N AT I O N A L G A L L E RY O F A U S T R A L I A , C A N B E R R A Canberra | nga.gov.au
AUTUMN 2011 | 65
VARILAKU
PACIFIC ARTS FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
BALLETS RUSSES THE ART OF COSTUME
24 FEBRUARY – 29 MAY 2011
Australia holds some of the greatest collections of Melanesian art. Varilaku is a rare opportunity to view the finest works from the Solomon Islands at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. A fully illustrated catalogue is available to order from ecom@nga.gov.au.
Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands Effigy of Paruvu 1910–30 (detail), South Sea Islands Museum, Cooranbong
Canberra | nga.gov.au
Proudly presenting the Ballets Russes exhibition. For over 10 years we’ve been sponsoring major exhibitions at the NGA and we’re proud to be the Presenting Partner for this summer’s blockbuster, Ballets Russes: the art of costume. Because we’re local we get involved and put our energy behind many of the artistic and cultural events that make our region so vibrant.
Immerse yourself in the creative explosion of the Ballets Russes.
10 December 2010 – 20 March 2011 Tickets: nga.gov.au
Presenting Partner
Principal Partners
Léon Baskt (left) Costume for the Blue God c 1912 (detail), from Le Dieu bleu, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1987 (right) Illustration of the Blue God costume (detail), page 29 in Official program of the Ballets Russes at the Théâtre du Châtelet May–June 1912, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency
CCA0111/02
ActewAGL Retail ABN 46 221 314 841
actewagl.com.au
VARILAKU Pacific arts from the Solomon Islands PAGE 8
New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands Canoe prow-tip prior to 1924, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, collected by Reverend RC Nicholson, Methodist Mission of Australasia 1907–1924
AUTUMN 2011 | 65 Published quarterly by the National Gallery of Australia, PO Box 1150, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia artonview.editor@nga.gov.au | nga.gov.au © National Gallery of Australia 2011 Copyright of works of art 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. ENQUIRIES copyright@nga.gov.au Produced by the National Gallery of Australia Publishing Department EDITOR Eric Meredith DESIGNER Kristin Thomas PHOTOGRAPHY by the National Gallery of Australia Photography Department unless otherwise stated RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Nick Nicholson PRINTER Blue Star Print, Melbourne PREVIOUS ISSUES nga.gov.au/artonview ISSN 1323‑4552 PRINT POST APPROVED pp255003/00078 RRP A$9.95 | FREE TO MEMBERS MEMBERSHIP membership@nga.gov.au | nga.gov.au/members TEL (02) 6240 6528 FAX (02) 6270 6480
(cover) New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands Mother and child 19th or early 20th century wood, paint, fibre, shell, glass 30 x 23 x 11 cm Australian Museum, Sydney © Australian Museum
(this page) Ballets Russes: the art of costume at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
BALLETS RUSSES the art of costume PAGE 12
Henri Matisse Costume for a mourner c 1920, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1973. © Succession H Matisse/Represented by Viscopy
AUTUMN 2011 | 65 6
Director’s word
EXHIBITIONS
8
VARILAKU: PACIFIC ARTS FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
12
BALLETS RUSSES: THE ART OF COSTUME
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CONNECTIONS
Vanity and prestige: realistic sculpture from the western Solomon Islands Crispin Howarth
Developing an international costume legacy Dr Robert Bell
Across cultures, place and time Frances Wild
FEATURES
20
EDUCATION
Advancing the industry through Indigenous leadership Peter White
24
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
26
FOUNDATION
Take it slowly Michelle Fracaro
Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2011: Nora Heysen, a master of the self-portrait Deborah Hart and Miriam Kelly
ACQUISITIONS
28 Sinhalese community, Sri Lanka Reliquary stupa (dagoba) 30 Kenyah or Apo Kayan people, Indonesia Finial for a house, rice granary or funerary vault 31 Sue Ford Shadow play 32 Ralph Balson Painting 33 Rita Angus Self-portrait (Wanaka) 34 John Glover At Matlock—mist rising 36 AB Webb 21-piece tea service 37 Jacqueline Ryan Brooch 38 Michael Cook Undiscovered REGULARS
40 Travelling exhibitions 42 Facesinview 44 News from the Foundation 46 Creative partnerships 48 Thank you … 50 Members news
Dr Robert Bell, curator of Ballets Russes: the art of costume, with Darcey Bussell, world-renowned prima ballerina. Michael Costello, CEO of ActewAGL, with his daughter Christie at the opening of Ballets Russes: the art of costume on 9 December 2010.
Director’s word This year began well, with many visitors to the Gallery delighted with our recently opened Aboriginal galleries and our summer blockbuster Ballets Russes: the art of costume. A new, young audience was drawn in by Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers. The Ballets Russes exhibition superbly re-imagines the dynamic world of dance into an unforgettable experience. The Ballets Russes was much more than just another ballet company; it created a sensation around the world, reinvigorating the art of dance with its exotic theatrical spectacle. By integrating avant-garde design, music and dance, it encouraged artistic experimentation and collaboration from some of the most accomplished choreographers, dancers, composers, designers and artists of the time. The Ballets Russes generated excitement, critical discussion, technical innovation, glamour and scandal wherever it appeared. The exhibition has been extended over Easter due to popular demand. We hope many more people will come to see the exhibition before it ends on 1 May 2011. It may be decades before these now fragile costumes by artists such as Matisse, Picasso,
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Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Braque, de Chirico and Bakst are shown again in as grand a style as Ballets Russes: the art of costume. This exhibition not only presents a dream-like tour through a dynamic period in the history of dance at the beginning of the twentieth century, it alludes to the unimagined universal influence that Diagilev and his collaborators continue to have on visual art, dance and music. Many visitors have praised the particularly beautiful display. The exhibitions Space invaders, In the spotlight: Anton Bruehl photographs 1920s–1950s and Connections have all been especially well attended. While Space invaders and In the spotlight are set to travel this year, the childrens exhibition Connections continues until 17 July at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. We opened our exhibition Australian portraits 1880–1960 in Brisbane on 29 January to great excitement, where I hope it provides a welcome distraction for those affected by the floods. This Australian portrait show deliberately follows our touring landscape exhibition Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape painting 1850–1950.
We are also pleased to have recently launched Varilaku: Pacific arts from the Solomon Islands, the first major exhibition in Australia bringing together the finest traditional arts from the Solomon Islands. Varilaku is likely to surprise audiences with its many distinctive, stunning and masterful sculptures and adornments. Solomon Islands aesthetics are immediately striking for the use of a very limited range of colours and mediums: black, white and red paints on wood and the use of all kinds of shell. Often surfaces are pitch-black, embellished with hundreds of tiny sections of the multihued pearlescent nautilus shell. The brilliant whiteness of the shell was admired and worked into pendants, armbands and other treasured adornments. The exhibition has been generously sponsored by the National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund, which is made up of generous contributions by individual members of the Gallery Council. Funds raised through this year’s Masterpieces for the Nation Fund will go towards acquiring a magnificent self-portrait by the highly regarded twentieth-century artist Nora Heysen. Heysen was a master of
the still life and the self-portrait (this one painted in 1932 in South Australia), and we hope that many people will be inspired to assist in the acquisition of this important early painting by the artist. It will further strengthen the Gallery’s representation of works by significant women artists of the early-to-mid twentieth century as well as our developing South Australian collection. An intricately crafted nineteenth-century silver reliquary stupa from Sri Lanka is a significant new acquisition and our first major acquisition of the art of this nation. The Gallery has also added key works to the collection of Australian art, including an English John Glover painting, At Matlock— mist rising 1814, and New Zealand’s early Modernist artist Rita Angus’s Self-portrait (Wanaka) 1939, as well as Sue Ford’s Shadow play 2007, from her series Last light. We have also acquired Undiscovered 2010, a suite of 10 striking photographs by young Indigenous photographer Michael Cook. Two recent successes for the Gallery have been the annual National Summer Scholarship, which was held at the beginning of the year, and the Getty international conservation project, which concluded in the last week of January.
In mid January, we welcomed 16 Summer Art Scholars from around Australia, sponsored by the National Australia Bank. At the end of January, we had a graduation ceremony for four Southeast Asian conservation interns. With the help of the Getty Institute in America, we offered three-month conservation internships to a member of staff from the Department of Heritage in Laos, National Museum of Cambodia in Cambodia, National Museum in Myanmar and the General Science Library in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The four interns studied all aspects of preventive conservation and basic conservation techniques in the major conservation disciplines of paintings, objects, metals, framing, textiles, paper and photography. Friday nights at the Sculpture Bar in association with Veuve Clicquot have also proven very popular during summer and will continue until Friday 25 March. Situated outside in the Gallery’s Sculpture Garden and featuring guest DJs, the bar is a perfect Friday night venue. On four evenings—Friday 11, Saturday 12, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 March—the Gallery will present Live at the Sculpture Garden hosted by popular musician and ABC
radio personality James Valentine. Live at the Sculpture Garden will bring together superb art, great Australian comedy acts, award-winning cabaret artists and contemporary jazz. Congratulations to Roger Butler, Senior Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings, who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the recent Australia Day honours in recognition of his services to Australian printmaking and the visual arts. Finally, I’d like to thank all the members that have already contributed to the Members Acquisition Fund, which will go towards the acquisition of Hans Heysen’s luminous watercolour Spring 1926. The appeal continues until the end of August. Members will also be pleased to note that they could win a trip for two to Paris simply by being a current member of the Gallery as at 31 August 2011. Good luck.
Ron Radford AM Director
ARTONVIEW 7
Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands Portrait bust of a young man 1870–1900 wood, paint, shell, hair 33 x 26 x 22 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2007
VANITY AND PRESTIGE Realistic sculpture from the Western Solomon Islands Varilaku: Pacific arts from the Solomon Islands until 29 May 2011 | nga.gov.au/varilaku In the exhibition Varilaku: Pacific arts from the Solomon Islands are four intriguingly natural-looking sculptures. They are from a little-documented and, for most people, unexpected tradition of sculptural realism in the Solomon Islands. Less than 40 or so exist in Australian collections—including busts and free-standing full figures in various poses, from sitting to aggressive stances with axe, spear or shield in hand— and almost nothing is known as to their context or why such works were created. They all, however, appear to have originated from the Roviana and Marovo Lagoon areas of New Georgia in the western Solomon Islands and were collected in the period between the mid nineteenth century and around the first decade of the twentieth century. In the mid nineteenth century, European visitors to the islands noted that such sculptures were produced almost solely for trade. But, regardless of whether these sculptures were for trade or community use, they clearly demonstrate the artists’ ability to create mirror-like representations of
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people. Details about the lives and culture of Solomon Islanders in this period are revealed by the hairstyles, facial decorations and adornments depicted in these sculptures. Not only do they reflect personal vanity—what was considered fashionable at the time, such as particular hairstyles—but also the status of the individual. It is unsurprising that these four works from Varilaku depict both sexes, as Solomon Islanders paid great attention to personal appearance. Bachelors especially groomed themselves to appear more alluring to women. Men kept immaculate facial hair, small goatees and manicured tufts, by shaving with sharp-edged shells, by singeing the hair with embers and by plucking hairs with shell ‘tweezers’. All four works sport the fashionable pudding-bowl hairstyle worn by men and woman alike, Seated woman and Portrait bust of a young man have hair formed through plugs of fibre or real human hair. To recreate this hairstyle on smaller sculptures, such as Effigy of Paruvu, a cross– hatched, cap-like dome was carved into
the work and painted white to depict the tight crop that, in life, would have been a dazzling platinum blonde—bleached by repeated applications of caustic lime. This hairstyle was evidently very popular and a wig modelled in the same fashion can be studied in the exhibition. It is also a fashion that can still be seen among Solomon Islanders today. The face of Portrait bust of a young man’s has segments of nautilus shell that represent the painted white decorative lines worn by men on a daily basis for what seems to be only for the purpose of vanity. For the smaller works, these lines are simply painted onto the surface. Ears and noses were also pierced so that ornaments could be worn. Each figure here is shown with pierced ears to receive wooden ear-spools. Holes in the ears could be gradually stretched to around 10 centimetres in diameter. People of wealth and community standing often also wore intricate adornments, and it was important to accurately carve these symbols of status into
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the sculpture. Only the strongest, wealthiest and most influential individuals could afford to wear certain esteemed adornments. This is evident in Effigy of Paruvu in which the subject is depicted wearing an elaborate crescent-shaped mother of pearl pendant suspended on his back. The exception among these four works is the entirely naked Seated woman; although, it is possible, due to her size, that real clothing and adornments would have hung upon her. Effigy of Paruvu expresses a subtlety in its features. The figure is shown at a relaxed moment, dipping his spatula into a gourd, which has been fashioned into a container for lime for chewing betel. The unknown artist had a unique approach
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in his treatment of the body’s rounded forms, down to the details of the eyes and the enlarged nose. Undisputedly, this artist would have been recognised in his community as a carver of no small repute. The original title given to this work was Effigy of Paruvo chief; however, no record exists of a village or chief called Paruvo in the Marovo Lagoon area. The figure is more likely to be an influential man named Paruvu, who was born between 1870 and 1880. Paruvu was from a prominent family and his brother was the strongest and most respected chief in the Marovo Lagoon area during the 1890s. Paruvu, however, has a disfigured hand, possibly the result of a fishing accident— by the late nineteenth century, a risky
technique of fishing with explosives was practiced in the area. Both Effigy of Paruvu and Portrait bust of a young man hold in their gaze and in their countenance a personal quality much admired within New Georgia communities. This quality is called varilaku in the Marovo Lagoon area and is perhaps best defined as a calm but aggressive confidence from which warriors drew upon their courage. If you had varilaku, you did not care if you lived or died. Warriors may have prepared for headhunting raids by calling upon magic, but varilaku was more important than any rifle, axe, spear or magical assistance. An anomaly among these realistic figures is Mother and child. While the female figure
has typical features—large ear spools, a necklace resembling teeth and a pair of shell armbands—it is the figure of the child that makes this sculpture unique. The child may be an albino, mixed race or even perhaps the child of a trader or other white settler shown with its indigenous ‘nanny’. The woman’s pupils are made from deepblue glass beads, lending the face a certain detachedness from the activity of childminding. It is conceivable that the artist has created a work based on real people, but we cannot tell for certain whether the child had a rare case of albinism or whether it is the child of a white settler. On first sight, these realistic sculptures appear to be examples of nineteenthcentury Western objectification of
indigenous cultures. They have the clarity of photography and are somewhat analogous to anthropological practices of creating life casts from indigenous peoples and photographic anthropometry. Yet, unlike the ethnographic photographs and life casts of the time, these figures were created from within the community, not by observers. Perhaps they are a direct a response to viewing Western representational arts. Whatever the case, these figures open a much more meaningful window from which we can see how the Solomon Islanders represented and regarded themselves during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands Effigy of Paruvu 1910–1930 wood, paint 45 x 13 x 14 cm South Sea Islands Museum, Cooranbong
New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands Mother and child 19th or early 20th century wood, paint, fibre, shell, glass 30 x 23 x 11 cm Australian Museum, Sydney © Australian Museum
New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands Seated woman 19th century wood, fibre, shell 65 x 38 x 65 cm Australian Museum, Sydney © Australian Museum
Crispin Howarth Curator, Pacific Arts
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View of the exhibition Ballets Russes: the art of costume at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, showing costumes from Le Coq d’or, L’Oiseau de feu and Petrouchka with Alexandre Benois’s 1911 Petrouchka stage backdrop in the background.
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DEVELOPING AN INTERNATIONAL COSTUME LEGACY Ballets Russes: the art of costume until 1 May 2011 | nga.gov.au/balletsrusses Ballets Russes: the art of costume celebrates the immeasurable influence that the dance company has had on the arts internationally since it was formed over a century ago. This exhibition re-envisions the life and times of the Ballets Russes through costumes designed by some the twentieth century’s most important avant-garde artists. Curator of the exhibition Dr Robert Bell reflects on developing a legacy for the Ballets Russes at the National Gallery of Australia. Ballets Russes: the art of costume offers us a dreamlike view into a lost world of the early twentieth-century European stage. Over 140 costumes and accessories from 34 ballets, along with design drawings, photographs and programs, are arranged in order of productions from 1909 to 1949, providing visitors with breathtaking ensembles and fragments of costume design from Ballets Russes performances last seen in the 1940s. The National Gallery of Australia holds a collection of over 300 costumes from the productions of the Sergei Diaghilev and the Wassily de Basil periods of the Ballets Russes. This collection forms an important part of the international legacy of dance
and stage design from the early twentieth century. After Ballets Russes founder Sergei Diaghilev’s death in 1929, his theatre properties—including stage sets, costumes, designs and musical scores—were assembled by his choreographer Léonide Massine and sold (to cover the debts of the estate) in 1930 to New York composer and theatre producer E Ray Goetz. Goetz planned to use them to revive the Ballets Russes, with the help of Massine, in the United States of America. However, Goetz’s losses in the 1929 Wall Street financial crash forced him to abandon his ambitious project—and Massine along with it—in 1931. Massine
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was left as the owner of the Ballets Russes properties. In 1934, Massine was forced to sell the entire collection (then stored in Paris) to a group of Wassily de Basil’s supporters in London through the Educational Ballets Ltd Foundation, established in 1932 by Anthony Diamantidi, a Greek-Russian businessman and enthusiastic supporter of Diaghilev and his enterprises since 1911. The foundation allowed de Basil to use the collection and joined with him (as the Russian Ballet Development Company) in presenting his 1938 and 1939 seasons at Covent Garden in London and in a number of Australian and New Zealand cities. On de Basil’s death in 1951, the collection, and de Basil’s company, returned to Diamantidi’s control, becoming part of the assets of his new company, the Diaghilev and de Basil Ballet Foundation. This gave Diamantidi renewed hope that he could interest others in establishing a ballet company to continue the artistic legacy
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of the Ballets Russes. Although public interest in the Ballets Russes was revived in 1954 with The Diaghilev exhibition at the Edinburgh Festival (organised by the renowned Diaghilev expert and biographer Richard Buckle), Diamantidi failed to find a buyer. The successful sale of other Diaghilev material at a Sotheby’s auction in London on 18 July 1967 encouraged Diamantidi to consign his collection to the auction house. A celebrated sale (catalogued under Buckle’s supervision) took place at La Scala Theatre in London on 17 July 1968. Students from the Royal Ballet School modelled the costumes for the catalogue photography under the supervision of the former Ballets Russes dancer Lydia Sokolova (née Hilda Munnings). Subsequent auctions of additional costumes and properties from the collection were held by Sotheby’s on 19 December 1969 and 3 March 1973. The National Gallery of Australia (then the Australian National Gallery) was the
major bidder at the last auction in 1973, securing 47 lots comprising over 400 items for a little over £3000. The National Gallery’s establishment in 1968 offered its founding director, James Mollison, the opportunity to shape a collection that would showcase modern art in all its forms. He seized upon the early developmental opportunity offered by the Sotheby’s sales to extend the European modernist collection, and aggressively and successfully bid for the works that now form one of the world’s major collections of Ballets Russes costumes. A further group of Ballets Russes costumes was acquired at auction in 1976, with a number of individual costumes being purchased since that time. The costumes are supplemented by a collection of artists’ design drawings for costumes and sets, including works by Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Natalia Goncharova, André Derain and Juan Gris. They reveal the designers’ original visions of how the
costumes would look on the dancers in movement. The Gallery’s Research Library also has an impressive collection of Ballets Russes programs and other ephemera—a valuable research resource for curators, conservators and dance specialists. The first group of costumes arrived in Canberra in the condition in which they had been consigned to storage 23 years earlier. British ballet historian Philip Dyer was contracted by the Gallery to identify and catalogue them, allocating the dates of their original use and the subsequent revivals for which they were used or modified. Some costumes were relatively pristine, but most showed the effects of accumulated sweat, dried make-up, fugitive dyes, dirt, insect damage, mould or moisture. The evidence of modifications and alterations, both skilled and hastily done, remains— clues to the costumes’ use on stage and their long use by many performers of varying sizes and body types. Other modifications
to the costumes were made to extend their use in later productions and to align them to changes in dress and stage fashions. Weakened or torn areas were also evidence of particular repetitive movements and of the ‘performance’ of the fabrics in heavy use. The costumes presented a stimulating challenge to the nascent Gallery’s newly recruited team of conservators as they began to prepare them for display. Their patient research on the fabrics and the costumes’ histories of use and their development of advanced textile conservation skills over the past 25 years have contributed to the fine reputation and condition of the Gallery’s collection. Selections from the Ballets Russes costume collection have been exhibited regularly since the National Gallery of Australia opened in 1982, initially in a small dedicated space for theatre arts and fashion costume and later as an integral part of collection displays in the International galleries. Two major exhibitions have
previously been mounted at the Gallery: From studio to stage: painters of the Russian Ballet 1909–1929 in 1990 and From Russia with love: costumes for the Ballets Russes in 1999. In 2004, 15 of the Gallery’s Ballets Russes costumes were lent to the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands for its exhibition Working for Diaghilev. These projects accelerated conservation work on the costumes (as has the current exhibition Ballets Russes: the art of costume at the National Gallery of Australia), resulting in over 50 newly restored costumes being exhibited for the first time. Among the costumiers commissioned by Diaghilev to bring his designers’ ideas to reality were the Paris couturiers Jeanne Paquin, who made the costumes for Parade and Jeux, Germaine Bongard (the couturier Paul Poiret’s sister), whose firm Jove made the costumes for Chout and Cuadro flamenco, and Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, who designed and made the costumes for Le Train Bleu. Regularly commissioned professional
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theatre costumiers included Marie Muelle (Muelle & Rossignol), Vera Sudeikina, Helen Pons, A Youkine, Pierre Pitoeff, M Landoff, Caffi and Vorobier, Morris Angel & Son, Grace Lovat Fraser and Barbara Karinska. Inevitably, the dance costumes became worn. They were constantly repaired or even remade for use in extended tours, long-running productions or later revivals. Original, repaired, remodelled and new costumes, made by various costumiers, might be used in the one performance. Replicas were also made to be worn by guest dancers at private and fundraising events. The costumes worn in staged publicity photographs may not always have been those worn on stage and there are few contemporary colour photographs that would allow us to verify whether a designer’s intentions for fabric, colour and texture were fully and accurately carried out. Many of the costumes are associated directly with known performers, identified through names or initials written inside the linings of some of the garments or
through contemporary performance and publicity photographs that indicate how many dancers might have worn a particular costume. These factors make the exact attribution of costumes to actual productions, performances and performers difficult to confirm. As the first-hand recollections and experiences of those who wore the costumes fade over time, forensic investigation by conservators and ongoing research by curators, writers and dance historians is a continuing process that will reveal more of their histories. Publicity from the current exhibition is already eliciting commentary and new information about these costumes from experts worldwide via blogs and online discussion, revealing the Ballets Russes phenomenon as a continuing stimulus to research and creativity, while offering insights into the work and passion of Diaghilev and his collaborators and successors as they reinvented ballet though the language of modernism.
(opposite) Mikhail Larionov Costume for a buffoon’s wife c 1921 from Chout
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 1973 © Mikhail Larionov/ADAGP. Represented by Viscopy
(above, left to right) Costumes from The sleeping princess and Le Mariage d’Aurore. (page 14, left to right) Costumes from Jardin public, Francesca da Rimini, Ode, Le Bal, Les Tentations de la bergère and Ballet de l’Astuce feminine. (page 15, left to right) Costumes from The sleeping princess, Le Mariage d’Aurore, Le Tricorne and Le Chant du rossignol.
Dr Robert Bell AM Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design
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Across cultures, place and time Connections until 17 July 2011 | nga.gov.au/connections Connections is an exhibition for young people that explores relationships between works of art across cultures, place and time. By pairing works of art according to some of the major themes in Islamic art, including science, colour, geometry and calligraphy, comparisons can be made that highlight their similarities. As visitors engage with the exhibition, they develop an understanding of the many levels of cultural exchange. The theme of science is used to pair an early eighteenth-century brass astrolabe from Iran and Aboriginal artist Christopher Pease’s painting New Water Dreaming 2005. Early Islamic scientists were innovative physicians, mathematicians and astronomers and the astrolabe was the principal Islamic instrument for telling the
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time, surveying and determining latitude. Science and religion were also closely linked in the Islamic world, and believers used the astrolabe to determine the direction of Mecca to fulfil their obligation of daily prayer. The link between Pease’s painting and the astrolabe arose when considering the Gallery’s works of art that reference voyages of discovery and, by extension, the navigational role of the astrolabe in its various manifestations. New Water Dreaming depicts the cooperative interaction between the Minang people of Western Australia and the crew of the French ship Astrolabe. While the name of the ship is a direct connection between the works of art, Pease also refers to science by including a hydrology diagram in the sky. In pondering these associations,
visitors to the exhibition can develop an understanding of the importance of science in the history of Islamic culture and the role of technology in maritime activities. Another combination in Connections focuses on the theme of colour. A seventeenth-century Iranian tile is paired with a colour lithograph by Germanborn American artist Josef Albers. In the seventeenth century, potters in Iran added the new colours of pale red, yellow and green to their repertoire, which inspired them to create more-innovative designs. Albers was also inspired to experiment with colour in the 1960s. He was interested in the way that emotions and ideas are conveyed through simple geometric shapes and pure colour. He demonstrated that colour is
relative: our perception of a colour changes when it is juxtaposed or layered in different ways with other colours. This pairing also introduces the theme of geometric ornamentation, a creative pursuit that reached its pinnacle in the Islamic world. American artist Frank Stella’s 1967 print Star of Persia II and the luscious book The grammar of ornament, first published in 1856, display a close connection. Stella developed his ‘Star of Persia’ pattern and produced a series of prints and paintings influenced by Islamic art and architecture after travelling to Iran in 1963. Nineteenth-century English architect and designer Owen Jones was inspired to produce The grammar of ornament after viewing Islamic art in London’s Great Exhibition of 1851. This
impressive book has been photographed in its entirety for the Connections exhibition and is available on the Gallery’s website. Connections also includes a Qur’an, two Indian miniatures, a chadari and contemporary works by Australian artists, Hossein Valamanesh, GW Bot, Phillip George and Bronwyn Oliver. The conversations resulting from the pairing of works of art in Connections will hopefully contribute to progressing intercultural understanding within the community. As visitors discover sometimes surprising connections between works of art, they are learning about Islamic culture and its creative influence around the world.
Christopher Pease New Water Dreaming 2005 oil on canvas 100 x 180 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2005
Owen Jones The grammar of ornament, Day & Son, London, 1856 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Felix Man Collection, Special Government Grant, 1972
Iran Astrolabe 1713 brass overall 17.2 x 9.8 x 1.4 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra bequest of William F Wells, 2003
Frances Wild Gallery educator and curator of Connections
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Participants and Gallery and Wesfarmers staff (from left): Kelli Cole (NGA), Sharyn Egan, Helen Carroll (Manager, Wesfarmers Arts), Gabriel Nodea, Casey Kickett (Indigenous Cadet, Wesfarmers), Ron Radford (Director, NGA), Tina Baum (NGA), Franchesca Cubillo (NGA), Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, Emma Loban, Jirra Harvey, Kimberley Moulton, Renee Johnson, Ron Bradfield Jr, Freja Carmichael, Alison Furber, Tahjee Moar and Nadeena Dixon.
Advancing the industry through Indigenous leadership the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship program Indigenous art enjoys a high profile as the cornerstone of the Australian arts industry with over half of all Australian artists being Indigenous and an annual contribution to the Australian economy of over $400 million; however, there is a continuing trend that the only role for Indigenous people within the industry is that of the artist or producer. Nowadays, many Indigenous artists command attention through representation in national and international collections, exhibitions and programs. Many rich and diverse Indigenous stories have been told through the work of these artists but there is still a distinct Indigenous voice that continues to be either dampened by
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its isolation or not heard at all, that of the Indigenous art professional—curator, publisher, designer, educator, art handler, conservator and so on. For the Indigenous arts sector to continue its unparalleled growth over the last 40 years and its important role within the broader visual arts industry, it is essential that this voice is nurtured and given a place. Addressing this issue is one of the most important challenges the Australian arts industry now faces. The groundbreaking Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship program is an unprecedented partnership between the National Gallery of Australia and Wesfarmers Limited. It is a five-year
initiative that illustrates the commitment of both organisations in redressing the unbalanced representation of Indigenous Australians in the administrative and operational side of the arts sector. November saw the fruition of an extensive two year process that included a national consultation program with Indigenous and arts communities and resulted in the development of the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship program that comprises two separate component focused on fostering the next generation of Indigenous arts professionals. The primary component, the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship allows two senior-level participants to pursue
individual projects over a two-year period with mentoring support from the National Gallery of Australia. These Fellows also take part in the secondary component, the Indigenous Arts Leadership program. The Indigenous Arts Leadership program introduces entry- or mid-level arts professionals to the many career pathways within the visual arts and museum sector and expands, over an intensive 10 days, their current skills and experience in the sector. An expansive application process was undertaken to find talented Indigenous Australians who have the drive, talent and passion and are ready to continue to the next level in their professional development to ultimately make their mark as curators,
exhibition designers and educators in museums and galleries of Australia and the world. The broad geographical spread and high calibre of applications received illustrated the untapped potential that exists. Through this application process, two Fellows and 10 emerging leaders were found from almost all corners of Australia, ready to meet the challenges set out before them at the National Gallery of Australia. To ensure that the inaugural Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Leadership program (21–30 November 2010) offered highlevel training and mentorship, the Gallery worked with the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre in Canberra, a registered
training organisation that is Indigenous owned and managed, to assist in developing and delivering a cutting-edge program. The program saw a fusion of an accredited Indigenous Leadership course, with participants receiving a Certificate II level qualification in Indigenous Arts Leadership and practical experiences in the premier Australian arts institution. The Leadership component of the program presented the emerging leaders with the opportunity to develop and hone essential skills in areas such as networking, communication, advocacy, representation, diplomacy and governance. A key component of the program was the access that emerging leaders had to the
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diverse and exceptional experience held by staff of the Gallery. The 11 new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander galleries presented the emerging leaders with an inimitable backdrop to explore and investigate the vast and varied fundamentals of Indigenous visual arts. They were given unique insights into the development and philosophies of these new spaces through interaction with the Gallery’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art department. The experiences of the emerging leaders were not only limited to Indigenous art with tours throughout the many galleries by a multitude of senior curators from different specialities. They also had the opportunity to explore the inner workings
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of a large institution in areas such as storage, conservation and the research library. A highlight of the program was an innovative approach to edify participants in the indispensable skill of networking. With a theoretical session on networking skills laying the foundations, participants were presented with the task of putting these skills into practice at an event hosted at the Gallery. With the support from partners and friends of the Gallery, including Wesfarmers, National Australia Bank, Forrest Hotel and Apartments, The Brassey of Canberra, Qantas and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the occasion proved an enlightening event for all who participated. The enthusiasm and talent shown by the emerging leaders during the 10 days was
best shown by one of the main assessment tasks; researching and presenting a fiveminute talk on a selected work of art. The depth and passion reflected by each emerging leader’s presentation not only impressed and excited many Gallery professionals but also reinforced the true benefit in having more Indigenous voices sharing and advancing cultural dialogues. The completion of the 10-day program culminated in a graduation ceremony celebrated by emerging leaders, trainers and facilitators and Gallery staff with a feeling that everyone had experienced a very special and important 10 days. Emerging leaders left with not only a Certificate II in Indigenous Arts Leadership but also an enhanced sense of the possibilities in the
arts sector and experiences and skills to assist them in the future career choices. For the National Gallery of Australia and Wesfarmers Limited, the completion of the inaugural Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Leadership program showed great promise for a new chapter to shape the Indigenous visual arts sector. The emerging leader’s journey will continue to be supported by the National Gallery of Australia and Wesfarmers Limited through the development of the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship network, which will build and connect people and promote and share knowledge and experiences. The Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship program would not be possible
without the ongoing and very generous commitment made by Wesfarmers. The program has also received generous support from Forrest Hotel and Apartments, who made the emerging leaders’ stay in our nation’s capital a comfortable and welcoming one. The dedicated work of the staff, trainers, facilitators and management at the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre was also integral to the great success of the Leadership program. Peter White Indigenous Education and Public Programs Coordinator To find out more about the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship, including more on this year’s participants, go to nga.gov.au/wesfarmersfellowship.
(top, left to right) Franchesca Cubillo, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, and Renee Johnson get up close with Wawilak Sisters 1995–96 by Dundiwuy Wanambi, Wolpa Wanambi and Matu Yunupingu. Kimberley Moulton observes Thanakupi’s Garth Eran and Evarth Eran c 1988. Freja Carmichael and Ron Bradfield Jr. Sharyn Egan and Nadeena Dixon, through Gali Yalkayirriwuy Gurruwirri’s Banumbirr 2009. (bottom, left to right) The graduation ceremony in the Gandel Hall at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Glenn Iseger-Pilkington and Ron Radford, Director of the National Gallery of Australia. Graduates join colleague Nadeena Dixon on stage for her performance at the graduation ceremony. Gabriel Nodea speaks to his fellow graduates.
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Take it slowly I valued the opportunity to discover the qualities of the art work for myself and then learn so much more from others in a relaxed and interactive setting. Slow Art 2010 participant
Visitors contemplate Emily Kam Kngwarray’s Yam awely 1995, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, gift of the Delmore Collection, Donald and Janet Holt, 1995
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Embraced by over 50 art museums and galleries throughout the world, Slow Art follows in the footsteps of the popular Slow Food movement, which began in the late 1980s and has become increasingly popular worldwide. Aimed at encouraging a contemplative approach to art, the Slow Art movement encourages participants to pace their gallery experience and to take an in-depth look at a work of art for at least 10 minutes, rather than the average of eight seconds. Slow Art goes to the heart of what public programs at the Gallery are all
about: providing access to the nation’s art collection and allowing the community to engage with art and culture at their own pace. This is why the National Gallery of Australia was keen to embrace the concept in April 2010 and is proud to be the first major Australian public gallery to have recognised international Slow Art Day. Last year, it was easy to spot the Slow Art participants as they were looking intently at works of art and often sketching or taking notes. Informal conversations also sprung up among them as they sat and pondered the works together before everyone gathered
in the Gallery Cafe for a lively discussion over lunch. For this year’s Slow Art program on Saturday 16 April, the Gallery is adding a sunrise session for the early birds who wish to experience James Turrell’s sculpture Within without 2010 at its optimum viewing time. Interestingly, in a 2005 interview with Andy Goldsworthy, Turrell expressed how disappointed he was when he had to move on after seeing the Mona Lisa for only 13 seconds while it was in LA. He further remarked, ‘…there’s this slow-food
movement right now. Maybe we could also have a slow-art movement …’ The National Gallery of Australia looks forward to celebrating Slow Art 2011 on Saturday 16 April, between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm. Take the time to mark it in your diary and be sure to register at nga.gov.au/slowart to receive this year’s list of works. Michelle Fracaro Project Officer, Public Programs
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Nora Heysen Self-portrait 1932 oil on canvas 76 x 64 cm
Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2011 A master of the self-portrait Help the National Gallery of Australia to acquire this exquisite self-portrait by donating to the Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2011. For further information or to make your tax-deductable donation, call (02) 6240 6454 or fill out and return the donation form in the Masterpieces for the Nation 2011 brochure. Nora Heysen (1911–2003) is a highly regarded twentieth-century artist. Her self-portraits are among her most striking contributions to Australian art. They are arresting images of a modern, independent woman that are exquisitely executed with a distinctive and refined realism. This outstanding portrait will be the first selfportrait painting by Heysen to enter the national art collection. The daughter of painter Hans Heysen, Nora was born in 1911 at Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. The fourth of eight children, she was the only one to follow her father into a career in art. Nora Heysen painted her bold and brilliant Self-portrait 1932 while she was living in South Australia, and she maintained a strong connection with her home state throughout her life. The National Gallery of Australia aims to represent art from each state and territory in Australia and has, for some time, sought to better represent this significant South Australian-born artist. Self-portrait 1932 is a major early example of Heysen’s rich self-observations. She draws
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together her interest in Italian Renaissance art and classicism and her sense of herself as a modern woman committed to her art. Heysen depicts herself with a focused determination that became a characteristic of her self-portraiture; her blue eyes are fixed in a piercing gaze. The look expertly captures her confidence as well as her selfcontainment. In her hands, she holds two brushes and her treasured palette given to her as a child by her father’s patron, Dame Nellie Melba. Heysen refined the contents of the scene, focusing attention on her and her art as the subject, with nothing more than a rich blue curtain as the backdrop. Heysen developed a skill for portraiture at a young age, drawing and painting members of her family and friends. She first exhibited with the Society of Artists in Sydney in 1930 at the age of just 19. By age 20, she had her first works purchased by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia. She held her first solo exhibition in 1933. Among numerous awards for her portraiture and still-lifes, in 1938 Heysen became the first woman to be
awarded the Archibald Prize. In 1943, she became the first woman to be appointed an official Australian war artist and was sent to New Guinea. Self-portrait will enable the National Gallery of Australia to represent Nora Heysen’s depth as a painter. It will greatly enhance the national art collection, strengthening the representation of Modernist women artists and twentiethcentury art from South Australia. We also believe that it will stand the test of time as one of the most impressive portraits in Australian art. It is then fitting that this painting has been chosen to join other masterpieces acquired with the assistance of the Masterpieces for the Nation Fund, which is now in its ninth year running. It is also particularly significant as 2011 marks the centenary of Heysen’s birth. Deborah Hart Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post-1920, and Miriam Kelly, Assistant Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture
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Sinhalese community, Sri Lanka
Reliquary stupa (dagoba) 19th century, silver, 46 x 32 (diam) cm, purchased 2010
Throughout Sri Lanka, reliquaries ranging from architectural monuments to small portable repositories have long been used to hold physical remains—bones, teeth, hair and nails—of the historical Buddha and prominent Buddhist monks and teachers. Relics of the Buddha commemorate his earthly existence and serve as sacred reminders of his wisdom. Spectacular reliquary structures, stupa, dot the island’s landscape, while miniature containers are often made from precious gold, silver, bronze or crystal. The Gallery’s exquisite nineteenth-century reliquary, dagoba in Sinhalese, is made from silver. The largely unadorned dome is complemented by areas of intricate floral and foliate patterning, while charming images of cows and elephants decorate the vessel’s rim. Bodhi leaf motifs appear in the square section of the sculpture and in the silver pendants suspended from the stupa’s lotus bud finial, alluding to the tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment.
The full beauty and purpose of this superb object is best appreciated when the structure is opened to reveal the delicate silver lotus floating within. Symbolising spiritual purity, the intricate flower has multiple rows of petals, stamens and a central pod that also opens, exposing a small chamber that once held a sacred relic. Bell-shaped with a circular tiered base, square upper chamber and spire, the reliquary echoes the form of the first stupa constructed in Sri Lanka—Thuparama Dagoba in Anuradhapura. The monument houses the Buddha’s collarbone and is one of Sri Lanka’s most venerated sites. The famous golden dagoba that holds a tooth recovered from the Buddha’s ashes is also the same distinctive shape. It is kept in the Temple of the Sacred Tooth in Kandy and is paraded atop an elephant during a magnificent annual procession. Encapsulating ancient and enduring Buddhist imagery and ideas, this stupa-shaped reliquary is the Gallery’s first major acquisition of art from Sri Lanka. Lucie Folan Curator, Asian Art
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Kenyah or Apo Kayan people Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia
Finial for a house, rice granary or funerary vault early–mid 20th century, wood, paint, 185 x 305 x 32 cm, purchased 2010
The largest island in maritime Southeast Asia, Borneo is home to an artistic tradition synonymous with the veneration of ancestral deities and spirits of nature. Objects and textiles made for ritual and everyday use are rich in curvilinear ornamentation and motifs of animals and supernatural creatures—including birds, serpents, dragons and ferocious beasts. Such imagery signifies rank and also invokes favour from benevolent ancestors and spirits while deterring malevolent forces. This architectural finial created by the Kenyah or Apo Kayan people of Kalimantan epitomises the role of art as an indicator of status and a conduit to the supernatural realms. Composed of an intricate network of spiralling forms representing the sinuous aso— an amalgamation of dog and dragon—and the rhinoceros hornbill or kenyalang, the monumental finial would have been installed within a traditional longhouse or atop a communal dwelling, rice granary or funerary structure containing remains of the dead. From this position, the aso and kenyalang guarded the structure’s occupants, living or dead, from dangerous supernatural forces.
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Symbolising aristocratic rank, the combined serpent and bird imagery also represents an auspicious pairing of the heavenly upper and lower worlds. An inhabitant of the watery underworld, the aso is a female motif associated with fertility and abundance. The aso is depicted throughout Borneo with menacing jaws and limbs that are considered fearsome only by malevolent beings. In contrast, the kenyalang is a male symbol and the revered messenger of the ancestors and deities of the upper realm. Once employed as a spiritual weapon against enemy headhunters, kenyalang images with distinctive curvilinear casques are now used to attract fame and fortune for wealthy patrons. This monumental finial, exhibited for the first time during the recent exhibition Life, death and magic: 2000 years of Southeast Asian ancestral art, now takes pride of place near the entrance to the Gallery’s permanent displays of Asian art, where it can also be admired from the NGA Cafe. Niki van den Heuvel Assistant Curator, Asian Art
Sue Ford
Shadow play 2007, edition of 10, from the series Last light, digital colour photograph, 112 x 142 cm, purchased 2010
Australian photographer Sue Ford’s first well-known body of work was the series Time 1961–74 comprising multiple black-and-white portraits of friends and family taken years apart, examples of which were acquired by the National Gallery of Australia in 1976. The series dates from the years after she enrolled in 1961 (as one of only two women) in a new photography course at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. It marks the beginning of her distinctive relationship with the paradox that, while the camera freezes time, photographic art can effectively show its effects—in this case, on the human body—and open up a mood of reflection and even of spiritual journeying. Her sense of the intersection and overlaying of personal time with the larger currents of place, history and political legacies was honed by the programs for the Australian Bicentennial year in 1988, when she became involved in Indigenous issues and culture. Ford photographed the historical meeting between Bob Hawke and Galarrwuy Yunupingu in which the prime minister offered a treaty to the Aboriginal people. She subsequently worked in central and northern Australia with Indigenous artists and communities. Ford was also a filmmaker and painter. Her first film was Low deposit, easy terms, a three-minute short made in 1969; her first published book One sixtieth of a second—portraits of women 1961–1981
came a decade later. An early narrative direction is evident in her 1969 series The witches letter, which was intended as a childrens book. Ford’s work since the 1990s made frequent use of new technologies and sequential formats as well as digital imaging. Typical of her later large-format colour works is the gallery’s recently acquired Shadow play, from her 2007 series Last light of which she said, ‘This work is looking at photography, landscape and illusion’, adding that in the digital world, ‘everyone is now a photographer’. In Shadow play we see a familiar scene of tourists at a beach; their bodies have become the black paper silhouette portraits of a pre-photographic era as they snap the sunset with digital cameras held out like offerings to the dying light. The manipulation of colour, texture, patterns and outlines has transported the figures to a strangely unreal space. As they record the moment in time, they are locked in private reverie but also perhaps melded with the cosmos and continuing Ford’s engagement with place and time and her engagement with Buddhism later in life. Sue Ford died from cancer in 2009. A retrospective will be mounted at the Monash City Gallery in Victoria in April 2012. Gael Newton Senior Curator, Photography
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Ralph Balson
Painting 1941, oil on cardboard on composition board, 48.2 x 78.7 cm, purchased 2010
Ralph Balson (1890–1964) was one the most progressive Australian artists of his time. In 1941, he held the first solo exhibition in Australia of entirely non-figurative painting. This exhibition, although it passed relatively unnoticed at the time, is now recognised as an important turning point in the story of Australian abstraction. The Gallery’s recently acquired work Painting 1941 was first displayed in this exhibition, alongside 20 other bold abstract works, at the gallery Anthony Hordern & Sons in Sydney. Painting highlights Balson’s dynamic approach to form, colour and space. Crisply painted opaque rectangles and circles are layered within a shallow picture plane. The tones of the carefully selected colours and shapes advance and recede within the space with calculated effect. Alongside Grace Crowley and Frank Hinder, Balson was one of the first artists in Australia to devote himself solely to the pursuit of abstraction. From 1940, Balson’s works moved from semi-figurative cubist imagery to wholly abstract explorations of colour and form.
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Balson’s interest in abstraction was influenced by the works and writings of European artists such as Mondrian and Moholy-Nagy as well as by the theories of French Cubist Albert Gleizes, which he encountered primarily through books and reproductions. Balson’s approach to painting was also inspired by ideas gleaned from science and mathematics, including Einstein’s theory of relativity. In an interview with Hazel de Berg in 1966, Crowley described Balson’s dynamic abstract works as a ‘painter’s effort to express his wonder of this changing ever-expanding universe not in words nor by mathematics but through the medium he knew so well and had become part of himself; paint’. Miriam Kelly Assistant Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture
Rita Angus
Self-portrait (Wanaka) 1939, oil on canvas, 47.5 x 42.9 cm, purchased 2010
Rita Angus (1908–1970) is without doubt one of New Zealand’s most important artists. Her major works are hard to come by and the National Gallery of Australia has been trying to acquire a significant painting for the national collection since the early 1980s. Angus’s self-portraits are widely acknowledged to be among her most impressive works. The Gallery was fortunate to acquire, through negotiations with the artist’s estate, an exceptional example of this genre, from a pivotal time of her life: Self-portrait (Wanaka) 1939. Angus has also received much acclaim for her depictions of specific New Zealand environments. The fact that this selfimage is located within the distinctive Wanaka landscape of the Central Otago region, with the snow-capped Southern Alps in the background, makes the work additionally special. In the 1930s and 1940s, national identity was an intellectual obsession among many New Zealand artists, writers and critics who turned to their own place to consider the effect it had on shaping a collective consciousness. For Angus, the landscape was only part of the equation and, although she was often deeply inspired by locality, she was also drawn to people and human psychology. Self-portrait (Wanaka) is a dramatic, penetrating self-portrait painted on the eve of the Second World War. As a young woman, Rita Angus was a feminist and a pacifist. A clear sense of her independent spirit comes through in this self-portrait. As we contemplate the painting it is possible to observe an intensity of feeling in her deeply furrowed brow and the powerful expression in her eyes. This was no doubt informed by her difficult personal circumstances at the time. In the lead-up to undertaking this work, her marriage had ended, her sister had died and she had no fixed address. As a pacifist, she also found it painful to witness the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe. Set in the bracing atmosphere of a wintry landscape, this painting conveys a sense of place, time and personal experience. This powerful work adds significantly to the portraits by modernist women in the Gallery’s collection and also strengthens our collection of New Zealand art. After years of consideration and negotiation, the Gallery can now represent Rita Angus with a major painting for the first time in an Australian public art museum. Deborah Hart Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post-1920
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John Glover
At Matlock—mist rising (Landscape with figures) 1814, oil on canvas, 71 x 94 cm, acquired with the Founding Donors 2010 Fund, 2010
John Glover was undoubtedly Australia’s most important colonial artist before 1850. Indeed, he is ranked as one of the most significant landscape artists of his generation working outside Europe. At Matlock—mist rising (Landscape with figures) 1814 is a magical landscape by Glover, an excellent example of his English work. It is infused with classical overtones and reflects Glover’s admiration for the work of seventeenth-century French artist Claude Lorrain— Glover’s aim being not to steal from Claude’s work but to think like him. The Claudian format included a high vantage point, a dark foreground enlivened by human or animal staffage and a gentle zigzag through a sunlit centre of the composition. More than this, in At Matlock—mist rising, the sky is luminescent, with light rising from the mountain ranges in the distance, diffusing in the rising mist and radiating over the valley. The scene shows an immense expanse of country, resembling an arcadia—a blessed place. A pool of warm sunlight baths three figures and grazing cattle in the foreground, with the two women listening attentively to the shepherd playing music. The overt Claudian inspiration of this painting and its classical subject were no doubt designed to appeal to early nineteenthcentury collectors. They had a taste for a good vantage point as well as the fleeting beauty of atmospheric effects such as a dewy morning gilded by the sun. It shows the way in which Glover mastered the transition from a warm foreground to cool hues in the distance. Although Glover moved to London in 1805, he continued to visit the Midlands, staying at Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield. It would have been a relatively short journey from there to Matlock in Derbyshire. Glover would have based this painting on a study from nature, from drawings in one of his many sketchbooks, such
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as Matlock (craggy landscape with figures) in the Gallery’s Sketchbook mainly of landscapes and scenes in England and Wales c 1802–08. The image is, however, a synthesis rather than an exact topographical depiction. It brings together details from several vantage points to create a more magical scene than any found in nature. Such tension between detailed observation and a composed harmonic poetic vision was a popular aesthetic approach in the early 1800s. The popular approach changed to a more naturalistic vision later in the century, as it did in Glover’s own art—particularly in his approach to landscape in his Australian pastoral subjects. This painting was previously known as Landscape with figures, but the subject was identified as being of Matlock by Glover expert David Hansen, who spent time walking around the area while researching Glover in 2000. We suggest that the view is from Lovers’ Walk on the Heights of Abraham. The lofty limestone escarpment of Cat Tor is on the left, with the River Derwent in the valley below, and in the distance is the Black Rocks, above Cromford. The large building in the centre may be Cumming’s Old Bath Hotel, which operated from the first decade of the nineteenth century. The painting is dated 1814. Glover exhibited a number of works with a Matlock title at the Society of Painters in Oil and Watercolours in 1814, 1815 and 1816. In 1814, he showed At Matlock—mist rising (catalogue number 102) and this title captures the spirit of the painting. It is on this basis we have titled the painting. Anne Gray Head of Australian Art
John Glover Matlock (craggy landscape with figures) c 1802–08 (detail) from Sketchbook mainly of landscapes and scenes in England and Wales ink, pen and brush, pencil 23.2 x 18.4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 1984
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AB Webb designer
Calyx Pottery manufacturer
21-piece tea service c 1922, earthenware with underglaze transfer print, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2010
Afternoon tea on a veranda overlooking the Swan River was one of the pleasures of life in Perth in the 1920s. This 21-piece tea service, perfectly evoking the period and locale, was made by the Calyx Pottery in Western Australia and is one of its most accomplished products. Its decoration was designed by Western Australian artist Archibald Bertram Webb (1887–1944), showing his interest in the pattern and spatial organisation of Japanese woodcuts as applied to the form of functional ceramics. The pattern on this set incorporates a kookaburra and bush and tree forms of the local Swan River area that characterised Webb’s work as a watercolourist and printmaker. He had trained at St Martin’s School of Art in London and worked as a freelance commercial artist and illustrator before immigrating to Western Australia in 1915. In Perth, he worked as a commercial artist and taught art at the University of Western Australia and Perth Technical College, where he succeeded James WR Linton as its head in 1932.
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The Calyx Pottery was established in Perth, Western Australia, in 1921 to manufacture high-quality white earthenware and porcelain for commercial use. Becoming the only large producer of such ware in Australia, it engaged the services of prominent local artists to design shapes and surface decoration for sets of tableware. However, the company had a short-lived independence and was incorporated into the Brisbane and Wunderlich company in the mid 1920s. The acquisition of this example of Australian ceramic design extends the Gallery’s representation of applied art from the 1920s. As an early work by a key Western Australian artist it shows how regional motifs and design themes were central to the emergence of a strong local ceramic industry. Dr Robert Bell AM Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design
Jacqueline Ryan
Brooch 2002, gold and enamel, 5.5 cm (diam), purchased 2010
This complex brooch has an intricate hidden geometric structure of gold on which many moveable enamelled gold elements are attached, each independently responding to the wearer’s movements. The brooch evokes the richness, intricacy and wonder of the Etruscan and Renaissance jewellery that lies at the heart of the Italian jewellery tradition, yet the work is wholly contemporary with its resonances of marine organisms and fungi that are revealed to us through the imaging of microbiology. Jacqueline Ryan develops her jewellery design from a close study of micro-organisms, particularly flowers and seedpods, resulting in finely crafted objects of breathtaking subtlety. She is part of a group of innovative jewellers in Italy’s Padua region who have revitalised the area’s ancient goldsmithing and jewellery traditions. Ryan’s skill as a goldsmith and enamellist is displayed with great authority in this work, which is typical of the design innovations that place
her among the most respected jewellers in contemporary European goldsmithing. Jacqueline Ryan was born in London in 1966 and completed a masters in goldsmithing at the London’s Royal College of Art in 1991. She has been living and working in Italy since in 1992, when she moved to Padua with goldsmith Giovanni Corvaja (whose works are also in the Gallery’s collection). They shared a workshop together for nine years before moving to Todi in the region of Umbria in 2001, where Ryan now has her own workshop. Dr Robert Bell AM Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design
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Michael Cook Bidjara people
Undiscovered 2010, edition 1 of 8, suite of 10 inkjet prints, 250 x 500 cm (overall), purchased 2010
Michael Cook is from the Bidjara people of south-west Queensland. Although an emerging artist, he has a wealth of photographic knowledge and experience that has gained him national and international recognition. He originally worked as a fashion photographer and has effectively applied these skills to the visual arts with Undiscovered 2010, which comprises a suite of 10 photographs and was recently acquired by the Gallery. Undiscovered subtly portrays, the ‘discovery’ of Australia by the British. The action takes place on the beach, looking out, as Aboriginal people would have, where the ocean meets the land and where Aboriginal people met the British for the first time. The emu and the kangaroo (the adopted icons of the Australian coat of arms) as well as other native animals ‘discovered’ by the British such as the crocodile, wombat, goanna and echidna make cameo appearances throughout. The historical Endeavour, a powerful symbol of Australian colonisation, also appears, along with modern technology such as the bicycle, ladder, dingy and wheelbarrow. The recurring figure in the photographs is an Aboriginal man in a reversed role. He is dressed in colonial-style clothing acting as a British coloniser; his splendid red jacket is reminiscent of those worn by eighteenth-century British naval officers. Image by image, however, he disrobes, shedding his colonial clothing and revealing the resilience and strength of an Aboriginal person unencumbered and ‘undiscovered’. In the final arresting image of the work, the Tasmanian devil stands defiant over a discarded and tattered British flag. Tina Baum Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
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Travelling exhibitions nga.gov.au/travex
IN THE JAPANESE MANNER
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
SPACE INVADERS
Australian prints 1900–1940
Anton Bruehl photographs 1920s–1950s
australian . street . stencils . paste-ups . zines . stickers
30 Apr – 13 Jun 2011 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT
9 Apr – 5 Jun 2011 UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld
25 Jun – 11 Sep 2011 Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, Vic
1 Sep – 5 Nov 2011 RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
20 May – 14 Aug 2011 Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Qld
(details from left) Thea Proctor The rose 1927, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1975 | Anton Bruehl Harlem number, Versailles cafe 1943, print made after 1946, George Eastman House, New York, museum purchase with National Endowment for the Arts support courtesy of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film | Reks not titled (body search 1 pink) 2004, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, 2007 | Elise Blumann Charles, morning on the Swan 1939, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1978 | Aubrey Tigan Bardi/Djawi peoples Riji (pearl shell), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
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18 Nov 2011 – 18 March 2012 Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, NSW
Travelling exhibitions supporters
National Collecting Institutions Touring & Outreach Program
AUSTRALIAN PORTRAITS 1880–1960
Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift
paintings from the National Gallery of Australia collection
nga.gov.au/wolfensohn
29 Jan – 27 Mar 2011 UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 9 Apr – 10 Jul 2011 Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT 23 Jul – 4 Sep 2011 Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool, Vic
The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift enables people from all around Australia to discover and handle art. Made possible by Jim Wolfensohn, the gift comprises three art‑filled suitcases— Blue case: technology, Red case: myths and rituals and Yellow case: form, space and design—and the 1888 Melbourne Cup. The Gallery has been touring the Wolfensohn Gift cases to schools, libraries, community centres, regional galleries and nursing homes since 1990. To make a booking for 2012, contact travex@nga.gov.au or (02) 6240 6650.
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FACES IN VIEW
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Space invaders
1 Jenn Willemsen and Nectar Efkarpidis 2 Sonja and Darren Sharp 3 Ash Keating discusses his work Pascua Lama 2006 at the National Gallery of Australia, 23 November 2010 4 Space invaders artists Vexta and Nails 5 Ben Katauskas and David Steffanoff 6 A graffiti demonstration at the Gallery for This is a stick up, 30 October 2010
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Ballets Russes 7 Barbara Wright, Holly Northam and Julie Hemmingway 8 Nacy Ganter, Harold Ganter, Caroline Turner and Glen Barclay
Education 9 Tina Baum (centre) and Zeke Solomon (right) with a group of young Indigenous soccer players from all over Australia, 25 November 2010
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10 Artist Patricia Piccinini (centre) with her work The stags 2009 and this year’s Summer Art Scholars, 18 January 2011
Sculpture Garden 11 The Sculpture Bar in association with Veuve Clicquot, open Friday nights at the National Gallery of Australia 12 John Ruman from Spader and Melodie Brophy enjoy a glass of Veuve Clicquot at the Sculpture Bar
ARTONVIEW 43
News from the Foundation The Foundation has supported the National Gallery of Australia since 1989. We provide people with the opportunity to be part of the bigger picture in Australia, to help build the nation’s heritage through the arts. To be involved, contact Maryanne Voyazis on +61 2 6240 6691 or at maryanne.voyazis@nga.gov.au.
Foundation’s new Chairman John Hindmarsh conducted his first meeting as Chairman of the Foundation in early February. He has been a Director of the Foundation Board for the past 7 years and a great friend and supporter of the Gallery. Through his construction company, he has also supported a number of exhibitions at the National Gallery of Australia and is currently a major partner of the Ballets Russes Family Activity Room. He is joined in his passion for the Gallery’s vision by his wife Rosanna Hindmarsh, who is one of our longest serving voluntary guides. John is looking forward to continuing the important work of the Foundation.
Chairman of the Foundation John Hindmarsh with one of his favourite paintings from the collection: Walangkura (Jackson) Napanangka’s Untitled 2009, acquired in acknowledgement of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations with support from The Myer Foundation, 2010
44 ARTONVIEW
American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia In October last year, Director Ron Radford AM presented a talk in New York to members of the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc. Established in 1983, the American Friends have since donated or facilitated gifts to the Gallery of many works by international masters such as Willem de Kooning, Agnes Martin, Frank Stella, Henri Matisse, Robert Rauschenberg and Picasso. The focus of the Director’s presentation was the Gallery’s Indigenous art galleries and, as a result, a group of American Friends will be travelling to Canberra this year to visit the Gallery and to participate in the Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner and Weekend. We very much look forward to welcoming and strengthening our bonds with our American Friends.
Ron Radford, Director of the National Gallery of Australia, and Ian Phillips, Vice President of the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc.
Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner and Weekend 2011
Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2011
Over the past three years, the annual Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner and Weekend has become a highlight on Australia’s philanthropic arts events calendar. This year, the dinner will take place in the Gallery’s spectacular new Gandel Hall. The weekend activities will commence with a barbeque lunch at Government House, hosted by the Governor-General of Australia and patron of the Foundation, Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce AC. The program will also include curatorled tours of Ballets Russes and collection displays as well as brunch hosted by the French Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Michel Filhol and Mrs Filhol. If you would like to support the Gallery through the Foundation, contact Executive Director Maryanne Voyazis on +61 2 6240 6691.
The Masterpieces for the Nation Fund is an annual fundraising appeal that provides the opportunity for benefactors at all levels to assist the Gallery to acquire significant works of art for the national art collection. Since it was initiated in 2003, the fund has attracted continuous and regular support from many generous donors who have assisted the Gallery in acquiring eight masterpieces— including, most recently, Tom Roberts’s Shearing shed, Newstead 1893–94 in 2009 and Robert Dowling’s portrait Miss Robertson of Colac (Dolly) 1885–86 in 2010. We are delighted to announce that the art work chosen for this year’s fund is Nora Heysen’s superb Self-portrait 1932 (see page 26 for more about the work).
Guests at the Foundations 21st Anniversary Gala Dinner, 20 March 2010.
Nora Heysen Self-portrait 1932 (detail), oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm
ARTONVIEW 45
Creative partnerships The National Gallery of Australia is committed to forging strong creative partnerships and is grateful for the support and vision of our sponsors and partners. If you are interested in creating ties with the Australian community through the arts, contact: Nicole Short on +61 2 6240 6781 or at nicole.short@nga.gov.au or Eleanor Kirkham +61 2 6240 6740 or at eleanor.kirkham@nga.gov.au.
ActewAGL presents a night of nights As part of their partnership with the Gallery for Ballets Russes, ActewAGL is hosting a themed ball in the spectacular Gandel Hall on 4 March. The ticketed Canberra community event will have entertainment and the opportunity for attendees to donate to local charity Hands Across Canberra. This ‘night of nights’ is in celebration of the exhibition and ActewAGL’s exceptional support of the Gallery and the Canberra community. At the opening of Ballets Russes in December, CEO of ActewAGL Michael Costello said, ‘Over the last 10 years it has been a privilege for ActewAGL to support a number of the national gallery’s major exhibitions and acquisitions … ActewAGL is a strong supporter of local businesses. That’s why we sponsor large events like this [Ballets Russes] and sporting events that bring people to our capital … creating a great boost to the local economy’.
Michael Costello, CEO of ActewAGL, speaks at the opening of Ballets Russes: the art of costume on 9 December 2010.
46 ARTONVIEW
Channel Nine works with the NGA to bring school children to Canberra Channel Nine has been a major media partner and Principal Partner of the National Gallery of Australia for the last 3 years. As part of the partnership for the Opening Season and for Ballets Russes, the Gallery and Channel Nine have developed a community program to enable Sydney school children to visit some Canberra’s cultural attractions. The program is designed for schools that ordinarily would not be able to offer these excursions to their students. In November 2010, a group of students from Curran School in Macquarie Fields visited the Gallery, where they toured the national art collection and participated in art workshops. They also visited Parliament House, Questacon and the National Zoo. The National Capital Educational Tourism Project also assisted in organising this wonderful experience for the students of Curran School.
Students from Curran School in Macquarie Fields gather around Doreen Reid Nakamarra’s Untitled 2007 with Gallery educator Adrian Boag, during their Channel Nine sponsored visit to Canberra.
Lucky winners of NAB promotion
The hottest venue in Canberra
A national promotion for National Australia Bank customers was launched in association with Ballets Russes. Two people from every state and territory in Australia were the lucky winners of a weekend in Canberra, which included a private tour of the exhibition and a special cocktail event.
The Sculpture Bar in association with Veuve Clicquot opened in conjunction with the exhibition Ballets Russes and has been one of our most exciting partnerships developed in collaboration with Moët Hennessy Australia (Veuve Clicquot) and Ten and a Half.
NAB continues supporting the Galley’s ongoing art education and access programs: the annual National Summer Art Scholarship and Sculpture Garden Sunday (6 March 2011). Both programs promote access to the national art collection and focus on developing an appreciation of art in audiences both young and old.
Visitors to Canberra and locals alike have made the most of our summer evenings in the stunning surrounds of the Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. The bar is opened every Friday night for the duration of the exhibition so you won’t want to miss the great wines and guest DJs during the bar’s final autumn nights.
Ballets Russes: the art of costume at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
The Sculpture Bar in association with Veuve Clicquot , open every Friday night until 25 March in the Gallery’s Sculpture Garden.
ARTONVIEW 47
Thank you … Exhibitions, programs and acquisitions at the National Gallery of Australia are realised through the generous support of our partners and donors. The National Gallery of Australia would like to thank the following organisations and people:
Grants The American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc, New York, made possible with the very generous support of Kenneth Tyler and Marabeth Cohen-Tyler The Gordon Darling Foundation The National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund
Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts through: The National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia, and through Art Indemnity Australia Department of Health and Ageing through the Dementia Community Grants Program
Casella Wines Coopers Brewery Diamant Hotel Eckersley’s Art & Craft Forrest Hotel and Apartments Hindmarsh JCDecaux Manteena Mantra on Northbourne Moët Hennessy Australia Molonglo Group National Australia Bank National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund NewActon/Nishi Nine Network Australia Novotel Canberra Qantas Rio Tinto R.M.Williams, The Bush Outfitter Spader The Sydney Morning Herald Triple J Wesfarmers Limited WIN Television Yalumba Wines Yulgilbar Foundation
Donations
Includes donations received from 23 October 2010 to 22 January 2011
State and territory governments
Ross and Lenore Adamson
Queensland Government through
Tom Dixon
Arts Queensland New South Wales Government through Arts NSW Northern Territory Government through Arts NT Western Australian Government through the Department of Culture and the Arts
Sponsorship ABC Radio ActewAGL ACT Government through Australian Capital Tourism Aesop The Age The Brassey Hotel of Canberra The Canberra Times
48 ARTONVIEW
The Aranday Foundation Jane Flecknoe Rupert Myer AM and Annabel Myer Jason Prowd
Bequests Estate of Ernest Frohlich Bequest of Alison Euphemia Grant-Lipp Bequest of Harold Marshall AM
Gifts Barbara Blackman Emmanuel Hirsh Gael Newton Feliztas Parr Mike Parr Andrew Salvesen Eric Whiteley Arthur Wicks
Founding Donor 2010 Fund David Marshall AM and Linda Henschke Meredith Hinchliffe Gail Kinsella Hamish Mackinnon
Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2010 Gwen Cooper Sue Dyer Carey and Mark Lonsdale Mr R Stevenson and Mrs R Stevenson The Hon Barry O’Keefe AM, QC
Members Acquisition Fund 2010 George and DyDy Alexander Deborah L Allen Bill Anderson Cynthia Anderson Margaret Anderson Simonetta Astolfi and Lars Ford Michelle Atkinson Sally Beatrice Bachelard Lesley Baker Suzanne J Baker-Dekker Jonathan and Robyn Banks L Barker Alan and Patricia Barratt Chris and Mary Beattie Maurice and Kay Beatton Betty Beaver AM Rosemary Bencke Andrew Bennett Virginia Berger Peter Belling Maria Bendall Jeffrey and Ngaire Bennett Suzanne and David Biddles Sheila Bignell Phoebe Bischoff OAM RD Blacklow Meg Bollen Ruth Bourke Patricia Boerschinger Gillian L Borger Ivor and Caroline Bowden Vera M Brain Mary E Brennan Diana Brookes Evelyn Brown Frances Brown
John and Barbara Bruce Jennifer Bryson Ian and Babilly Bruce Antony W Buckingham Miles Burgess Billie Burke OAM Jill Burke Gail and Ron Burns Meredith Butler Alex and Robyn Cairns John and Judtih Caldwell Berenice-Eve Calf Rear Admiral David Campbell John Campbell and Yvonne Campbell Debbie Cameron Deb and Jim Carroll Katrina Chapman Evelyn Cleland Cobie’s Manx Cats Michael and Margaret Cockburn Stephanie Collet Arthur and Kate Conigrave Graham Cooke Ann Cork Hunter Cordaiy Kerry-Anne Cousins Merrilyn Crawford Joan Crawley GM Croker Cathy Crompton and Tony Henshaw Charles P Curran AC John Dale Wilma Davidson Dianne Davies Robyn Dean Bette Debenham James Dittmar Samuel and Jill Dominguez Susan and Shaun Duffy Jacqueline Elliott Norman Feather Ilma Ferguson Lynn and Wayne Fletcher Cheryllee Flanagan Jo-Anne Flatley-Allen John Flynn Gillian Foley Mary-Rose Fraser David C Franks Ernest and Barbara Franks Helen Fyfe Joseph Gani Neilma Gantner
Richard Gate
Steven Maas
Mary Ryan
Andrew Williamson
Joan George
C and R Maclachlan
Vivienne Russell
Mrs Muriel Wilkinson
Lindsey and David Gilbert
Susan D Martin
D Schneider and M Greeneklee
Dr Ian Wilkey and Hannah Wilkey
Michael and Nicole Gillespie
Diana McCarthy
Felicity Brown and Noel Schwarz
Bruce and Karen Wilson
Joan Naden Giuliano
Patricia F McCormick
Annette Searle
Julia Wilson
Sylvia Glanville
Wilma McKeown
Peter Sharp
Liz Wilson
Maryan and Richard Godson
Robin C McLachlan
Sue-Ellen Shaw
Lynette Wilson
Jackie Gordon-Smith
Dr Stephen G McNamara
Judith and Michael Shelley
Sheila Wood
Lyn Gorman
Penelope Lilley
Mary-Lou Sheppard
Gwen Woodroofe
Eileen Alice Gorst
Harlinah Longcroft
Deanna and Murray Simpson
Ellen M Woodward
Gillian Gould
Joan Macdonald
Rosemary Simpson
Michael and Robyn Wright
Jennie Granger
Annabelle Main
George and Irene Skilton
Adam Graycar and Elizabeth Percival
Trish McPherson
Tricia Slee
Madeline Greeneklee
Tina Merriman
Roy Smalley OAM
Malcolm and Maureen Hanratty
Rachael Milfull
Elizabeth J Smith
Cheryl Hannah
The Hon Geoffrey Miller QC and
Jennifer Smith
Yvonne Harrington
Rhonda Miller
Frances and John Spora
Glenys Harris
Rosemary Miller
Marcia Standish
Suzanne Hartley
Joan and Barry Miskin
Dr Richard Stanton
Bruce Heiser
Graeme Moller
David and Anne Stanley
Katrina Higgins
Lisa Molvig
The Stefanoff Family
Anthony and Maureen Hill
Graham LG Moore
Beth Stone
Marian Hill
Jennifer Mors
Robyn Stone
Janet Hine
Dr John Morris
Gay and Charles Stuart
Tania and James Hird
Dr Elizabeth Morrison
Robert and Lynette Swift
Robert Hitchcock OAM
Nancy and Tony Morse
Jacqueline Thomson
Graham and Dell Hobbs
Jill Margaret Moss
Vicki Thompson
Priscilla, Morgan and Meaghan
Philip Mullen
Peter Toogood
Colin Neave AM
Helen Topor and Peter Fullagar
Judith Hurlstone
Linda Notley
Helen Tuite
Claudia Hyles
Barbara Oom
Karina Tyson
Angela Isles
Milton Edgeworth Osborne
Janice C Tynan
John and Ros Jackson
Simon and Barbara O’Halloran
Natalie Vandepeer and Jeffery Bradley
Wayne Joass
The Hon Barry O’Keefe AM, QC
Teresa and David Vasey
Judy Johnson
Brian O’Keeffe AO and
Jean Wallace
Holborow
Dr Johnson CSC, AAM
Bridget O’Keeffe AM
Mike and Dizzy Robinson
Decorative Arts and Design Fund Phillip Benjamin and Sandy Benjamin OAM Meredith Hinchliffe
Melody Gough Memorial Fund Anne Frisch
Treasure a Textile Maxine Rochester The National Gallery of Australia also extends thanks to the many anonymous donors. who provided support during this period.
George A Wallens
Brian Jones
Robert Oser
Joan D Ward
Hannah Joseph
Elizabeth Mary Owen
Brenton Warren
Mariane Judd
Vanessa and Alex Palmer
Heather Watson
Eunice Jukes
Angus and Gwen Paltridge
Donald W Waterworth
Jo Justin
Jill Parsons
Wendy Webb
WG Keighley
Ardyne Reid
Veronica Weikowski
David and Rosemary Kennemore
John Parker and Jocelyn Righton
Petronella Wensing
Sir Richard Kingsland AO, CBE, DFC,
Ron and Fay Price
R Whittle
Anne Prins
Karen and Lindsay Williams
Valerie Anne Kirk
Ronald B Raines
Rita Marie Williams
Angus Kirkwood
Thomas and Mary Jo Reeve
Betty I Konta
Eric Reid
Vera Krizaic
Margaret Reid
Ted and Gerry Kruger
Shirley Richards
Faye Anita Lee
Kathleen Rochford
Russell John Lesslie
Julie Ross and Ian Osborne
Rhonda Lockhart
Alan and Helen Rose
and Lady Kathleen Kingsland
Bill Davy Memorial Fund
For more information about developing creative partnerships with the National Gallery of Australia, contact: Nicole Short on +61 2 6240 6781 or nicole.short@nga.gov.au For more information about making a donation, contact: Maryanne Voyazis on +61 2 6240 6691 or maryanne.voyazis@nga.gov.au
ARTONVIEW 49
Members news Members of the National Gallery of Australia play a vital role in sustaining the arts in Australia. As a member, you play a role in the life of the Gallery and enjoy the many benefits this brings to you and the community. To become a member, go to nga.gov.au/members or free call 1800 020 068.
Win a trip for two to Paris!
Members Acquisition Fund 2010–11
Renew your membership or join the National Gallery of Australia this year and you could win a trip for two to Paris, including a private tour of the Musée d’Orsay, return economy airfares flying Qantas to Paris, and 5 nights accommodation at an Accor hotel.
The initial response to the second annual Members Acquisition Fund has been outstanding and the Gallery is grateful to the many members who have already donated funds towards acquiring Hans Heysen’s luminous watercolour Spring 1925.
To be in the running to win this magnificent prize valued at $10 000, you just need to be a current member of the National Gallery of Australia on 31 August 2011.
The painting was a crowd favourite in the Heysen retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia last year and, with the assistance of Gallery members, it will continue to engage new audiences as part of the national art collection.
This prize is generously supported by Qantas and Accor. Permit number TP 11/00208.1
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Donations toward Spring can be made up until the end of August 2011. For more information or to make your taxdeductible donation, please contact the Membership Office on 1800 020 068.
Hans Heysen Spring 1925 (detail), watercolour on paper, 39.3 x 49.2 cm.
© Hans Heysen. Represented by Viscopy
50 ARTONVIEW
Stay informed via email
Change of membership numbers
Send us your current email address and stay informed. There’s always something going on for members at the Gallery and email is the most efficient method of keeping you up to date with members news. You’ll receive the latest updates on members-only events, offers and opportunities in your monthly members issue of Artonline. E-card reminders and invitations can also be sent out via email to help reduce the Gallery’s environmental impact.
In the coming months, you may notice some changes to the membership program at the National Gallery of Australia, the first of which will be a new membership number. This is the first step in a series of improvements to be implemented to make your membership experience a better one.
Remember also to check our website, nga.gov.au, and our ‘what’s on’ brochure Artevents. And don’t forget to tell us if you change your email address.
Your new number will not affect your membership or your current membership card. You will find your new membership number above your address on the flysheet of this issue of Artonview. We will keep you informed as further improvements are made to your membership experience.
Email your details to membership@nga.gov.au.
Artonline members issue 143, February 2011.
Kim Cameron, Mary Curtis and Richard Mann at the members opening of Ballets Russes: the art of costume, 10 December 2010.
ARTONVIEW 51
M E R M % EC BE DI EI RS SC VE O UN T
10
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Claude Monet Waterlilies c 1914–17 (detail) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1979
Bequest CirCle nga.gov.au/bequests The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency
Telephone +61 2 6240 6469 Email bequests@nga.gov.au
‘Your will is your chance to recognise the kindness of friends and to say thank you to the cultural institutions that have contributed to your quality of life.’ Ray Wilson, Bequest Circle member
expertise • integrity • results
WILLIAM ROBINSON Construction with Wrecks, Dunny and Bull, 1984 137.0 x 198.0 cm
SOLD November 2010 • $528,000 Price includes buyer’s premium
final call for entries important australian and international fine art auction april • 2011 for obligation-free appraisals, please contact Sydney Damian Hackett Merryn Schriever 02 9287 0600
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Warsaw TO Berlin
From the Prussian
Also coming up
World to Modernity
August 10-28, 2011
Details at www.academytravel.com.au
$6,990 twin share, land content only
September 2011 > Grand Tour of Italy > Bronze Age and Classical Greece > Southern France and Corsica > Northern Spain: Food and Wine
With extended stays in Warsaw, Krakow, Dresden and Berlin, this tour explores these fascinating cities of Central Europe, all enjoying a new vitality since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In Poland, the attractions of major centres such as Warsaw and Krakow are complemented by country estates and centres of religious pilgrimage. In Germany, historic buildings such as Sanssouci Palace, the Reichstag and Dresden’s Frauenkirche vie for attention with startling contemporary architecture. The region also boasts some exceptional art and history museums, while Berlin is also a centre for contemporary arts. The itinerary has side trips to Potsdam, Leipzig, Wroclaw and the Elbe Valley. In Berlin and Dresden there will be the opportunity to attend performances of opera and classical music.
October 2011 > Venice and Parma: a musical sojourn > Istanbul and Venice: a tale of two cities > Southern USA > Classical and Ottoman Turkey > The fabulous Bay of Naples > Sicily and the Aeolian Islands > Syria and Jordan November 2011 > Paris and New York > Laos and Cambodia
GERMANY Berlin Leipzig
Keep in touch!
Wroclaw
Dresden
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Warsaw
Poland
czech Republic
Krakow
Tour leader Jolyon Warwick James grew up in London and graduated from the University of London. Jolyon is an internationally recognised expert in the decorative arts. He has lectured in Australia, the UK and the USA. He has travelled extensively in Europe and the UK and is an Honorary Associate of Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.
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Canberra | nga.gov.au
Proudly presenting the Ballets Russes exhibition. For over 10 years we’ve been sponsoring major exhibitions at the NGA and we’re proud to be the Presenting Partner for this summer’s blockbuster, Ballets Russes: the art of costume. Because we’re local we get involved and put our energy behind many of the artistic and cultural events that make our region so vibrant.
Immerse yourself in the creative explosion of the Ballets Russes.
10 December 2010 – 20 March 2011 Tickets: nga.gov.au
Presenting Partner
Principal Partners
Léon Baskt (left) Costume for the Blue God c 1912 (detail), from Le Dieu bleu, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1987 (right) Illustration of the Blue God costume (detail), page 29 in Official program of the Ballets Russes at the Théâtre du Châtelet May–June 1912, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency
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AUTUMN 2011 | 65
VARILAKU
PACIFIC ARTS FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
BALLETS RUSSES THE ART OF COSTUME
24 FEBRUARY – 29 MAY 2011
Australia holds some of the greatest collections of Melanesian art. Varilaku is a rare opportunity to view the finest works from the Solomon Islands at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. A fully illustrated catalogue is available to order from ecom@nga.gov.au.
Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands Effigy of Paruvu 1910–30 (detail), South Sea Islands Museum, Cooranbong