a a close friend of the Bill and Ursula Hayward, who built Carrick Hill residence. He was founding member of the Carrick Hill Trust.