2009.Q2 | artonview 58 Winter 2009
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Transcript of 2009.Q2 | artonview 58 Winter 2009
artonview
REINVENTIONS: SCULPTURE + ASSEMBLAGE • FREDERICK McCUBBINFrederick McCubbin Golden sunlight 1914 (detail) Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum Gift of Dame Nellie Melba, 1923
The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency
artonview
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Issue 58, winter 2009
2 Director’s foreword
7 Foundation
8 Development
exhibitions and displays
10 Reinventions: sculpture + assemblage Deborah Hart
18 McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17 Anne Gray
collection focus/conservation
20 In these dreams of colour: a close examination of McCubbin’s paintings in the national collection David Wise
26 Photographing America’s South: Roll, Jordan, roll Anne O’Hehir
acquisitions
30 Edgar Degas Woman bathing Jane Kinsman
32 Choi Jeong Hwa Clear lotus Melanie Eastburn and Robyn Maxwell
34 Max Ernst King, queen and bishop Christine Dixon and Krysia Kitch
35 Ricardo Idagi GiriGiri Le (Bird of Paradise Man) Tina Baum
36 Margaret Benyon Pushing up the daisies Gael Newton
38 Debra Dawes Parallel planes Miriam Kelly
39 Kiribas people Ririko Crispin Howarth
40 Bantor Irene Mague ne hiwir Crispin Howarth
41 Travelling exhibitions
42 Faces in view
published quarterly by
National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 nga.gov.au
ISSN 1323-4552
Print Post Approved pp255003/00078
© National Gallery of Australia 2008
Copyright for reproductions of artworks is held by the artists or their estates. Apart from uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of artonview may be reproduced, transmitted or copied without the prior permission of the National Gallery of Australia. Enquires about permissions should be made in writing to the Rights and Permissions Officer.
The opinions expressed in artonview are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.
editor Eric Meredith
designer Kristin Thomas
photography Eleni Kypridis, Barry Le Lievre, Brenton McGeachie, Steve Nebauer, David Pang, John Tassie
rights and permissions Nick Nicholson
advertising Erica Seccombe
printed in Australia by Blue Star Print, Melbourne
enquiries
The editor, artonview National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 [email protected]
advertising
Tel: (02) 6240 6557 Fax: (02) 6240 6427 [email protected]
RRP $8.60 includes GST Free to members of the National Gallery of Australia
For further information on National Gallery of Australia Membership: Membership Coordinator GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 6240 6504 [email protected]
(cover) Edgar Degas Woman bathing (Femme à sa toilette) 1880–85 (detail) monotype over pastel image 27.8 x 38 cm sheet 32.2 x 42.2 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra The Poynton Bequest with the assistance of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation 2009
The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency
2 national gallery of australia
I know many of you seized the opportunity to see our
highly successful exhibition Degas: master of French
art during its limited time at the Gallery between 12
December 2008 and 22 March 2009. The exhibition was a
unique experience for Australian audiences and attracted
a great number of interstate and overseas visitors to
Canberra. I was sad to see those masterful works packed
away to be returned to the lending institutions—the
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, the National Gallery, Washington, the British
Museum, London, and 40 other places. A compensation
was our acquisition of Degas’s brilliant pastel Woman
bathing (Femme à sa toilette) 1880–85 (on the cover of
this issue) at the auction of the Yves Saint Laurent and
Pierre Bergé collection in February. We were very lucky to
acquire such a high-quality and well-documented work
for a reasonable price and at such a famous auction. The
acquisition, a major coup for the Gallery, was generously
supported by the Orde Poynton Bequest Fund as well
as funds raised from the National Gallery of Australia
Foundation’s Twentieth Anniversary Gala Dinner in March.
The dinner was part of a weekend of events to celebrate
the anniversary. I extend my appreciation, on behalf of the
Gallery, to everyone who attended.
Degas was undeniably the greatest artist of the pastel
medium in the nineteenth century. He often made many
studies of a single subject—as evidenced in the exhibition
Degas: master of French art in the numerous scenes of
the horses and the racecourse, the ballet and opera, cafe
culture and, of course, women bathing. Woman bathing
has never been shown publicly before because it has
always been in private hands. It is similar to the group
of pastels exhibited at the eighth and final Impressionist
exhibition in Paris in 1886, in Degas’s ‘suite of nudes’,
which was heavily criticised for the ungainly poses of his
subjects. Today, these images still attract some controversy
but they also represent a radically changing period in
French art and society during the nineteenth century, a
period that has left its mark on history.
After the Degas exhibition, Woman bathing was put
on display in our print exhibition Degas’ world: the rage
for change and is part of our display of nineteenth-century
international art.
The Gallery has acquired Max Ernst’s King, queen and
bishop 1929–30 (cast 1974–75), a small but spectacular
precursor to his familiar chess imagery of the 1940s and
1950s. The work was acquired from the William Bowmore
collection. Ernst’s fascination with chess was shared by
many other Surrealist artists, including his wife Dorothea
Tanning, Marcel Duchamp, John Cage and Man Ray. The
tiny work is a radical counterbalance to the imposing
Habukuk 1934 (cast 1970), which we acquired in 2006 (see
artonview issue 51).
We have also acquired significant works in other
collecting areas, including two works for our Pacific art
collection. The first is a rare, nineteenth-century, pre-
Christian necklace made from human teeth, a disarmingly
striking object from the Republic of Kiribati, and one of
our few works from Micronesia. The second, from a small
volcanic island in Vanuatu, is one of the largest and most
sculptural Mague grade-figures made in recent decades.
This colossal contemporary figure was created as part of a
long tradition of ceremonies in the island’s strict hierarchical
social system. From the Torres Strait Islands we acquired
Ricardo Idagi’s intricate GiriGiri Le (Bird of Paradise Man)
2008, a stunning mask to complement the Gallery’s collection
of contemporary Torres Strait Islander masks and headdresses.
Other recent acquisitions include four early holographic
works from British artist Margaret Benyon’s Australian
Director’s foreword
Ron Radford, Director, National
Gallery of Australia, with the book Soft
sculpture, published in conjunction with the
exhibition.
artonview winter 2009 3
period (1977–81), as well as one of her more recent large-
scale works, Pushing up the daisies 1996; and Debra
Dawes’s Parallel planes 2007, which is less abstract than it
first appears—its subtle changes in tone and angle disrupt
what initially seems to be a predetermined optical design.
For the Gallery’s small holdings of contemporary
Asian art, we have a fascinating addition, Korean artist
Choi Jeong Hwa’s Clear lotus 2009. We thank Gene and
Brian Sherman for their financial support and continued
dedication in bringing works by contemporary Asian artists
with strong international reputations into the national
art collection. Clear lotus is currently on view in our Soft
sculpture exhibition.
The Gallery is currently celebrating creative
developments in three-dimensional art with two
exhibitions, Soft sculpture and Reinventions: sculpture +
assemblages, and a vibrant program of talks and events
about sculpture, assemblage, installation and the various
other ways in which artists engage with, create and
transform three-dimensional objects and environments.
Indeed, this winter, visitors will experience the creative
output of some of the world’s best contemporary artists
working in the area.
Soft sculpture was opened in April by the Minister for
Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, who
delivered an engaging and passionate speech. Curated
by Lucina Ward, Curator of International Painting and
Sculpture, the exhibition looks at the ways artists use
unconventional materials such as plastic, rubber, fur and
fabrics to question the changing nature of sculpture. Soft
sculpture comprises 55 works by European, American,
Asian and Australian artists selected primarily from the
national art collection and combined with a small number
of loans. It focuses on anti-form works from the 1960s and
1970s through to present-day sculptures. These interesting
works inflate, droop and ooze!
Reinventions: sculpture + assemblage opened in the
Project Gallery on 16 May. Spanning four decades, from
1965 to 2007, the display draws on the Gallery’s collection
of Australian sculpture and assemblage and focuses on
artists’ fascination with taking old materials or established
ideas and finding fresh, distinctive and poetic ways to
Visitors marvel at the various objects in the exhibition Soft sculture at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 24 April – 12 July 2009. Go to the Gallery’s extensive Soft sculpture website for more: nga.gov.au/softsculpture
4 national gallery of australia
express them. Reinventions is curated by Deborah Hart,
Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post
1920, who has written an engaging article about the
display for this issue of artonview (page 10).
From 14 August our new exhibition, McCubbin: Last
Impressions 1907–17, will redefine one of Australia’s most
loved Impressionist painters. The exhibition focuses on the
radical changes in Frederick McCubbin’s approach to painting
in the final decade of his life. It will introduce our audiences to
the mature, more expressive, reinvigorated McCubbin, allowing
them to better appreciate his deft handling of paint and
striking use of colour. The works in the exhibition portray a
masterly rendering of light that powerfully conveys McCubbin’s
passion and familiarity with the Australian bush and, equally,
the expanding city of the Federation period.
McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17 is only on
display for a short time, so I encourage you to see it early
because you will want to visit the exhibition again before
it closes on 1 November. It is curated by Anne Gray, Head
of Australian Art.
McCubbin’s contemporary, Tom Roberts, shared his
passion for the Australian bush, and I remind you that,
for the Masterpieces for the Nation Fund, we are seeking
contributions toward the acquisition of Roberts’s brilliant
Shearing shed, Newstead 1893–94, one of the artist’s few
major works left in private hands. The Gallery relies on
the generous benefaction and support of the Australian
public to continue to collect and preserve masterpieces for
the national art collection. The Masterpieces of the Nation
Fund is an important initiative of our Foundation, whose
support is imperative to our continuing effort to develop
the collection.
The Gallery’s Development Office is also an important
element in the Gallery’s ability to mount major local
and international exhibitions in Australia, and to show
Australian art to the world. For example, the major
exhibition partnership between the Gallery and BHP
Billiton resulted in a national tour of Culture Warriors, the
inaugural Australian Indigenous Art Triennial, culminating in
the United States in Washington from 8 September 2009.
For Soft sculpture, the Development Office has
fostered a partnership with a difference—with MoMac
(a partnership between Molonglo Group and Macquarie
Bank). Along with their support of the exhibition,
MoMac has developed an innovative program of events
at their NewActon precinct in Canberra to coincide with
The Soft sculture exhibition at the Gallery, 24 April – 12 July 2009. Works from left to right: Richard Van Buren For
Najeeb 1972, Giselle Antmann Genetic
glimpse 1978, Ewa Pachucka Landscape
and bodies 1972.
artonview winter 2009 5
Soft sculpture, including a temporary sculpture–video
installation. Although this is not a joint project between
the Gallery and NewActon, we applaud MoMac’s creative
engagement with Soft sculpture and encourage audiences
to explore the events and installation at NewActon.
I have already mentioned new acquisitions and
new exhibitions. We are also adding to the permanent
Australian displays with some major loans. The Art Gallery
of South Australia, because of their partial closure of
galleries for the installation of new air conditioning and a
lighting system, has allowed us to borrow four works for
our Australian display. The National Gallery of Australia is
not as rich as it should be in works from the smaller states,
including South Australia, and three of the four works on
loan are by South Australian artists. There are two colonial
works, both portraits of the artists’ families. One is an
1840s portrait by Martha Berkeley, South Australia’s first
professional artist, of her three young daughters, painted
in her then newly established back garden in Walkerville,
Adelaide. The other is a portrait by Charles Hill of his family
at Sunday lunch in his front garden on South Terrace,
Adelaide, painted in about 1869. The two twentieth-
century works on loan are Grace Cossington Smith’s
brilliant Poinsettias 1931 and Dorrit Black’s masterful
postwar painting of outer Adelaide, The olive plantation
1946. The Gallery lacks a major work by the important
Modernist Dorrit Black.
Finally, throughout winter, there will be significant
changes on the main level as we refurbish our current
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gallery, which will
revert to being part of our international displays. We will
also be refitting the current site of the NGA Shop with a
new permanent display of Sydney Nolan’s Ned Kelly series,
as well as purpose-built showcases for our collection of
costumes and jewellery and a significant display area for
photography. During this time of change, a temporary shop
will be set up near the Asian galleries on the way to the
cafe. We hope to keep the impact of these refurbishments
to a minimum and know that you will still enjoy your time
with us as we endeavour to make the Gallery an even
better place to visit.
Ron Radford AM
6 national gallery of australia
DonationsGeoffrey and Vicki Ainsworth
Antoinette Albert and Rupert Rosenblum
Susan and Michael Armitage
Beverly Allen
Philip Bacon AM
Betty Beaver AM
Ann Burge
Julian Burt
Nick Burton Taylor AM and Julia Burton Taylor
John Calvert Jones AM and Janet Calvert Jones AO
Terrence Campbell AO and Christine Campbell
Jim Cousins AO and Libby Cousins
Cowra Art Gallery
Charles Curran AC and Eva Curran
Terence and Lynn Fern
John Grant AM and Inge Grant
Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett
Meredith Hinchliffe
John and Rosanna Hindmarsh
The Hon Robert Hunter QC and Pauline Hunter
Claudia Hyles
WG Jack
John Kaldor AM and Naomi Milgrom
Carolyn Kay and Simon Swaney
Sir Richard Kingsland AO, CBE, DFC and Lady Kingsland
Dr Colin Laverty OAM and Elizabeth Laverty
Paul Legge Wilkinson and Beryl Legge Wilkinson
Andrew Lu OAM
Robert and Susie Maple-Brown
Maureen McLoughlin
Rupert Myer AM and Annabel Myer
Myer Foundation
Claude Neumann
Roslyn Packer AO
Terry and Mary Peabody
Jason Prowd
Alan Rose AO and Helen Rose
John Schaeffer AO and Bettina Dalton
Penelope Seidler AM
Dr Gene and Brian Sherman AM
Dr David Smithers AM and Isobel Smithers
Village Roadshow Limited
Muriel Wilkinson
Peronelle and Jim Windeyer
Peter Webster
John Wylie AM and Myriam Wylie
Lou Westende OAM and Mandy Thomas-Westende
Ray Wilson OAM
Notified Bequest Richard Gate
GiftsJane Bradhurst
Patrick Corrigan AM
Patrica Dalton
Rodney Glick
Annette Iggulden
The Heike Foundation
Professor Anthony Low
Richard Tipping
GrantsThe Gordon Darling Foundation
A Dementia Community Grant funded as part of the
Australian Government’s Dementia Initiative.
Visions of Australia through its Contemporary Touring
Initiative, an Australian Government program
supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding
assistance for the development and touring of
Australian cultural material across Australia, and
through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative
of the Australian Government, and state and territory
governments
SponsorshipActewAGL
Adshel
apARTments
Brassey Hotel of Canberra
BHP Billiton
Bistro Guillaume and Guillaume at Bennelong
Canberra Times
Diamant Hotel
Eckersley’s Art & Craft
Even Keel Wines
Forrest Hotel and Apartments
Gallagher’s Wine
Grandiflora
Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Mantra on Northbourne
National Australia Bank
NewActon
Qantas
Sony Foundation Australia
Threesides
Yalumba Wines
WIN Television
ZOO
credit lines
artonview winter 2009 7
Foundation
On the weekend of 21 and 22 March 2009, we celebrated
the twentieth anniversary of the Foundation by holding a
Gala Dinner and weekend of events at the National Gallery
of Australia. Proceeds from the dinner raised $107 000,
which assisted in the acquisition of the Edgar Degas pastel
Woman bathing (Femme á sa toilette) c 1880–85—with
major funding to secure this work having been obtained
through the Orde Poynton Bequest. The Gallery was
delighted at the opportunity to secure this work for the
national art collection. See page 30 for an acquisition
article by Jane Kinsman, Senior Curator, International Art.
We were delighted that guests travelled from
many states to join us in this celebration, which began
with a luncheon in the Sculpture Garden, among the
Rodin sculptures. Guests then toured the Conservation
department, where they had the opportunity to view
the beautiful Ballet Russes costumes being restored and
repaired. The afternoon concluded with a guided tour
of the exhibitions Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists
1915–1950 and Degas’ world: the rage for change.
The highlight of the weekend was, of course, the Gala
Dinner, where guests were welcomed by Director Ron
Radford at a champagne reception in the Sculpture Gallery,
followed by a private viewing of the exhibition Degas:
master of French art. The curator, Jane Kinsman, introduced
the exhibition and spoke about the new acquisition
Woman bathing. The sumptuous dinner, prepared by the
award-winning guest chef Guillaume Brahimi, was held in
the magnificently prepared space immediately adjoining the
exhibition. To conclude the weekend, guests enjoyed an
elegant Sunday brunch at the French Embassy, generously
hosted by the Ambassador His Excellency Michel Filhol and
Mrs Catherine Filhol.
We were very fortunate to receive sponsorship for this
event. We would especially like to thank Guillaume Brahimi
and his team from Guillaume at Bennelong, Sydney. We
would also thank Saskia Havekes from Grandiflora, Sydney,
for the wonderful flowers, and Sam Coverdale from Even
Keel Wines, Mornington Peninsula, for supplying the wine.
Masterpieces for the Nation FundWe are pleased that the work of art to be acquired
through our Masterpieces for the Nation Fund is Tom
Roberts’s Shearing shed, Newstead 1893–94. This is an
iconic work of art depicting a rural scene by Australia’s
foremost artist of the nineteenth and early twentieth
century. Our aim is to raise $100 000 to assist with the
acquisition of this painting. A brochure on the Masterpieces
for the Nation Fund and further details on this work of art
are included with this issue of artonview. All donations
make a difference and will help us to achieve our goal.
For further information or to make a donation over the
phone, please contact the Gallery’s Foundation Office on
(02) 6240 6454.
Major giftsAndrew and Hiroko Gwinnett have been supporters for
many years and, through their generous benefaction, have
helped the Gallery to develop its collection of Japanese art.
They have recently donated to further enhance this area of
the national art collection.
Brian Sherman AM and Dr Gene Sherman have also
generously helped the Gallery to enrich the contemporary
Asian art collection. Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa’s
installation Clear lotus 2009 has been acquired through the
Gene and Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Fund
and is currently on display in the exhibition Soft sculpture.
See page 32 for an article on this intriguing work.
The Foundation Board extends its thanks to Dr Sherman,
who has been a director of the National Gallery of Australia
Foundation for nine years and has now joined the board of
the National Portrait Gallery. We wish her great success in
her new role.
Rupert Myer AM and Annabel Myer recently gifted
Tracey Moffatt’s series First jobs 2008. The series comprises
12 works of art, and we are grateful for this very generous
gift that will expand and complement the Gallery’s current
collection of works by Tracey Moffatt.
Guests celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation at the special Gala Dinner to raise funds for the acquisition of Edgar Degas’s Woman bathing 1880–85 .
8 national gallery of australia
Sponsors Circle, a new sponsorship initiativeThe Sponsors Circle is a new sponsorship initiative in
which Canberra companies are offered the opportunity to
contribute creatively to the marketing and promotion of
exhibitions. In addition to the benefits of the Corporate
Members Program, the Sponsors Circle provides
opportunities for networking and the lively exchange of
ideas. The exhibition Soft sculpture was a great opportunity
to introduce this new initiative.
Soft sculpture
The apARTments at NewActon (Exhibition Partners)
We extend our gratitude to our Exhibition Partners The
apARTments at NewActon, a joint venture between
Canberra developers Molonglo Group and Macquarie Group.
This unique partnership with the Gallery focuses on
an innovative program of events at NewActon to coincide
with Soft sculpture, including Spooky action at a distance
(24 April – 12 July 2009), a temporary sculpture–video
installation by national and international artists and curators.
We would like to thank Johnathan and Nectar Efkarpidis
and Suzi McKinnon for their enthusiastic vision in working
with us to create a partnership with a difference. Thank you
to our Exhibition Partners for hosting a tremendous after-
party on the night of the exhibition opening. It was a night
of music and art-infused festivities to remember.
Through this support, our Exhibition Partners are
demonstrating their engagement and commitment to the
arts on local, national and international levels.
ZOO (Sponsors Circle)
We welcome Zoo as sponsors of the National Gallery and
extend our gratitude for their support of Soft sculpture.
We would especially like to thank Pawl Cubbin, CEO,
Peter Ring, Managing Director, Judy Waters, Senior Client
Manager/Associate Partner, Clinton Hutchinson, Senior Art
Director/Associate Partner, and the entire team at ZOO for
their enthusiasm in supporting this exhibition.
WIN Television (Sponsors Circle)
In addition to sponsoring Degas: master of French art,
we would like to thank WIN Television for their support of
Soft sculpture. Their commitment to assisting the Gallery
to promote and communicate our exhibitions is greatly
appreciated. We thank Corey Pitt, Station Manager, Natalie
Tanchevski, Advertising Account Executive, and the entire
team at WIN Television.
Canberra Times (Sponsors Circle)
We are also grateful to Canberra Times for their support
of Soft sculpture and for their ongoing commitment to
working collaboratively with the Gallery. Promotions,
competitions and ongoing editorial coverage of our
exhibitions are vital to the exhibition marketing campaign
and assist the Gallery in communicating exhibitions and
programs to the community. We welcome the new editor,
Rodd Quinn, and our thanks also goes to Ken Nichols,
General Manager, Kylie Dennis and Ann Ronning.
Diamant Hotel (Sponsors Circle)
We welcome Diamant Hotel as sponsors of the Gallery
and thank them for their generosity as the official
accommodation sponsor for Soft sculpture. We also express
our appreciation for their assistance in the opening-night
after-party and for providing accommodation to all artists
and special guests throughout the course of the exhibition.
Thank you to Konstanze Werhahn-Mees, Group Marketing/
PR Manager, Eight Hotels, Chris Hastings, General Manager,
Diamant Hotel, and the entire team at the Diamant Hotel.
Threesides (Sponsors Circle)
The local marketing, online and training business
Threesides have become sponsors of the Gallery and the
exhibition Soft sculpture. We are grateful to the Threesides
team for their support and the energy in which they
have approached this partnership. Our special thanks to
company directors Clint and Todd Wright.
Development
Jane Kinsman, curator of Degas, discussing
the work of the French master at the special
Corporate Members and Yalumba Dinner
on 5 March 2009.
artonview winter 2009 9
Gallagher Wines
We extend our appreciation to Gallagher Wines as the
official wine sponsor of the Soft sculpture opening. We
would like to thank Greg and Libby Gallagher and Bill
Mason from Z4 Wines. Members of the National Gallery
of Australia had the opportunity to excite their senses
with a tour of Soft sculpture followed by a wine tasting by
Gallagher Wines, renowned as one of the region’s finest
wine producers.
National Australia Bank—Sculpture Garden SundayWe recognise and thank the National Australia Bank for its
continued support of the Gallery’s annual family day event
Sculpture Garden Sunday, with a special thank you to Jan
Hopkins, Senior Business Banking Partner, NAB Business,
for her warm words of welcome on the day. Over 1700
children and adults enjoyed workshops, music and the
mandatory Scout’s sausage sizzle. Many also explored the
National Australia Bank Sculpture Gallery with the children’s
trail booklet that was launched at last year’s event.
BHP Billiton—Culture WarriorsCongratulations and thanks go to BHP Billiton as Principal
Sponsor of Culture Warriors, the inaugural Australian
Indigenous Art Triennial. The exhibition travelled nationally
to the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide, Art
Gallery of Western Australia in Perth and to the Gallery
of Modern Art in Brisbane. The partnership with BHP
Billiton has produced powerful outcomes, not the least
of which is the national, and soon to be international,
exposure given to 30 Indigenous artists from around
Australia. The national tour closed in Brisbane on 10 May
2009, and the exhibition begins at the University Art
Museum at the Katzen Art Center in Washington, DC,
on 8 September 2009.
Corporate Members ProgramYalumba Wines, with the Corporate Members Program,
held its second evening of fine art, wine and dining in
conjunction with the exhibition Degas: master of French
art on 5 March 2009. Yalumba winemaker, communicator
and raconteur Jane Ferrari entertained guests with stories
of her extensive travels, life and expert wine knowledge.
This annual event was a great success, and we would
like to thank Yalumba Wines for their commitment in
partnering with the Gallery for major exhibitions over the
past two years.
Thank you to Eckersley’s Art and Craft as a sponsor of
the National Gallery’s annual family day event Sculpture
Garden Sunday on Sunday 8 March.
We would like to thank all our sponsors and corporate
members. If you would like more information about
sponsorship and development at the National Gallery of
Australia, contact Frances Corkhill on + 61 2 6240 6740 or
[email protected], or contact Belinda Cotton on
+ 61 2 6240 6556 or [email protected].
Jan Hopkins, Senior Partner—Business, National Australia Bank, and Jo Krabman, Gallery Educator, facilitated some of the many fun activities at the National Gallery of Australia’s Sculpture Garden Sunday on 8 March 2009.
Christine Wallace, Michael Costello, Managing Director, ActewAGL, and their daughter at the ActewAGL Degas Dinner on the evening of 8 March 2009.
10 national gallery of australia
Artists continually reinvent the world we live in. Their
works have the capacity to surprise us and enable us to
see the world afresh. The exhibition Reinventions is about
the surprising, inventive adaptation of materials and
ideas, including the ways in which artists engage with
subjects of ongoing fascination: portraiture and identity,
nature and abstraction, poetry and music, childhood
and mortality. A dialogue with the past in the process of
transformation is inherent in the art of assemblage: the
process of re-assembling and re-constructing discarded,
found objects and materials in new contexts. In this
exhibition, found machinery parts, fragments of a piano,
sawn wooden crates, a wide-eyed doll’s head, recycled
magazines, portable turntables and a punching bag are
just some examples of used objects adapted by artists in
intriguing assemblages. A similarly inventive approach also
appears in the use of materials such as crystal, Easter egg
foil wrappers, bamboo, sand, fabric and porcelain in a diverse
range of sculptures.
The exhibition Reinventions includes contemporary
treasures from the collection: works from the 1960s and
1970s by Robert Klippel, Rosalie Gascoigne and Colin
Lanceley, with those of a younger generation including
Neil Roberts, Ricky Swallow and Tim Horn. The works of
Gascoigne, Klippel and Lanceley show them to be masters
of assemblage. Their inventive approaches to sculpture
have some striking parallels with artists in the present. The
earliest work is Lanceley’s dynamic, intricate assemblage
Pianist, pianist where are you? 1965, while the most
recent is Ricky Swallow’s meditation on mortality and
love, Tusk 2007. What the artists share in common are
innovative approaches to materials and making, a desire to
take risks and a capacity for ongoing reinvention in their
own work.
exhibition
Reinventions: sculpture + assemblage
16 May – 13 September 2009 | Project Gallery
Colin Lanceley Pianist, pianist where are
you? 1964–65 stained and painted
wood, enamel, polychrome piano
keyboard and sounding board
183.5 x 248.5 x 30 cm National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra Purchased 1976
artonview winter 2009 11
Robert Klippel (1920–2001) was an artist who
continually reinvented himself in his work over the years.
In the process, he dramatically reinvigorated sculpture
in this country. In Reinventions, his works No. 250 metal
construction 1970 and No. 813 painted wood construction
1989 reveal connections as well as dramatic leaps across his
own art practice. Although Klippel’s early work was made
from carving stone and wood, he started to incorporate
found materials in his works in the 1940s. By the 1960s
and 1970s, Klippel’s passion for experimentation was
matched only by his remarkable accumulation of materials
of the machine age, such as typewriter parts and an
array of found objects. He was interested in correlations
between mechanical and organic forms, what he described
as ‘machine-organic’ inter-relationships. In No. 250 metal
construction, the framed construction of linear and
curved forms is like a drawing in air. While the spikes
suggest an element of danger, it is essentially the formal,
non-representational aspects of the work that make it
so striking and convincing. The suspension and lightness
of this welded assemblage stands in dramatic contrast
to the later monumental presence of No. 813 painted
wood construction. Yet monumentality in Klippel’s art is
never grandiose. It is connected with things of humble
origins transformed to enable us to see them afresh. The
impressive scale is enlivened by the dynamic freewheeling
interactions of pattern-parts for machinery. The colour in
Klippel’s construction connects with another striking work,
Pianist, pianist where are you? by Colin Lanceley (born 1938).
Klippel and Lanceley were friends in the 1960s and
shared many conversations about art and literature.
Lanceley was inspired by the inventiveness of Klippel’s
approach and interest in the relationships between collage
and construction. Lanceley was, however, more overtly
Robert Klippel No. 813 painted wood construction 1989 painted wood 180 x 187 x 100 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Costain Resources Ltd 1992
Robert Klippel No. 250 metal construction 1970 brazed and welded steel, found objects 64.7 x 31.2 x 26 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1977
12 national gallery of australia
concerned with poetic metaphors for human experience,
noting that the unexpected relationships between disparate
objects formed a poetic thread of creative possibility. In the
early 1960s, Lanceley, with Mike Brown and Ross Crothall,
formed a group known as the Annandale Imitation Realists.
Together they experimented with assemblage in the form
of giant collages constructed out of an array of discarded
materials from contemporary life. By the mid 1960s,
the group had disbanded, but Lanceley continued to
experiment with assemblage, resulting in impressive works
like Pianist, pianist where are you?, exhibited at Gallery A
soon after it was completed. The title evokes a sense
of play, humour and poetic inference. In its fabrication,
the work is both an imaginative reconstruction and
deconstruction of musical associations. It simultaneously
gathers and exposes the intricate parts of the whole, as
though the very idea of music-making is encapsulated
in the rhythms of the black and white keys, the exposed
strings and sculpted objects moving organically around the
whole. The artist recalls the excitement he felt at the time:
Pieces of a small organ and the innards of a Bluthner
piano dumped in the bush could be, in themselves, the
subject for a work, but at the time it was the excitement
of finding the materials and of re-constructing them after
an imagined model that interested me. The transformation
of materials, the metamorphosis, informed by a poetic
sensibility, is the key to creativity.1
A feeling for poetry is present in the work of one of
Australia’s most persistent and significant assemblage
artists, Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999). Her assemblages
of the 1970s, often framed in boxes, reveal her sharp, clear
vision for the placement of forms. Gascoigne’s feeling for
the inter-relationship of text and image became increasingly
present in her work but was already apparent in The
colonel’s lady 1976. Close inspection of the objects, images
and product labels, reveal her wry wit. For New Zealand-
born Gascoigne, who grew up in the interwar years and
came to Australia in 1943, the interplay of symbols is
telling: tins of Kiwi boot polish, a boxing kangaroo, the
repetition of ‘Waratah’ of her adopted country, references
to Britain in the flag and ‘the Queen of Brooms’. The
combined labels and objects, including a doll’s head and
dismembered torso beneath colourful shotgun cartridges,
make The colonel’s lady an intriguing contemporary
diorama; a wry, intimate cross-cultural dialogue with the past.
This work contrasts dramatically with Gascoigne’s later
expansive assemblage Wheat belt 1989, with its more
obvious landscape associations. Comprising diagonal shards
from soft-drink crates across four separate panels, the work
is at once screen-like and evocative of the environment—of
the warmth of the sun, the rustle of dry grasses in the wind
and the weathered pale grey landscape affected by searing
elements. Gascoigne, who lived and worked in Canberra
Rosalie Gascoigne The colonel’s lady 1976
mixed media 39.1 x 59.7 x 8.8 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 1976
artonview winter 2009 13
for many years, noted that her country was the eastern
seaboard of Lake George and the Highlands, scoured by
the sun and frost. Rather than tell a literal story, she wanted
to find the truth of her experience in material that had a
previous life within it:
Beware of nice things that you find that say nothing: they
are like new wood from a hardware shop. I look for things
that have been somewhere, done something. Second
hand materials aren’t deliberate; they have had sun and
wind on them. Simple things. From simplicity you get to
profundity.2
Neil Roberts (1954–2002) was fascinated in his art by the
material memory of objects—the idea that they could
in some ways transmit their histories through their very
materiality. He often used glass as a sculptural component
in his works and liked the idea of rehabilitating discarded
objects. He was interested in ideas around masculinity and
activities such as rural labour and sport, including football
and boxing. The brilliance of his work Half ether, half dew
mixed with sweat 2000 resides in the way that he retains
the integrity of the original object of the punching bag
while simultaneously transforming it within a glistening
lead-light casing, opening up multiple associations in the
process. Roberts wanted to capture something of the
inherent history of the punching bag; the imperceptible
substances and energies gathered over years and years.
As he noted:
I wondered about the metaphysical visibility of all the force
that had been applied to this punching bag in its time, and
how such a trace might appear. The bag is an absorbent
object, a kind of filter or pad that stands in for the body it
resembles, and it required some form of extraction or
distillation to make visible the substances imbedded within it.3
Roberts found an answer in a line from a poem by the
American artist Raymond Pettibon: ‘half ether, half dew
mixed with sweat’. Then, as he noted, ‘Like the gradual
planetary transformation in J.G. Ballard’s book The Crystal
World, a crystalline carapace in copper-foil glasswork
overtook the punching bag’.4 To draw that structure,
Roberts looked to a tradition of glass-making in the work
of the famous early twentieth-century American glassmaker
Louis Comfort Tiffany. For Roberts, Tiffany’s signature
imagery of Arcadian wisteria and grapevines seemed to
also be an evocation of crystalline growth. Suspended in
mid-air the punching bag conflates the tough sport of
boxing with the lyrical refinement of Tiffany’s design. The
contrast between the solidity of the bag and the mutability
and fragility of the glass can also be seen as a metaphor for
male strength and vulnerability.
Over the past ten years, Ricky Swallow (born 1974)
has become one of Australia’s most highly regarded
contemporary artists. His series Even the odd orbit
1998–99, shown in the Melbourne International Biennial,
created a stir. Six works from the series were gifted by
Peter Fay to the National Gallery of Australia. One of them,
Rooftop shootout with chimpanzee 1999, comprised a
model of the Melbourne building where the works were
shown in the Biennial. Swallow made a cardboard model
of this ten-storey building as a theatrical stage-set for a
shootout. On the rooftop small-scale figures including a
chimpanzee wielding a gun, recalls big hits of cinema,
such as Star wars, and innumerable B-grade movies. With
a miniaturists eye for detail and a remarkable capacity
for reinvention, Swallow linked this ‘happening’ with a
turntable base mechanism which allows the chimpanzee
to rotate at the press of a button. In our current high-tech
world, the portable record players as bases for these works
are like relics of the past invested with new life.
The idea of the past being part of the present is a
recurrent theme in Swallow’s work. He recalls that, while
he was coming up with ideas for Tusk, he was playing
Fleetwood Mac’s song of the same title in his studio.
There is an interplay of life-like or death-like qualities in
this intriguing sculpture. At first sight, the bones appear
uncannily real as a result of the patination of the bronze.
Part of the process of making, for Swallow, is to continually
challenge himself, technically and philosophically—to be
open to reinvention. As he noted:
Neil Roberts Half ether, half dew mixed with sweat 2000 canvas, cotton, leather, glass, copper foil and metal 244 x 28 x 28 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2002
artonview winter 2009 15
I told myself in the studio this year that I’d ‘stop making
sense,’ meaning I’d try to make works that were harder
to discuss and hopefully more successful as a result.
Tusk came about in a very improvised fashion through
playing around with these bones in the studio, and when
by chance they formed this heart, it seemed perfect. Its
important how fused the hands are in the sculpture, how
they make one object together, and perhaps in this way
it’s a symbol for the security and proposed endurance of
love or union … The work in person has a tactility which
is more ambiguous than my other bronze finishes (due
to its white patina), the surface complicates the material
seeming more brittle than metal.5
Reinventing the past in the present through diverse
materials recurs in the engaging works Glass slipper (ugly
blister) 2001 and Stheno 2006 by Tim Horn (born 1964).
His audacious glass slipper gives the Cinderella story a
contemporary twist. It is simultaneously a play on aspects
of his own identity and his fascination with eighteenth-
century culture. Living in Paris in the late 1990s, Horn
studied Baroque art and eighteenth-century jewellery and
fashion design. The shape of the glass slipper originates
from an eighteenth-century engraving and the pattern
from eighteenth-century jewellery. Horn also adapted the
eighteenth-century idea of foiling non-precious stones in
his use of Easter egg foil and lead crystal. The sculpture
appears to be glowing with shimmering rosy light, as if lit
from within. The dramatically enlarged scale of the shoe
creates a tension between dark humour and seductive
beauty, constriction and desire. Horn recalls that the impetus
for reworking the Cinderella theme came about when his
mother was reading a feminist deconstruction of fairytales.
It struck him that there were parallels in the behaviour
of his mother, sister and himself in wanting to find ‘the
perfect prince’ of the Cinderella myth to make life complete.
So making this work was a way of examining what I
perceive to be that behaviour and constricting objects to
illustrate that dynamic … [to] rewrite that Cinderella story
from a queer perspective informed by my experience. I
wanted to take the story, tear it up and cut and paste it
back together so that the characters weren’t squeaky clean
and predictable … The image is opulent and seductive but
I really wanted the title to suggest a counter-quality … I’m
interested in the polarities and finding the point at where
the beautiful becomes the grotesque and vice versa … I
was concerned with making an object of visual complexity
… [with] that element of visual excitement.6
A sense of play and revisiting the past is also apparent
in Knowledge 1999 by David Watt (1952–1998). In this
layered, imaginatively configured installation, we discover
images of childhood learning. Constructed with care
and deadpan humour, Watt carved and painted objects
pertaining to all manner of topics: geography, history,
science, anatomy, nutrition, animals, transport and
mythology. Set along a shelf, the experience of the work is
an incremental journey on which we discover overlapping
images, bold disparities of scale and surreal, absurd
juxtapositions of fact and fiction. It is a world that engages
with the artist’s childhood of the 1950s and, specifically,
the magazine Knowledge that was filled with these kinds
of images. As Gordon Bull wrote:
David had been seriously ill as a child in the ’50s and
early ’60s. He was bedridden for extended periods and
his loving parents gave the little boy books and lots of
magazines. One of those magazines was ‘Knowledge: the
new colour magazine which grows into an encyclopaedia’.
Produced for children and marketed in the format of
weekly pamphlets sold at the newsagent or corner shop,
‘Knowledge’ was a commodity which promised growth
and development through accumulation. It was a boy’s
own world of information.7
David Watt Knowledge 1991–95 synthetic polymer paint on composition board 540 cm (dimensions variable) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2000
(opposite) Ricky Swallow Tusk 2007 cast bronze with white patina 50 x 105 x 6 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of the Prescott Family Foundation, 2008
Timothy Horn Glass slipper (ugly blister) 2001 lead crystal, nickel-plated bronze, Easter egg foil, silicon 51 x 72 x 33 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2002
16 national gallery of australia
Watt had migrated with his family from Scotland to
Australia and the magazine Knowledge reflects in part the
closeness he felt to his parents (particularly his father). It is
the memory of another time and place, real and imagined,
brought into our present. The humour in relation to
stereotypic 1950s images and approaches is quirky and
gentle rather than acerbic. In line with the encyclopedic
aspect of Knowledge, the multiplicity of objects suggests
the sheer impossibility of ever knowing it all. No matter
when or where we find ourselves in the world, the
knowledge pool just keeps on growing, unstoppably and
ultimately unknowably.
In contrast with the accumulation of objects and images
in Knowledge, Hossein Valamanesh’s Falling 1990 is about
distillation. The silhouette of the figure flying and falling is a
kind of portrait, as though the essence of self, of body and
spirit, has been transmuted into the substances of earth
and air. Valamanesh (born 1949) came to Australia from
Iran in 1970 and his experience of the desert landscape
that he encountered on an early visit to Central Australia
represented common ground with similar landscapes of
his original homeland. The swooping lines of Falling are
made from bamboo, which appears seamlessly joined with
the torso and head of the figure carved out of wood and
encrusted with red earth. The idea of a minimal silhouette
as a portrait was also apparent in a related work, Falling
breeze 1991, in which Valamanesh adapted the outline
of his son Nassiem, whose name in Farsi means ‘breeze’.
For years Valamanesh has been inspired by the poetry of
the Sufi poet and mystic Rumi and his capacity to convey
an inner life. In relation to Falling, the artist also refers to
another literary source, as he explains:
In his book The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie describes
the mid-air explosion of a passenger airliner on its way
from India to England. He describes vividly bodies and
debris falling towards the ocean beneath. Gibreel Farishta
happens to be on this flight and, as everything around him
falls apart, he gracefully falls, lands on the surface of the
ocean and walks to the beach. Falling was my reading of
this soft landing.
Leaving behind the narrative of the book, it stands for
itself and it is more like falling with grace.8
The head of the falling figure rests on a circle of polished
black granite that has a reflective surface, like water. The
precise choices of materials that Valamanesh makes in his
work is a concern shared by Ah Xian (born 1960) who also
explores relationships between portraiture and nature in
his intriguing, often exquisite, portrait busts. In his work
he again makes connections with his personal, familial,
cultural past reinvented in the present. Ah Xian arrived
in Australia from Beijing in 1989 and experienced both a
sense of liberation and loss in relation to China. His way of
overcoming his feeling of disconnection was to reconnect
with the culture in a meaningful way. He regularly travels
artonview winter 2009 17
back to China to make work, drawing on traditional skills.
In his porcelain busts, the idea of reinvention is as much
to do with ideas as it is to do with materials; with keeping
traditions alive and transforming them in personal ways
that would have been unimaginable in the past.
In China China bust 15 1999 the hand-painted
decoration of a traditional design is like a second skin or
tattoo. As well as being a physical layer, it suggests an
imprint on the psyche—as though a former culture travels
with us and is heightened by the perspectives of a new and
different culture. Respecting nature is another central tenet
of Ah Xian’s thinking that also comes to the fore in the
meditative, calm aura of China China bust 80 2004 in
which lotus blooms and leaves float on the body. The
aspect of reverie is important to Ah Xian, who writes: ‘It is
about a beautiful dream, it is about fancy and fantasy, and
it is about human beings, the natural environment surrounding
us and the civilisation we have evolved’.9 He is concerned
that the technologies we have been advancing are not respectful
of nature. His work reminds us that we are the ancestors of
the future, laying the groundwork for what will follow in
hundreds of years time. As he recently wrote, reinvention
can be both about union and creating something new:
When I think about human history and civilization, it
always appears to be like a string: one extreme is old time
and tradition, current and contemporary is the other.
Interestingly, when we turn and join the two extremes
together, it forms a perfect circle and creates a new
language of art.10
What the varied works in the Reinventions exhibition reveal
is that sculptures and assemblages from the 1960s to the
present continue to have a vital presence in Australian art.
The exhibition is being held as part of a season sculpture
at the Gallery, overlapping for a time with Soft sculpture
and coinciding with a program of talks about sculptures on
display throughout the galleries.
Deborah Hart Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post 1920
notes1 Colin Lanceley, in Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia,
ed Anne Gray, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p 262.2 Rosalie Gascoigne, quoted in James Mollison and Steven Heath,
‘Rosalie Gascoigne in her own words’, Rosalie Gascoigne: material as landscape, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1997, p 7.
3 Neil Roberts, in Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, p 426.4 Roberts, p 426.5 Ricky Swallow, interview in Goth: reality of the departed world,
exhibition catalogue, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, 2007, p 169.
6 Tim Horn, in conversation with Beatrice Gralton, in National Sculpture Prize and exhibition 2001, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2001, p 48.
7 Gordon Bull, in David Watt: a tribute, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Düsseldorf and Stephanie Jones, Perth, 2000, p 3.
8 Hossein Valamanesh, in Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, p 377.
9 Ah Xian, in Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, p 420.10 Ah Xian, correspondence with Deborah Hart, 3 April 2009.
Hossein Valamanesh Falling 1990 wood, bamboo, sand, steel, black granite 390 x 55 x 50 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2002
Ah Xian China China bust 15 1999 cast porcelain, with hand-painted underglaze decoration 34.8 x 36.6 x 20 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2000
18 national gallery of australia
McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17 showcases the work
that Frederick McCubbin produced during the last eleven
years of his life. It traces the radical changes in McCubbin’s
work—after he viewed the works of JMW Turner and
Claude Monet in London and Paris—and seeks to redefine
this important Australian artist to show the way he
developed a freer and more expressive art in his final years.
The exhibition considers McCubbin’s innovative
approach to image making through the variety of his
handling of paint and his striking use of colour. It looks at
how he was concerned with conveying the varying effects
of light—sparkling, flickering and hazed light. It also points
to his interest in depicting the moods of nature and the
different aspects of the changing seasons.
McCubbin gradually developed his approach over
many years, continually building on his experience,
drawing inspiration from a range of sources. Always and
fundamentally his inspiration came from nature and the
visual world around him. When his former colleagues
Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton began to lose their
way, McCubbin continued to advance. Indeed, in 1909,
McCubbin wrote to Roberts that ‘in our past work we have
been too timid’.1 He was painting with greater freedom,
applying his pigments rapidly, to achieve broken fractured
surfaces with high-keyed colour.
McCubbin once quoted Monet as observing that ‘Light
is the chief sitter everywhere’, and this is true of many of
McCubbin’s later paintings.2 When visiting Europe in 1907,
he was hugely impressed by Turner’s work, praising the
brilliance and luminosity of Turner’s late works:
… they glow with a tender brilliancy that radiates from
these canvasses—how he loved the dazzling brilliancy of
morning or evening—these gems with their opal colour—
you feel how he gloried in these tender visions of light and
air. He worked from darkness into light.3
When he returned to Australia he sought to capture
something of Turner’s radiant light in his paintings.
Indeed, more than any particular subject, it is light that
is the subject of McCubbin’s last impressions: the light
of early morning and early nightfall, and the glow of the
setting sun.
In his last impressions, McCubbin expressed his sense
of delight in and comfort within the bush. Gone is his
grey-green palette, and in its place is one of many colours:
pinks, purples, golds and a huge variety of green. Here,
men work productively at their labours, sawing wood or
hauling timber, at one with the landscape. Here, there are
happy children, with little girls roaming freely in the bush,
picking berries, without fear.
McCubbin claimed that ‘it is precisely the pictures
of things familiar to us, of homely subjects … which
most appeal to us, and more often therefore rise to true
greatness’.4 During his last years, McCubbin painted
landscapes that he knew well: the bush around his own
property at Mount Macedon and the views around his
home at South Yarra. Here, he could paint unhindered,
without concerns for what other artists were doing.
He looked at this landscape as one might the face of a
beloved, exploring it each day afresh, seeing new and
exciting aspects in it, capturing its changing moods and
expressions.
There are also other subjects in these last impressions:
the industrial life of the stone crusher at the Burnley Quarry,
the shipping activity around the piers at Williamstown,
as well as images of the inner city streets of Melbourne.
In these works, McCubbin showed that Australia was no
longer just a place of pioneers—that Melbourne was a
modern, established city—where people lived comfortably
in the landscape, where industry prospered, where goods
came in and out of the country and where trams and cars
transported people to a bustling city life.
Anne Gray Head of Australian Art
A book published in conjunction with the exhibition is available at the NGA Shop from 14 August for $39.95 (RRP $45.95).
notes1 Frederick McCubbin, letter to Tom Roberts, 27 January 1909, in
Letters to Tom Roberts, vol 2, no 18, MS ML A2478, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
2 McCubbin, quoted in James MacDonald, The art of Frederick McCubbin, Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, 1986, p 84 (Lothian Book Publishing, Melbourne, 1916).
3 McCubbin, letter to Annie McCubbin, 19 July 1907, Frederick McCubbin Papers c 1900 – c 1915, MS 8525, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne.
4 Bridget Whitelaw, The art of Frederick McCubbin, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1991, p 104.
McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17
Largeness of vision
14 August – 1 November 2009 | Exhibition Galleries
for thcoming exhibition
Frederick McCubbin Setting sun c 1911 oil on wood panel
23.6 x 33.4 cm Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
MJM Carter AO Collection, 2006
Collins Street c 1915 oil on cardboard
25 x 35.3 cm Geelong Gallery, Geelong
HP Douglass Bequest Fund
20 national gallery of australia
conservation
The National Gallery of Australia has 16 paintings by
Frederick McCubbin in its collection, seven of which are
from his earlier period. The earliest works in the collection,
painted while he was at the National Gallery School in
Melbourne in 1886, are Sunset glow, Girl with bird at the
King Street bakery and At the falling of the year. Although
he didn’t study abroad like so many of his contemporaries
at the time, McCubbin was driven by a naturalist impulse
derived from painters such as Jules Bastien-Lepage
(1848–1884), Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929) and
George Clausen (1852–1944).
With his only visit to Europe in 1906, McCubbin’s
naturalism was replaced with the painterly concerns of the
Impressionists and his particular appreciation for the late
works of JMW Turner (1775–1851). The muted light and
tone of his early works were replaced in his later paintings
with skeins of pure colour woven across the surface of the
canvas. Works, such as Violet and gold 1911 and Afterglow
1912, are masterpieces of this mature style, painted by an
artist confident in his abilities.
The paintings of his last decade are the subject of
the Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition McCubbin: Last
Impressions 1907–17. In preparation for the exhibition,
the Gallery began an active program of conservation on
the McCubbin paintings held in the national collection.
Although McCubbin’s subjects and themes remained similar
throughout his career, a close examination of his works
reveals the marked changes in the painterly techniques
by which he sought to portray familiar views from around
his home—firstly in suburban Melbourne, then at Mount
Macedon and finally in South Yarra.
In these dreams of colour: a close examination of
McCubbin’s paintings in the national collection
Frederick McCubbin Girl with bird at the
King Street bakery 1886 oil on canvas 40.7 x 46 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 1969
(fig 1) X-ray showing the portrait beneath the painting Girl with bird at
the King Street bakery 1886.
22 national gallery of australia
What this conservation program uncovered, beneath
the many layers of paint and discoloured varnish, are
fresh insights into these much loved works, as well as the
changes in the many small but important decisions an artist
makes during the creation of a painting—decisions about
supports, techniques, palette and surface coatings.
Throughout his career, McCubbin typically painted on
commercially prepared canvases supplied by artists’
colourmen in Melbourne, such as EW Cole in Collins
Street and W & G Dean of Equitable Place. McCubbin
probably originally bought his canvases ready stretched, as
several paintings such as Sunset glow 1886 and Girl with
clasped hands c 1900 remain on their original stretchers.
At the falling of the year 1899, from his early period, and
his later work Self-portrait c 1908 are both painted on
standard size, pre-stretched Winsor & Newton canvases,
which would have been imported from England by one of
his Melbourne suppliers.
Some of McCubbin’s early works, such as Winter
landscape c 1897 and Triumphal Arch at Princes Bridge,
Melbourne 1901, are on solid supports rather than canvas.
The former is painted on commercially prepared academy
board and the latter is on a whitewood panel—both of
which were commonly used by artists and were available
from artist suppliers. They were particularly useful for
plein air painting as they were inexpensive and portable.
Triumphal Arch at Princes Bridge, Melbourne is painted in a
typical manner for this type of study, with the paint applied
directly to the board and the natural tone of the wood
providing a mid-tone in the composition of the foreground.
Most earlier works, however, are painted on a medium-
fine plain woven linen canvas, which once the priming is
applied has only a modest weave pattern This would have
suited the painting technique he employed at the time
which depended on washes and scumbles of colour as well
as fine detailed brushwork.
The later paintings, on the other hand, are more
variable. While most of them are still on commercially
prepared canvases, there is a greater range of weights and
weaves. Violet and gold 1911, for example, is painted on
a heavy-weight linen canvas, while Floodwaters 1913 has
a strong twill weave. In both cases, the assertive canvas
weave is exploited as part of the work, giving further
depth to the energetic paint layer. Whether this was a
deliberate choice by the artist or a happy accident is open
to interpretation, as it is more likely that this variation in the
choice of painting support is purely pragmatic and driven
by financial constraints.
The broken fence 1907 for example, is painted on
a cotton canvas that the artist obviously sourced and
prepared himself. The blue stripe visible on the back, and
to some extent through the paint layer, suggests that this
material was originally meant for a domestic purpose such
as, perhaps, window awnings. The same material has also
(fig 2) An X-ray of Afterglow 1912 shows a portrait painting
beneath the landscape.
Frederick McCubbin Afterglow 1912
oil on canvas 91.5 x 117 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 1970
artonview winter 2009 23
(fig 3) Cross-section of Mount Macedon landscape with children playing 1911, magnified by 400x, showing two different paintings on one canvas: lower layers are the pale brown paint layers of original image; top layers form final image and show the swirling wet in wet paint application.
(fig 4) As fig 3 viewed in ultraviolet light, which shows a fluorescent zinc white ground, bright varnish layer through the middle of the cross-section (over the original image) and swirling pink fluorescent Rose Madder pigment in the top layers.
been found on a work in the National Gallery of Victoria’s
collection, suggesting that the artist had a small supply that
he used for painting.
Throughout his career, McCubbin also appears to have
maintained the practice of reusing canvases. Girl with
bird at the King Street bakery, for example, was originally
used to paint a portrait (possibly an early self-portrait) as
a palette is visible in the upper right of the X-ray (fig 1).
Afterglow, painted some 25 years later, has a painting of a
female figure underneath the surface (fig 2). X-rays of other
paintings have also revealed similar portraits beneath them.
Mount Macedon landscape with children playing 1911 was
probably first used for a portrait or figure painting before it
was cut down and the present image painted. The folds of
the old tacking margins and nail holes can be seen beneath
the paint, along both sides of the image. Several paintings,
including Child in the bush 1913, have also been cut down
from existing canvases and re-stretched onto old stretchers
before work began on the final image.
In all of the works in the national art collection,
McCubbin seems to have been happy with simple white
commercial priming and was content, at least initially, to
paint directly onto it.
In 1886, McCubbin was a drawing master at the
National Gallery School, and his approach to painting
reflects the influence of the school’s director George F
Folingsby. The paint layer in works from this period is built
up of thin washes of colour reinforced by more opaque
applications of paint. Compared to his later works his use
of impasto is minimal.
Although McCubbin worked more freely in his plein air
sketches and paintings, his 1886 Sunset glow is perhaps
representative of his preferred studio working method at
the time—and of Folingsby’s influence. As a first stage,
he blocked in the main composition in dark brown paint,
covering the whole surface. This approach of establishing
the shadows first with bituminous paints and working
from dark to light was old-fashioned by the standards of
the day, referring to academic practice from the first half
of the nineteenth century. Highlights and details have then
been applied in thicker paint while allowing the initial layer
to remain unaltered for much of the shadow areas. As
a result, light in the paintings is muted and modified by
the dark under-layers and, due to the oil paint becoming
more transparent in the intervening 120 years, the painting
has gradually become darker and warmer in overall tone.
A comparable method has been used in both Girl with
clasped hands and An autumn pastoral 1899.
McCubbin continued to use a variation of this method,
even in his later paintings; although, the washes tended to
refer more to the colours in the final composition. It can be
seen in the first layers of the cross-section from his later work
of 1911, Mount Macedon landscape with children playing,
where a thin wash of green has been applied directly over
the ground (fig 3 & 4). His use of thick impasto in the later
works also meant that he could establish solid highlights
independently of his darker initial layers. Even so, due to the
extended time he seems to have worked on some paintings,
there are anomalies; for example, the sky in Afterglow has
thick green paint layers directly beneath much of it.
Analysis of McCubbin’s working methods is complex
and not helped by the fact that many of the later works
have earlier compositions underlying them. The broken
fence, for instance, is dated 1907, but we know that
McCubbin began painting this work much earlier. The dark
brown–black paint visible across the surface in the gaps of
the later pure paint layers suggest that it may be painted
over a Folingsby-type composition.
McCubbin does not appear to have been particularly
fussy when reusing a canvas. The cross-sections from
Mount Macedon landscape with children playing show
24 national gallery of australia
that the first composition was probably wholly finished,
as the paint layers are intact and there is an uninterrupted
varnish layer present. In artist’s manuals at the time, it was
normally recommended that reused canvases be scraped or
sanded back to provide tooth or a new priming is applied;
McCubbin seems to commonly do neither. The undamaged
initial layers show that he simply painted straight on top of
them, without any preparation. As a result, it is common
to find areas of anomalous colour in the later paintings,
as paint strokes from earlier compositions break through
the later paint. Similarly, there are textures throughout
the surfaces from brushstrokes in previous states or
compositions. Occasionally, McCubbin incorporated parts
of an earlier painting into a later image; for example, parts
of the dark paint in the centre of Girl with bird at the King
Street bakery were originally part of the underlying portrait.
In general McCubbin’s palette throughout his career
was relatively limited, and traditional. The late works, for
all their range of colour—especially the shades of greens,
blues and purples—are based on only a small number of
individual paints. As well as carbon black and lead white,
McCubbin used Prussian blue and cobalt blue, Rose
madder and vermilion for his reds, lead chrome yellow and,
occasionally, a lemon yellow. These were supplemented by
a selection of yellow and red ochres with darker umbers.
The only modern colour he appears to have regularly used
was the bright green pigment viridian.
The distinct characteristic that increasingly marks the
later works is the sheer physicality of the paint. McCubbin’s
earlier works, including landscapes such as At the falling
of the year, are obviously constructed using traditional
techniques, whereas the later works evolve from a complex
surface. Typically, he paints wet in wet, using a whole range
of brushes and, at times, possibly also his fingers.
McCubbin used a palette knife as often as he used
brushes, layering on the paint in slabs, using it to roughly
mix colour and to cut into and drag surfaces. The contrast
can be demonstrated by his handling of grass and foliage:
in his earlier works, the delicate flicks of a fine brush
(so reminiscent of Bastien-Lepage) are later replaced by
staccato stabs of the side of the palette knife.
In the course of completing a canvas, McCubbin
would often rework and revise areas. This may mean over-
painting; however, he also regularly scraped and abraded
sections to reveal underlying colours, the ground or even
earlier compositions (fig 5). The textural effects created by
this process were then incorporated into the composition.
While some of the rubbing back was done during the
initial painting, Afterglow and Violet and gold show that
the abrasion was also carried out after the paint had dried,
indicating that he revisited the paintings in the studio.
McCubbin also scratched into his wet paint with both the
tip of the palette knife and the end of a brush handle to
create sgraffito effects (fig 6).
artonview winter 2009 25
Frederick McCubbin Floodwaters 1913 oil on canvas 92.5 x 182 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1973
(opposite) (fig 5) Detail of obscured sun of Floodwaters showing use of abraded paint to create highlights.
(fig 6) Sgraffito used to create trees in Floodwaters.
(fig 7) Brown tone wash of Floodwaters.
As a final stage, McCubbin would often modify the
colour or tone of certain passages by applying very thin,
transparent washes of colour. Although not glazes in the
strict technical sense—that is, they are not composed of
transparent pigment in varnish (he seems to have used
oil instead)—they do function in a similar way. The sky in
The broken fence, for instance, is dulled with a blue–grey
oil glaze, and the bright green in the middle-ground of
Floodwaters has been slightly darkened with a thin warm
brown (fig 7). Shadow areas in foliage also commonly have
a similar treatment to increase their depth or modify their
tone. These, as well as any lighter scumbles, would again
have been added once the main body of the painting had
dried sufficiently so that mixing did not occur.
Whether McCubbin intended his later works to be
varnished or not is debatable. Given his attention to the
tones in his work and the dominant aesthetic at the time,
which was for unvarnished paintings (at least among
the artists who interested McCubbin), it is likely that his
paintings were originally unvarnished. We also know that
many of the varnished or waxed surfaces of his works are
later restoration varnishes.
On the other hand, we also have evidence of varnish
layers within cross-sections, which we know must be
McCubbin’s work. What may account for these seemingly
contradictory findings is that McCubbin may have made a
distinction between his portraits and landscapes, preferring
that the latter remain unvarnished. It is unfortunately
difficult to be sure of this as the situation is made more
confusing by the fact that many of the paintings have had
heavy restoration.
In many cases, previous restorations of the Gallery’s
McCubbin works (before they were acquired for the
national collection) have altered the works substantially.
Areas of deliberate abrasion and scraping back have been
repainted to hide what was thought to be damage. Drying
cracks, an inevitable result of McCubbin’s use of heavy
impasto, have frequently been over-painted, as have old
damages such as tears and holes. The variable gloss—
again, a result of his technique—has also been balanced
with a saturating coat of varnish.
The conservation preparations for the exhibition will
no doubt provide further insights into the complexities of
McCubbin’s painting methods and how they evolved. Even
so one thing that never changed was McCubbin’s passion
for painting and his dreams of colour.
David Wise Senior Paintings Conservator
26 national gallery of australia
In May 1929, Doris Ulmann left her home, 1000 Park
Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, at midnight
(as was her habit) in her chauffeur-driven Lincoln. She
was on her way to South Carolina to stay with her friend
the novelist Julia Mood Peterkin, who had recently been
awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her 1928 novel Scarlet
Sister Mary. Peterkin and her husband owned the cotton
plantation Lang Syne at Fort Motte, which had around
300 Gullah tenant farmers—Gullah was the name given
to African–Americans living in the midland and coastal
lowlands of the southern states.
Ulmann was approaching her late forties. She was
independently wealthy, divorced and frail—having suffered
ill health much of her life. She had built a reputation as a
portrait photographer to the scientific, artistic and literary
elite, was an active member of the Pictorial Photographers
of America, and her work had been exhibited and
reproduced. She photographed in part to meet people she
admired, and, having studied psychology at Columbia,
to capture something essential about them on her glass
plates. Pre-industrial, rural communities had become a
focus—the Amish, Mennonites, Shakers and the Dunkard
Brethren—and she was also making studies of Native
Americans.
For the next three years, Ulmann made frequent trips
to the deep South, along the coasts of South Carolina,
Louisiana and Alabama and to cities such as New Orleans.
She was gathering material for a project that would result
in the December 1933 publication of Roll, Jordan, roll (the
title coming from a well-known traditional spiritual), with
text written by Peterkin and 72 halftone images by Ulmann.
Early in the following year, a deluxe edition containing
90 hand-pulled copperplate gravures and with a limited
printrun of 350 would be released, signed and numbered
by Peterkin and Ulmann.
On the face of it, the project was not so promising: a
rich, privileged outsider examining the lives of those less
fortunate at a time when African–Americans were becoming
increasingly politicised. It was a potentially volatile situation
and, at best, the communication barrier was sure to pose
problems. To make matters worse, at Lang Syne, Ulmann
was accompanied by the boss’s wife, and some the Gullah
tenant farmers were leaving the plantation to head north in
search of a better life—the beginnings of a major migration
of African–Americans from the South to the North. Peterkin’s
mother had died in childbirth, so she was raised by her
Gullah nursemaid. She spoke Gullah dialect, had learnt many
of their customs and considered them friends.
However, the nature of Ulmann’s project, focusing on
the workers on the plantation, forced Peterkin to write
of the interaction between black and white, which was
something she had never done before. Prior to this, her
novels were written from a solely black perspective with
the dialogue in Gullah dialect. Her compromised position
as plantation mistress compelled her to abandon the stark
and violent tone of earlier work and, instead, evoke one
that was sentimental and suffused with nostalgia for a
world that did not exist, a world in which everyone was
content with their lot in life. Her text for Roll, Jordan, roll,
an uneasy blend of fiction and essay, is often startling in
its condescending stereotypical assessment of the Gullah:
‘naturally cheerful’, living under their kind bosses and
holding fast to the old ways and beliefs.
By the time Peterkin had finished her text for Roll,
Jordan, roll in mid 1933, the close friendship between the
two women had faltered, with both experiencing frustration
and professional and petty personal jealousies. Far from
seeing her words as auxiliary to the images, which was
the original intention, Peterkin saw the book as her own.
Inversely, Ulmann did not want her work to appear merely
illustrative, and so the interleaving of the caption-less
plates with the text was done in such a way that they each
have their own life within the book. Their placement and
sequence also differs from one edition to the other, inevitably
frustrating any attempt to link them in too literal a manner.
In the end, Ulmann’s images tell a subtle but fundamentally
Photographing America’s South: Roll, Jordon roll
collection focus
Our ways of looking change; the photograph not only documents a subject but records the vision of a person and a period.
Beaumont Newhall1
Doris Ulmann Baptism 1929–31
leaf 61, in Roll, Jordon, roll, Robert O Ballou,
New York, 1933 photogravure
image 23.7 x 18 cm sheet 28.5 x 20.5 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 1978
28 national gallery of australia
different story to Peterkin’s text and have little to do with the
simplistic cheerfulness proposed by Peterkin.
In her late teens in New York, Ulmann had attended
the Ethical Culture School and taken to heart the founder
Felix Adler’s belief in the inherent worth of every human
being. With the people she photographed, Ulmann would
be very charming to put them at ease. Some of the Gullah,
however, remained suspicious of her intentions because
she was rather manipulative. For instance, in the October
1930 issue of The Bookman, one of Ulmann’s sitters, Dale
Warren, described how Ulmann would tell ‘a funny story to
make you laugh and another not so funny to see if you are
easily reduced to tears’. On the other hand, Ulmann wrote
that she found the Gullah ‘so strange that it is almost
impossible to photograph them’.2
In many of the photographs, the sitters look Ulmann
right in the eye, defiant and proud, yet in others they
appear disarmingly relaxed. The relationship between
Ulmann and the Gullah sitters was clearly complicated
by a power imbalance and difficulty in connecting. This
difficulty, however, was countered by Ulmann’s empathy,
and the result is the fascinating images in Roll, Jordon,
roll—images that are complex, powerful and disturbing.
The Gullah photographs are an honest document of what
Ulmann experienced, and the authenticity that she sought
is honoured.
Ulmann could see the frailty in others that Peterkin was
at pains to ignore and she was acutely aware that the older
members of the community had been born into slavery. In
the chain-gang images—a reality hardly alluded to in the
text, but given three powerful images by Ulmann—the
vulnerability of the Gullah is emphasised: they look away as
if trying to protect themselves from the camera’s scrutiny.
Again and again, Ulmann uses restrained and masterly
compositional devices to underscore the reality of Gullah
life—cropping and unusual angles indicate the influence
of modernism despite her dislike of recent innovations in
photography.
The soft-focus of her pictorial training is used for far
more than beautiful effect—although that was always an
obsessional concern. In images of glittery lights and dark
impenetrable shadows, the people seem to pass from the
material to the immaterial, and Ulmann (Jewish by birth,
though agnostic) creates an almost palpable sense of
the spiritual and mysterious. She was clearly moved and
inspired by their religious life, which features prominently
along with their working life in the images selected for Roll,
Jordon, roll.
Years of ill health, serious falls and self-destructive
behaviour (chain-smoking, a diet of black coffee and
overwork), travelling extensively in remote, difficult areas,
and printing all hours in the darkroom took its toll. Doris
Ulmann died in the early hours of 28 August 1934, aged
52. Julia Peterkin lived until the early 1960s, but Roll,
Jordan, roll was her last substantial piece of published
writing (A plantation Christmas, a small illustrated book,
was published the following year, in 1934) and she spent
the final decades of her life quietly on the plantation, all
but forgotten by the world.
Ulmann’s great work at the end of her life just
preceded that of the government-sponsored Farm Security
Administration photographers who directly addressed
attributed to Doris Ulmann
Self-portrait with Julia Peterkin c 1930 platinum print
19.6 x 15.5 cm South Carolina Historical
Society, Charleston
Doris Ulmann Chain gang with
overseer 1929–31 leaf 20, in Roll, Jordon,
roll, Robert O Ballou, limited edn, New York,
1934 photogravure
image 23.5 x 18 cm sheet 28.5 x 20.5 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 1978
artonview winter 2009 29
the more urgent problems of the Great Depression:
unemployment and drought, which led to poverty and
social injustice. Ulmann, too, was all but forgotten until
recent interest by curators and social historians brought
attention to her work. For some time after her death, many
of Ulmann’s prints and heavy glass plates were stored at
Columbia University. In the 1950s, however, the foundation
that owned her work decided to find a more permanent
home for the collection. The University of Oregon, who
had committed to preserving the collection in its entirety,
took on the responsibility. However, before shipping the
collection to Oregon, the foundation decided to reduce
the weight of the shipment by selecting and destroying
approximately 7000 glass plates.
In the late 1970s, the National Gallery of Australia
acquired a copy of both editions as well as 62 vintage
platinum prints of the Gullah. The prints, some of which
were used in making the plates in the book, had been
sitting in the barn of the publisher, Robert O Ballou, from
the 1930s to the late 1960s. It is very likely that a third of
these images, which do not appear in either edition, are
unique prints, as multiples of Ulmann’s work are rare.
The Gallery has the only institutional holding of
Ulmann’s prints outside the United States of America. The
majority of her prints, as well as her papers, are to be found
in university, library and historical society collections. The
largest museum collections of her work are at the J Paul
Getty Museum in California and George Eastman House in
New York.3
Despite its complexities and difficulties, and despite
the text—a revealing (but regrettable) insight into a
plantation owner’s outlook (albeit a less conventional
plantation owner)—Roll, Jordan, roll and the other images
that Ulmann created of African–Americans are remarkable
documents. They were created when African–Americans
were still subject to strict segregation, when racism went
unquestioned and unpunished, particularly in the South,
and when lynchings were still prevalent. At the time of its
publication, Roll, Jordan, roll was endorsed by the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.4
According to Susan Millar Williams, who has written on
Peterkin and Ulmann, the descendants of the Gullah
people depicted in Roll, Jordon roll often seek out Ulmann’s
images. This is not surprising considering her respectful,
sensitive and intense portrayal.
Roll, Jordan, roll may not be the whole story, and it
may not be the only story, but it is one of complexity and
mysteriousness. It is one that opens a door to a period of
American history and, more importantly, a still controversial
subject that echoes throughout many nations of the world,
including Australia.
Anne O’Hehir Assistant Curator, Photography
notes1 Beaumont Newhall, Photography 1839–1937, Museum of Modern Art,
New York, 1937, p 90.2 Doris Ulmann, quoted in Judith Fryer Davidov, Women’s camera work:
self/body/other in American visual culture, Duke University Press, Durham, 1998, p 189.
3 For a full listing see Philip Walker Jacobs, The life and photographs of Doris Ulmann, The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 2001, pp 225–33.
4 Michelle C Lamunière, ‘Roll, Jordan, roll and the Gullah photographs of Doris Ulmann’, History of photography, vol 21, no 4, Winter 1997, p 298.
Doris Ulmann Servant doing up boots 1929–31 leaf 40, in Roll, Jordon, roll, Robert O Ballou, New York, 1933 photogravure image 23.7 x 18 cm sheet 28.7 x 20.5 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1978
Doris Ulmann Girl 1929–31 leaf 112, Roll, Jordon, roll, Robert O Ballou, New York, 1933 photogravure image 23.2 x 17.2 cm sheet 28.5 x 20.5 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1978
30 national gallery of australia
In March, the National Gallery of Australia announced
the arrival of Edgar Degas’s Woman bathing (Femme à sa
toilette) 1880–85, a significant pastel purchased in late
February at the Yves Saint Laurent auction sale in Paris.
It arrived in Canberra just in time to be displayed among
Degas’s other remarkable works in the final week of the
exhibition Degas: master of French art.
The subject of a woman at her toilette was one
of Degas’s favourites. He returned to the theme often
throughout his life, experimenting with almost endless
variations of such imagery using different media. This pastel
is of a woman viewed from behind, her face silhouetted
against the light flooding through the drawn curtains of
a boudoir. She is seated on a bidet. Derived from a term
meaning ‘pony’ or ‘little horse’, a bidet was a narrow bath
that a woman could sit astride while washing herself.
Despite its daring subject matter, the pastel is a particularly
intimate and tender rendering of the subject.
Around the time Degas created Woman bathing,
he had become obsessed with working in pastel and he
was to become known as the great French pastellist of
the nineteenth century. Degas was aided in his success
by a contemporary of his, the pastel-maker Henri Roché,
who enhanced this medium by developing a rich array
of powdered pigments and adding powdered pumice
to his sticks of pastel. Pastels enabled the consummate
draughtsman Degas to emphasise the linear qualities of
compositions and, at the same time, to infuse a subject
with colour.
In the late 1870s and1880s, Degas would often
apply pastel in layers over a monotype—as in the case of
Woman bathing. Adopting this method, Degas was able
to embellish a silhouette of his bather and her surrounds
with brilliant hues of blues, pinks, yellows and browns. The
method also allowed him to add texture and patterned
detail to his composition.
The work originally belonged to Degas’s brother
René De Gas and, since then, was owned by a series of
notable collectors in the French art world before being
purchased by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in
May 1987. The remarkable private collection of Saint
Laurent and Bergé was assembled over three decades
and mostly funded by the success of Saint Laurent’s
ready-to-wear fashion.
The National Gallery of Australia had been looking
for an important pastel or monotype to expand its
collection of Degas’s works on paper. We are thrilled to
have acquired such an important work at a price we could
afford. Its purchase would not have been possible without
the extraordinary benefaction of the late Orde Poynton
AO, CMG, and the generosity shown by the patrons of
the National Gallery of Australia Foundation’s Twentieth
Anniversary Gala Dinner in March.
Visitors who saw the work in the exhibition Degas:
master of French art or, subsequently, in Degas’ world:
the rage for change will no doubt recall the beautiful
silhouetted figure with its subtle colouration. However, for
those who missed it, Woman bathing will be shown on a
regular basis in the Gallery’s display of nineteenth-century
international art.
Jane Kinsman Senior Curator, International Art
acquisition International Drawings
Edgar Degas Woman bathing
Edgar Degas Woman bathing
(Femme à sa toilette) 1880–85
monotype over pastel image 27.8 x 38 cm
sheet 32.2 x 42.2 cm National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra The Poynton Bequest
with the assistance of the National Gallery of Australia
Foundation 2009
32 national gallery of australia
An exciting recent acquisition of contemporary Asian art is
Clear lotus, a huge clear vinyl inflatable flower by renowned
Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa. An artist, designer and
active contributor to the development of the lively Korean
contemporary art scene, he is renowned for his inflatable
sculptures and constructions using mass-produced plastic
products and re-presented found or borrowed objects. Born
in 1961, Choi Jeong Hwa began his career as a painter
and, in 1988, was awarded the relatively conservative
National Art Competition Grand Prize for his efforts. By
the early 1990s, however, he had abandoned painting for
installation, video and sculpture, particularly inflatables.
In 1995, he created The death of the robot—about being
irritated, a widely-exhibited orange blow-up robot who
struggles to get up from the ground but, worn down by
the effort, is continually thwarted. According to the artist:
… the work had its start in a personal feeling of
powerlessness. What’s most important is the contradiction
between this apparent human vulnerability or failing
in something that embodies supreme technological
advancement.1
Many of Choi’s more recent works are gigantic floral-
form inflatables, including lotus blossoms in black, white
and transparent plastic. While much of his work can be
interpreted as communicating concerns about waste,
consumer society, globalisation and other contemporary
issues, the artist consciously avoids such discussion. Rather,
he celebrates the peculiar beauty of synthetic materials
and everyday objects with flippant lightness and deliberate
ambiguity of purpose. While Choi is not easily drawn on
the meaning behind his sculptures, about his floral works
he has said:
I feel strange when I see a real tree or flower. Nature, as
such, is so rare in Korea these days, that I’m actually afraid
when I encounter it. I’m afraid of the ‘real’. Maybe all I can
deal with is an idea of nature, immune to destruction, so I
make an artificial one to look at and enjoy.2
Choi Jeong Hwa’s blow-up lotuses have attracted
considerable international attention since their first
appearance in the Korean Pavilion at the 51st Venice
Biennale in 2005. The motorised flowers magnificently
inflate and open, deflating limply before the cycle begins
again. Although not a practising Buddhist, Choi is familiar
with the auspicious Buddhist symbolism of the lotus
emerging from muddy waters to bloom pure and exquisite
despite its filthy origins.
Generously supported by The Gene and Brian
Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Fund, Clear lotus was
commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia in
early 2009. As a long-serving member of the Gallery’s
Foundation, Gene Sherman directed her enormous
enthusiasm and generous financial contributions towards
building a national collection of significant works by Asian
contemporary artists with strong international reputations,
including Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang and Indonesian
artist Dadang Christanto. Gene and Brian Sherman’s 2008
gift of Heri Dono’s Flying angels has been installed above a
busy ramp where the flapping and chirruping angels bring
pleasure to visitors on their way to the cafe and lower-level
galleries.
Continually rising pristine, plump and sparkling, Choi
Jeong Hwa’s Clear lotus is currently one of the most
popular objects in the Soft sculpture exhibition.
Melanie Eastburn and Robyn Maxwell Curator and Senior Curator, Asian Art
notes1 Choi Jeong Hwa, interview with James B Lee, ‘Flim-flam and fabrication:
an interview with Choi Jeong-Hwa’, Art Asia Pacific, vol 3, no 4, 1996, p 66.
2 Choi, p 66.
Choi Jeong Hwa Clear lotus
acquisition Asian Art
Choi Jeong Hwa Clear lotus 2009
urethane vinyl, motor 230 x 400 (diam) cm
(approx) National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra The Gene and Brian
Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Fund 2009
Installed in the exhibition Soft sculpture at the
National Gallery of Australia, 24 April – 12 July
34 national gallery of australia
Max Ernst is a major figure in Dada and Surrealism, the
revolutionary artistic and literary movements of the early
twentieth century. He is known as a sculptor, a painter,
a graphic artist and the inventor of frottage. Like his
contemporary Marcel Duchamp, Ernst was fascinated by
chess; images of chess recur in his work and he developed
a stylised iconography of the game.
In King, queen and bishop 1929–30, three major
chesspieces are captured: the bishop, in the middle,
separates the king and queen. The figures were originally
made in clay and show evidence of the squeezing and
shaping of the artist’s hand. Ernst worked with plaster
maquettes in the 1920s and 1930s. He had no money to
cast in bronze at that time and he later made editions of
some of the plasters. In 1974–75, two editions in bronze
were produced by Valsuani Fondeur, Paris. This example is
from the darkly patinated edition; the other edition, made
at the same time, has a light patination.
The figures of King, queen and bishop, although fixed
in their base, hint at action, either just completed or about
to happen. The king is the most static of the three, as
might be expected considering his role on the chessboard
where any movement is limited to a single square.
Comically, the bishop has drawn his cape dramatically
around him, ready to spin into action. The queen appears
poised for stately progress, with coiffure piled high and chin
tilted imperiously. Her arms, with hands demurely clasped
across her belly, create an ovoid form that counterbalances
her rounded buttocks and elongated head.
The balance and counterbalance of King, queen and
bishop echo the composition of the monumental Habakuk
1934 (cast in 1970), acquired by the Gallery in 2006. It too
is an assemblage, constructed from casts of flowerpots.
The small bronze augments the showcase in the Dada
and Surrealist room of the International galleries, and is
displayed among other disconcerting objects, including
works from Africa, the Pacific and North America that were
once owned by the artist. Ernst’s significance as a Surrealist
artist, his subsequent influence on Abstract Expressionism
and other twentieth-century art, and his role as a collector
mean that King, queen and bishop is a welcome addition
to the collection.
Christine Dixon and Krysia Kitch International Painting and Sculpture
Max Ernst King, queen and bishop
acquisition International Painting and Sculpture
Max Ernst King, queen and bishop
(Roi, reine et fou) 1929–30, cast 1974–75 no 26 from edition of 35
bronze 16 x 30 x 9.5 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 2009
artonview winter 2009 35
Like his uncles and grandfathers, Ricardo Idagi is a
songman, painter and carver. Born in 1957, he is from
Meriam Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Straits Islands in
Queensland, and much of his work relates to the species
and spirits that live beneath the waves of the Arafura and
Coral seas that surround the islands.
Idagi has a strong vision and commitment to revive
traditional knowledge and techniques—in particular, the
old mask-making practices—to ensure an ongoing strong
artistic and cultural pride in the region.
The artefacts and cultural traditions of the region
inform his art. However, Idagi’s work is not a pastiche of
pre-missionary practices, or a nostalgic recreation of the
past; rather, he seeks to revitalise what was, on many of the
islands, denied to Indigenous inhabitants after European
arrival. Idagi also continually questions the gaps in the
knowledge of his elders and peers, as well as the cultural
practices that have become distorted by Christian ideology.
I am very keen to initiate a creative art force in the
region that uses the existing knowledge of the men and
women in their areas of expertise as well as instructing
the younger generations in the sourcing of materials …
weaving and binding techniques … I have a vision to
revitalise the original methods and integrity behind Torres
Strait Islander culture pre-missionary contact.1
Masks such as GiriGiri Le (Bird of Paradise Man) 2008, which
are made from the shells of green sea turtles, have not been
produced for over a century. Although on the protected
species list, the turtle is still captured, killed and eaten by
Torres Strait Islander people, as they have done for centuries.
As an Islander, Idagi is able to access this rare material,
combining it with traditional knowledge and modern
techniques to produce stunning large masks reminiscent of
pre-missionary times.
In this work, Idagi has combined two types of
ceremonial wear—the hard shell masks and the feathered
headdresses called dhoeri—in a modern interpretation of
once more-prevalent cultural objects. This combination, or
interpretation, of the past is what sets Idagi’s work apart
from the work of other Torres Strait Islander artists today.
Tina Baum Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
note1 Ricardo Idagi, in conversation with Vivien Anderson Gallery, 2008.
Ricardo Idagi GiriGiri Le (Bird of Paradise Man)
acquisition Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
Ricardo Idagi Miriam Mer people GiriGiri Le (Bird of Paradise Man) 2008 green sea turtle shell, turtle flake, pearl shell, mussel shells, human hair, raffia grass, coral, wicker cane, goa nut, saimi saimi seeds and natural earth pigment 117 x 80 x 11 cm (approx) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2008
36 national gallery of australia
In the late 1960s, British painter Margaret Benyon, who
had been working with moiré effects in her Op art abstract
paintings, became one of the first artists to see the creative
possibilities of holograms—then being constructed in just
a few advanced scientific labs. The new medium opened
up interesting possibilities for Benyon to explore modern
technology and her ideas about time and space, and to
express personal, spiritual and social perceptions.
What is not well known is the role Benyon’s years in
Australia, from 1977 to 1981, played in the development
of her work. During this period, she had fellowships at the
Australian National University in Canberra and worked as
Coordinator, Graphic Investigation, at the Canberra School
of Art. She was able to create holograms using the facilities
at the Australian National University and Royal Military
College in Canberra and at the CSIRO in Sydney. Also
important at this time was Benyon’s introduction, through
the resources at the Australian National University and the
Aboriginal Studies Institute, to Indigenous Australian art
and culture. Many artists in the 1970s developed social
and political concerns—especially in regard to nuclear
threat and environmental pollution. Benyon’s experiences in
Australia, and her general sense of wider issues, influenced
her move away from abstraction and marked the
appearance of cross-cultural, social and political references
in her hologram works.
In 1979 and 1981 respectively, the National Gallery
of Australia acquired Hot air, Benyon’s laser-transmission
hologram of 1970, and her Australian-made reflection
hologram Binding 1979, a subtle work of lines and twigs.
Three decades on, Benyon’s return to live in Australia in
2005 has facilitated the acquisition of four works from
the artist’s Australian period: Totem, which references
Indigenous Australian’s understanding of land and culture;
Lattice II, which showed Benyon’s continuing interest in
abstract web-grids; and Greenhouse I: creation myths and
Unclear world, which are both steeped in the big picture of
ecological and nuclear threats.
In addition, Pushing up the daisies, a major large-scale
holographic montage from 1996, was selected to represent
Benyon’s later career. In this work, fresh daisies literally
sprout from the head of a sad soldier dressed in modern
camouflage gear and bathed in the eerie artificial light of
1990s night-vision goggles. Popularised by news coverage
of recent wars and skirmishes, the green haze that we see
when looking through these high-tech instruments has in
many ways become symbolic of modern warfare.
The title of the work (like many of Benyon’s titles)
plays on words and associations: ‘pushing up the daisies’,
meaning to be dead and buried, was a euphemism
popularised during the First World War and was also used
by doomed British war poet Wilfred Owen. Benyon’s
wordplay continues at the bottom of the work in a poetic,
staccato cascade of different-sized fonts.
Benyon sombrely calls the work ‘an epitaph’, and it
could be read as one. Replaced by technologies, the old-
fashioned ideology of the soldier’s honour and glory in
warfare has been made redundant. It is ‘pushing up the
daisies’. The state of war has become inhuman, if it ever was.
Gael Newton Senior Curator, Photography
Margaret Benyon Pushing up the daisies
acquisition International Photography
Margaret Benyon Pushing up the daisies
1996 collage of two reflection
holograms on film, printed text, cover glass
60 x 80 cm National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra Purchased 2009
Made using the facility of the Holography Unit, Royal College of Art, London and Artist’s Holography Studio,
Dorset, UK
(above) Totem 1979
reflection hologram on glass plate, pen, ink
and gouache drawings, feather
20.3 x 25.4 cm National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra Purchased 2009
Made using the facility of Royal Military College,
Canberra
38 national gallery of australia
Debra Dawes is a leading contemporary Australian painter
whose works explore the parameters of visual perception,
optical illusion and abstraction. Parallel planes 2007 is a
vibrant, sophisticated work from the series Double-dealing
2007 in which Dawes investigates the disruption of the
visual plane and political subterfuge. This follows on from
a series relating to camouflage, Cover up 2006, in which
Dawes also explores ideas of the double-deal and the
subtle ties between abstraction and politics.
In Parallel planes, brilliant orange and clean white
shapes zigzag down the length of the canvas. These
zigzags are painted with subtle tonal shifts that give
the distinct impression of three-dimensional horizontal
ridges. The ridges advance and recede to make the
whole composition appear to shift and pulsate, and the
optical illusion is further intensified by the large scale of
the work.
The title refers to the illusory spatial effects within the
work and reflects on the experience of viewing optical
art. Dawes notes that when viewing this work, we receive
two parallel, yet contradictory streams of information:
the textured surface that is received by and deceives our
eyes; and what we think we know is true about the two-
dimensional surface of a canvas. In a state of intrigue and
confusion, we are drawn into the work, compelled to
carefully inspect the canvas from the front and the side.
But this is not just a simple optical illusion. ‘What
keeps the eye engaged’, writes art critic Sebastian Smee,
‘is Dawes’s encouragement of irregularity within what
looks to be predetermined design’.1 Only on closer
inspection does the work reveal the delicate hand-painted
shapes, the clever nuances of tonal shifts and the true
surface of the canvas.
Parallel planes is an engaging new addition to the
National Gallery of Australia’s collection of contemporary
Australian painting.
Miriam Kelly Associate Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture
note1 Sebastian Smee, ‘Beauty and brains’, The Australian, 13 October
2007, p 18.
Debra Dawes Parallel planes
acquisition Australia Painting and Sculpture
Debra Dawes Parallel planes 2007
oil on canvas 261 x 180 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 2008
artonview winter 2009 39
Kiribas people Ririko
acquisition Pacific Art
The works in the National Gallery of Australia’s collection of
Micronesian arts, like the Islands themselves, are few and
far between.
The islands of Tungaru, more commonly known as the
Republic of Kiribati, are a series of low-lying atolls barely
peeking out of the sea. They are home to small communities
with limited resources who excel in the arts of tattoo,
weaving and adornment. One impressive, pre-Christian
form of art was necklaces made from human teeth.
The name given to this type of necklace is ririko, which
translates literally as ‘the closely placed teeth’. The teeth
have been pierced and threaded onto a string of coconut
fibre, but are otherwise unmodified. Their form, texture
and colour, like the finest natural pearls, are pleasing to
the eye.
The necklace is a mixture of canines and incisors taken
from the front of the lower jaw. The teeth of at least 30
individuals, or at most 180, were used in the production of
this necklace, and it is likely, as Micronesian communities
are quite small, that this single necklace includes the
teeth of many generations of ancestors. For this reason,
necklaces like this one are rare finds.
It is a prime expression of identity—quite literally:
‘this is my people’ and ‘I wear my lineage’. Little is known
about why teeth are the main representative element in
this necklace; although, teeth have obvious associations
with the voice, the main communicative part of a person,
and teeth chew food, effectively sustaining life. So,
perhaps teeth are fitting objects to represent the essence
of an ancestor.
The production and use of these necklaces was quickly
abandoned under the influence of British missionaries
in the late nineteenth century, with only a small number
known to exist today.
Crispin Howarth Curator, Pacific Art
Kiribas people Republic of Kiribati, Micronesia Ririko (necklace) 19th century teeth, coconut fibre 24 cm (diam) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2009
40 national gallery of australia
Vanuatu has a unique history. It was for the greater
part of the twentieth century an Anglo-French ruled
condominium—more affectionately known as the
pandemonium. The colonial influences of two major
powers surprisingly did little to affect the traditional arts of
the islands of Malakula, Pentecost and Ambrym. The large
circular eyes of the recently acquired, imposing sculptural
work Mague ne hiwir are the foremost peculiarity of art
from Ambrym, one of the volcanic islands in the centre of
the archipelago.
Although the different cultural areas of Vanuatu share
many characteristics, they also have their own distinct
styles. Ambrym, as elsewhere in Vanuatu, has a distinctive
complex social hierarchy in which men and women work
towards attaining successively higher levels of prestige.
Each heavily ritualised level, or grade rank, has its own
associated arts. For instance, a Mague figure, such as the
one acquired by the Gallery, is created for the rituals that
accompany ascension to the ninth grade or level. Reaching
such a high level also comes at great financial expense to
the individual—usually in the form of the ubiquitous ni-
vanuatu currency, the pig.
Mague figures today are made for the same traditional
purpose as they have been for generations. Although their
form has subtly changed over time, carvers require an
intimate knowledge of the ghost world of the ancestors;
they must also be properly acquainted with the particular
spirit that represents a grade to effectively render it as
sculpture. Mague figures are carved from resilient tree fern,
a layer of ochre is then applied and designs are carefully
painted on its surface.
The Gallery’s Mague figure, Mague ne hiwir, was
carved for the north Ambrym chief Gilbert Bangtor when
he reached the ninth level. It is one of the largest and most
sculptural Mague figures produced in recent years. The
sculpture takes advantage of the natural tapering form of
the fern from which it was carved, making this enormous
ghost-like figure seem to float as if weightless. From its
weathered and dilapidated surface, Mague ne hiwir may
look very old but it was carved less than 20 years ago.
The surface ochres naturally fall away over time and these
sculptures are rarely repainted—perhaps symbolic of the
transition of life.
After chief Bangtor’s succession to a higher grade,
the Mague ne hiwir’s functional life ended. The work was
later placed onto the art market in 2007 by its indigenous
owners, finding its way into the National Gallery of
Australia’s collection of Pacific arts.
Crispin Howarth Curator, Pacific Art
Bantor Irene Mague ne hiwir
acquisition Pacific Art
Bantor Irene Melbera village,
Ambrym, Vanuatu Mague ne hiwir
prior to 2006 ariel fern, ochre
411 x 65 cm National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra Purchased 2008
artonview winter 2009 41
Exhibition venues and dates may be subject to change. Please contact the Gallery or venue before your visit. For more information on travelling exhibitions, telephone (02) 6240 6525 or send an email to [email protected].
Travelling exhibitions winter 2008
The National Gallery of Australia Travelling Exhibitions Program is generously supported by Australian airExpress.
Culture WarriorsProudly supported by BHP Billiton; the Australia Council for the Arts through its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Board, Visual Art Board and Community Partnerships and Market Development (International) Board; the Contemporary Touring Initiative through Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program; and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government and state and territory governments; the Queensland Government through the Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency
Culture Warriors, the inaugural Australian Indigenous Art Triennial, presents the highly original and accomplished work of thirty Indigenous Australian artists from every state and territory. Featuring outstanding works in a variety of media, Culture Warriors draws inspiration from the fortieth anniversary of the 1967 Referendum (Aboriginals) and demonstrates the breadth and calibre of contemporary Indigenous art practice in Australia. nga.gov.au/culturewarriors
University Art Museum at the Katzen Art Center, Washington, DC, USA, 8 September – 6 December 2009
Maringka Baker Kuru Ala 2007 (detail) synthetic polymer paint on canvas 153.5 x 200 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2007 © Maringka Baker
Imagining Papua New Guinea: prints from the national collectionImagining Papua New Guinea is an exhibition of prints from the national collection that celebrates Papua New Guinea’s independence and surveys its rich history of printmaking. Artists whose works are in the exhibition include Timothy Akis, Mathias Kauage, David Lasisi, John Man and Martin Morububuna. nga.gov.au/imagining
Aratoi-Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton, New Zealand, 2 May – 11 July 2009
Mathias Kauage Independence celebration I 1975 (detail) stencil 50.2 x 76.4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Ulli and Georgina Beier Collection, purchased 2005
Sri Lanka Seated Ganesha 9th–10th century bronze 10 x 6.8 x 4.4 cm in Red case: myths and rituals The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift
The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift Travelling ExhibitionsThree suitcases of works of art: Red case: myths and rituals includes works that reflect the spiritual beliefs of different cultures; Yellow case: form, space, design reflects a range of art making processes; and Blue case: technology. These suitcases thematically present a selection of art and design objects that may be borrowed free-of-charge for the enjoyment of children and adults in regional, remote and metropolitan centres. nga.gov.au/wolfensohn
For further details and bookings telephone (02) 6240 6650 or email [email protected].
Blue case: technologyVictorian College of the Deaf, Melbourne, Vic,
4–26 June 2009Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tas,
29 July – 27 August 2009Clarence City Council, Rosny Park, Tas,
27 August – 29 September 2009
Red case: myths and rituals and Yellow case: form, space and design
St Joseph’s School, Kununurra, WA, 22 May – 5 June 2009Kununurra District High School, Kununurra, WA,
8–19 June 2009Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Qld,
28 June – 12 July 2009Bundaberg Arts Centre, Bundaberg, Qld, 13–31 July 2009Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW,
3–28 August 2009Kurri Kurri and District Pre-school, Kurri Kurri , NSW,
1–25 September 2009
1888 Melbourne CupNew England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW,
27 May – 28 June 2009Grafton Regional Gallery, Grafton, NSW,
29 June – 30 July 2009Coffs Harbour Regional Museum, Coffs Harbour, NSW,
30 July – 20 September 2009
Karl Millard Lizard grinder 2000 brass, bronze, copper, sterling silver, money metal, Peugeot mechanism, stainless steel screws 10 x 8 x 23.5 cm in Blue case: technology The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift
faces in view
1 Hossein Valamanesh with his work Touch love 2006.
2 Artist Vivienne Binns and Senior Curator Deborah Hart at her artist talk on 9 April 2009.
3 Paul Fischmann and Diamant Hotel’s Claire Scrfati at the opening party for the Soft sculpture exhibition on 29 April 2009.
4 Merryn Gates and Julie Marginson with artist Rosslynd Piggott and her work High bed 1998 at the Soft sculpture opening.
5 Peter Garrett, Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, and National Gallery of Australia Council members Ashley Dawson-Damer, John Calvert-Jones and Warwick Hemsley admire Les Kossatz’s Sheep on a couch 1972–73 at the Soft sculpture opening.
6 Susie Maple-Brown and Leon Gorr enjoy the National Gallery of Australia Foundation’s spectacular 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner on 21 March 2009.
7– Visitors of all ages enjoyed 11 wonderful weather and the many
exciting activities at the special event Sculpture Garden Sunday on 8 March 2009.
12 Director Ron Radford spoke about the works in the exhibition Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950, 16 April 2009.
13 Artist Michael Callaghan and Senior Curator Roger Butler with the vibrant Redback Graphix poster The 8-kin network 1985.
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TITLE: STE0259_19_297x233_4C DATE: 17/04/09 REVISION No: #01 PROOF No: #01
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Set in two and a half acres of lawns and gardens on the fringe of the parliamentary triangle and within walking distance of Parliament House, the National Gallery of Australia, Lake Burley Griffi n and
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Collaborative video ⁄ sCulptural installation april 24th — July 12th 2009 By Anat Ben–David(London ⁄ Jerusalem) and Martin Bell(Melbourne) ..........................................................................
Curated by Adi Nachman(Tel Aviv ⁄ Berlin) and Andy Mac(Melbourne)..........................................................................
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Collaborative video ⁄ sCulptural installation april 24th — July 12th 2009 By Anat Ben–David(London ⁄ Jerusalem) and Martin Bell(Melbourne) ..........................................................................
Curated by Adi Nachman(Tel Aviv ⁄ Berlin) and Andy Mac(Melbourne)..........................................................................
Presented by Nectar Efkarpidis on behalf of the apARTments at NewActon ..........................................................................
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sidney nolan the gallipoli seriesA rare opportunity to experience striking and iconic works by one of Australia’s most acclaimed artists. Featuring 82 drawings and paintings completed over a 20-year period.
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open 7 days 10 am – 5 pm Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2601 free call 1800 808 337 (02) 6240 6420
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Mary Jane Hannaford Time, quilt 1924 (detail) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1982
AIRING OF THE QUILTS a selection from the national collection
1 August – 11 October 2009
nga.gov.au
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16 May – 13 September 2009CANBERRA ONLY NGA.GOV.AU
Timothy Horn Glass slipper (ugly blister) 2001 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2002
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24 APRIL – 12 JULY 2009
Christopher Langton Sugar the pill 1995 (detail) Collection of the artist
SCULPTURE
The book Soft sculpture, published in conjunction with the exhibition, is available at the NGA Shop, for $9.95. Please note that the NGA Shop has temporarily been relocated to near the entrance of the Asian galleries.
Go to nga.gov.au/softsculpture for more information about the works in Soft sculpture.