2011.Q3 | Artonview 66 Winter 2011

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

12 AUGUST – 6 NOVEMBER 2011 Fred Williams Hamersley landscape 1979 (detail), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, presented through the NGV Foundation by Rio Tinto, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2001. © estate of Fred Williams

Canberra | nga.gov.au

WINTER 2011 | 66

WINTER 2011 | 66 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) Fred Williams Springbrook, Queensland III 1971 gouache, watercolour, synthetic polymer paint on paper 55.4 x 77.4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased from Gallery admission charges, 1983 © estate of Fred Williams

(this page) Space invaders opening at the UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, 8 April 2011.

Photograph: David Sproule

OUT OF THE WEST art of Western Australia PAGES 6, 22, 24, 26, 28

Sam Fullbrook Jacob Obaju 1957–60, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1961

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Director’s word

EXHIBITIONS

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OUT OF THE WEST: ART OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Known images and new discoveries: Western Australian art from the early days to modern times Anne Gray

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FRED WILLIAMS: INFINITE HORIZONS

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TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS

Revitalising perceptions of place: three decades of work by Fred Williams Deborah Hart

Truly national: the National Gallery’s exhibitions on tour Mary-Lou Nugent

FEATURES

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EDUCATION

Conservation in Southeast Asia: a unique conservation intern program at the National Gallery of Australia Debbie Ward

ACQUISITIONS

22 The Wordsworth Collection 24 Early nineteenth-century caricatures 25 Hans Heysen Morning light 26 Western Australian goldfields jewellery 28 Rodney Glick Everyone no 1 29 Thailand Ravana, King of Langka 30 EL Kirchner Bathing scene, Fehmarn, under overhanging trees 31 Jon Schueler The first day REGULARS

32 Travelling exhibitions 34 Facesinview 36 News from the Foundation 38 Creative partnerships 40 Thank you …

42 Members news

Director’s word The extension of our exhibition Ballets Russes: the art of costume through the Easter break proved very rewarding, attracting many visitors and much positive feedback.

The comprehensive and engaging display presented a rare opportunity to see the creative dynamic that Sergei Diagilev and his artist collaborators produced through the Ballets Russes. We will continue to show a small selection of the costumes from the Ballets Russes among our collection displays, although not until later in the year. The substantial publication that accompanied the exhibition will have a life of its own as it explores the history of the dance company and its significant influence on twentiethcentury art and design. Already, the catalogue has had to be reprinted.

Varilaku: Pacific arts from the Solomon Islands is another of our recent publications that will exceed the life of the exhibition due to its important contribution to the field. The arts from the Solomon Islands have not yet received the attention they deserve here in Australia or elsewhere.

Australia holds some of the greatest reserves of Solomon Islander art in the world. In 2009, the curators of Pacific arts from the National Gallery of Australia conducted a search for items from the Solomon Islands held in anthropological collections across

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Australia. They selected the finest examples for this exhibition, the first of its kind in Australia. Most of the works had never been displayed although they have been cared for in Australia for over a century, thus the exhibition held many surprises for visitors.

From 8 July 2011, Out of the West: art of Western Australia will survey the history of Western Australian art across two of the Gallery’s major display spaces, the Project Gallery and the Orde Poynton Gallery.

The Project Gallery will show the earlier development of art in Western Australia, from pre-settlement expeditions of the 1820s and 1830s to the development of well-defined art and design traditions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with artists like Edmund Henderson, Henry Prinsep, James WR Linton, Florence Fuller and Kathleen O’Connor. In the Orde Poynton Gallery downstairs, artists such as Herbert McClintock, Harald Vike, Elise Blumann, Guy Grey-Smith, Robert Juniper, Howard Taylor, Pippin Drysdale, Brian Blanchflower, James Angus, Rodney Glick and many others will represent the growth of modern and contemporary art in Western Australia, from the 1940s to today.

All the works come from the national art collection. (We are also strengthening our collections of other less populous states.)

Until recently, the National Gallery of Australia had only a poor representation of the earlier periods of Western Australian art. The acquisition, however, of a major group of early works (including Western Australia colonial furniture) from the Marie Louise Wordsworth Collection and a private collection of WA vernacular goldfields jewellery has helped make this into an important collection of the early art of Western Australia, and we now have the only balanced survey of all periods outside Western Australia. Many of these works will be on display for the first time in this exhibition Out of the West and will be the focus of a number of articles in this issue of Artonview (see pages 6, 22, 24, 26 and 28) and will also feature in the next issue.

Fred Williams: infinite horizons opens in August, closer to spring. It will be the first major retrospective of Williams’s work in a quarter of a century. Williams created a highly original way of seeing the Australian landscape, which will be revealed in this major retrospective through not only key oil paintings but also more-spontaneous luminous gouaches on paper. The exhibition also uncovers unexpected works such as his delicate flora and fauna studies in gouache and includes portraits in oil of his family and friends. We hope to bring a

William Huggins (attributed) Swan River c 1829 pencil 9.9 x 15 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

new audience to the work of this important Australian artist.

The new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander galleries continue to attract enormous crowds to the Gallery in Canberra, more than 450 000 visitors since it opened late last year. We also have four exhibitions currently touring Australia: In the spotlight: Anton Bruehl photographs 1920s–1950s and Australian portraits 1880–1960 are currently in the Northern Territory, while Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers and In the Japanese manner: Australian prints 1900–1940 are in Queensland.

In mid March, the Gallery welcomed 12 members of the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, who spent six days learning more about the Gallery, the national art collection and Australian art generally. Their visit coincided with the fourth annual Foundation Gala Dinner and Weekend, a highpoint in the Foundation’s calendar every year. A record 115 guests came from around Australia. As a result, the Gallery has acquired two exquisite Indian painted shrine hangings (pichhavai) with funds raised by guests and other donors.

The Gallery recently received a $2 million bequest from Ruth Robertson in memory of Edwin Clive and Leila Jeanne Robertson.

The bequest is for the acquisition of early twentieth-century Australian paintings.

Hans Heysen’s Morning light 1913 (see page 25) is the first of a number that will be acquired through this very generous bequest. Until now, the national art collection lacked an iconic Federation gumtree oil by Heysen of this period.

Recent international art acquisitions include an American expressionist work

by Jon Schueler, his superb The first day 1956, adding to our excellent collection of Abstract Expressionism. We have acquired through the Orde Poynton Bequest a rare German expressionist landscape woodcut

by EL Kirchner, Bathing scene, Fehmarn, under overhanging trees 1913.

The Gallery played host in March to Gary Tinterow, Curator of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, on his first visit to Australia. This was a great opportunity to show him Canberra, as well as some of our collection highlights, and to build on our relationship with this key international institution. As the 2011 visiting scholar of the Australian International Cultural Foundation, his visit was supported by Art Exhibitions Australia, and he gave a fascinating lecture on the development of the Metropolitan’s

collections of nineteenth- and twentiethcentury art.

Tim Fairfax AM and John Hindmarsh were appointed to the Gallery Council for three-year terms as of 10 March 2011.

John Hindmarsh is Executive Chairman of Hindmarsh, a Canberra-based project and construction management company, and has been a long-term supporter of the Gallery. He was also recently appointed Chairman of the Gallery’s Foundation.

Tim Fairfax is from Brisbane and is a businessman, pastoralist and philanthropist.

He is stepping down from his position as Chair of the National Portrait Gallery Board to join the National Gallery of Australia’s Council. Both new members will bring a wealth of experience to the Council.

Ron Radford AM

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James WR Linton Falls Road, late evening 1926 watercolour on paper 54.6 x 75.4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 1980

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KNOWN IMAGES AND NEW DISCOVERIES Western Australian art from the early days to modern times Out of the West: art of Western Australia from 8 July 2011 | nga.gov.au/outwest

When settlers started arriving in Western Australia nearly two centuries ago, they were mesmerised by the light, heat, long horizons and vast expanses. By the twentieth century, art societies had formed and local traditions had developed. The exhibition Out of the West presents a starting point for visitors to the National Gallery of Australia to explore the art made from these responses to Western Australia, through a diverse range of media, including painting, sculpture, watercolour, drawing, printmaking, photography, video installation, jewellery, furniture, decorative arts and design.

Vital to the exhibition are important historical works from the National Gallery’s recently acquired the Wordsworth Collection (see page 22). They show how Western Australia was perceived during its formation. Many of the first images were based on those made by men accompanying early explorations. One of the earliest works related to the British settlement of the Swan River Colony is the drawing Swan River c 1829, attributed to William Huggins.

It depicts the area where Captain James Stirling’s party camped overnight in 1827 during their expedition to find a suitable place to establish a colony in the west.

Huggins based his image on a drawing in the possession of Frederick Clause, naval surgeon in Stirling’s exploration party.

Huggins drew it in Britain in preparation for Edward Duncan’s engraving Swan River 1830, which is exactly the same size and follows the drawing closely. This pleasing image, showing plentiful water and rich verdure, was produced in several versions as part of the promotional campaign to encourage people to emigrate to the Swan River Colony.

Other early views of Western Australia were made by military surveyors and engineers. Panoramic view of King George Sound, part of the colony of Swan River 1834 is one of the best known images of colonial Western Australia. It is based on the highly accurate sketches from the summit of Mount Clarence that Robert Dale made when he was stationed at Albany in 1832.

After he returned to London in 1833, Dale engaged the publisher Robert Havell to turn his sketches into a panorama to be dedicated to the Royal Geographical Society.

In the foreground, he depicted distinctive plants as well as Aborigines in friendly conversation with soldiers. Beyond this is a neatly laid out town site (the beginnings of the present-day city of Albany).

Richard Ffarington was another army officer-turned-artist who visited the West. He went to Western Australia in 1843 and spent nearly four years there. A grandnephew of the Royal Academician and diarist Joseph Farington, he made sketches of landscapes

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and coastal scenes in Western Australia, as well as the activities of the local Aborigines.

In Perth, Swan River, as viewed from Melville Water 1846–47, he depicted a typical Perth scene of a boat scudding across the Swan River in a lively breeze.

The Wordsworth Collection includes rare views of Rottnest, Albany, Augusta, Bunbury and Toodyay. Among these is the 1883 watercolour South south west view of Augusta, Western Australia, October 1833 by Thomas Turner. Turner arrived in the West with his parents in the 1830s and settled in the Augusta area near Cape Leeuwin.

He explored and surveyed the region and painted a group of landscapes. He captured the places he knew well. In this watercolour, he depicted a view looking over Seine Bay towards his own home and those of fellow settlers. It has a freshness that shows the 19-year-old Turner’s unaffected delight in the expanse of the bay, the long horizon and the surrounding natural vegetation.

A number of remarkable pieces of colonial furniture are in the Wordsworth Collection, including a pit-sawn, two-door jarrah cabinet. It was owned at one time by the Heppingstone family and is likely to 8 ARTONVIEW | EXHIBITION

have been built by Robert Heppingstone, who was one of the first white settlers in the Augusta region and, coincidentally, fatherin-law of Thomas Turner.

From the 1860s, after the colony had become more established, artists began to visit and to settle. One of the first professionally trained artists to live in Perth was Henry Prinsep, who arrived in 1866.

As a youth, he had studied with popular Victorian painter and sculptor George Frederick Watts. For many years, Prinsep’s employment in the public service restricted his art activities, but he went on sketching expeditions and painted watercolours when time permitted. Among his earliest watercolours is one he painted in 1871 in Geraldton during his only visit there.

He depicted the flat-topped hills, which fascinated him and about which he wrote in his diary. In 1905, he was invited to Rottnest by the Governor, and this gave him the opportunity to paint watercolours like Ti trees, Rottnest c 1905. Although reduced to painting in his free time, Prinsep played a vital role in the small art community in Perth, becoming a founder member of the Wilgie Sketching Club in 1889. He retired

in 1908 and settled in Bussleton, and around 1910 he painted Karri Trees, Manjimup, a bold modernist Federation landscape, an image of the strong, sturdy forms of the karri trees counterpoised by the horizontal ground and fence.

Prinsep was soon joined in Western Australia by other professionally trained artists such as Herbert Gibbs, James WR Linton and AB Webb. Linton had studied painting and architecture in London before coming to Western Australia in 1896, where he taught at the Perth Technical School and his own art school, inspiring a new generation of artists. As a watercolourist, Linton was principally interested in depicting nature defined by light. From the 1920s, he painted many views of his property at Parkerville, such as Falls Road, late evening 1926 in which he dramatically divided the composition into light and shade and used colour contrasts of rust against green. He applied the colour in small dabs over a densely worked surface, creating a scene radiant with light. Linton also made furniture and designed jewellery and metalwork, examples of which will also be shown in Out of the West.

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British-trained artist AB Webb migrated to Australia in 1915 and taught with Linton at the Perth Technical School. He achieved a reputation for his colour woodcut prints made in the Japanese manner (inspired by ukiyo-e prints of the nineteenth century). In these, he showed the pleasure he took from the activity on the Swan River, men fishing and sailing boats, as well as the bird life there. He also painted poetic watercolours such as In the Porongorups c 1924, in which he demonstrated his interest in strong forms and bold composition. Webb was versatile, creating designs for utilitarian objects such as the decorations he made for the Brisbane and Wunderlich earthenware Kookaburra tea service c 1922.

Other professionally trained artists came to Western Australia as visitors, including 10 ARTONVIEW | EXHIBITION

Victorian-born artist James Peele in 1898 and British-trained, South Australian artist James Ashton in 1903–04. During his time in Perth, Peele painted Mount Eliza, winter 1898, a view of the Swan River near the Narrows, showing people fishing, with Mount Eliza to the right and Mill Point to the left. Peele depicted Perth on an unusually cloudy day and delighted in the reflections in the glassy water.

Kathleen O’Connor grew up in Western Australia and studied with James WR Linton. She left Australia in 1906 and lived overseas, mostly in Paris, for almost 50 years. Her painting In the studio is a deeply personal image, a still-life with objects from the artist’s personal life scattered on the table. The patterned tablecloth, the folds in the blue fabric backdrop and the vigorous

flecks of green, red and white paint that create the flowers in the pot energise the image. But, most importantly, O’Connor arranged the composition in a modernist fashion, exploring the possibilities of flat patterning and intense colours. Like her teachers, O’Connor did not restrict herself to easel painting, but also created decorative objects. She decorated ceramics and, more significantly, designed and painted on velvet and silk in lush, vibrant colours, using floral and non-objective motifs.

Out of the West is the first survey exhibition outside Western Australia to present a large sample of Western Australian art from pre-settlement until today. It includes known images and new discoveries.

The National Gallery has a responsibility to show the full gamut of Australian art—from

all states, over all periods. This exhibition showcases the major group of works that the Gallery has recently purchased alongside works the Gallery has owned for some time.

It also complements the rich public and private holdings of Western Australian art held in Perth.

The exhibition is divided into two parts: ‘The early years’ in the Project Gallery, which includes works from pre-settlement to the 1930s, and ‘Modern times’ in the Orde Poynton Gallery, which showcases art by more recent artists such as Herbert McClintock, Harold Vike, Elise Blumann, Guy Grey-Smith, Robert Juniper, Howard Taylor, Miriam Stannage, Brian Blanchflower, James Angus and Rodney Glick.

Out of the West is a curatorial selection of work drawn from the National Gallery’s collection, rather than a full survey. Some works by Western Australian artists remain in the Gallery’s collection displays of Australian art as well as in the newly opened Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander galleries.

This exhibition follows the National Gallery’s 2010–11 display of art from colonial Tasmania from between 1830 and 1850, in which recently purchased works were exhibited alongside works that the Gallery had held for many years.

Anne Gray Head of Australian Art ‘Modern times’ will be discussed in more detail in the next issue of Artonview.

(pages 8–9) Richard Ffarington Perth, Swan River, as viewed from Melville Water 1846–47 watercolour, 12.6 x 23 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Henry Prinsep Karri trees, Manjimup c 1910 oil on canvas, 36 x 23.8 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

(opposite) AB Webb Shags 1921–22 woodcut, printed in colour from multiple blocks 19.6 x 23.4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 1987

(above) Kathleen O’Connor In the studio c 1928 tempera on cardboard, 71.8 x 86.4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2007

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Fred Williams Weipa III 1977 gouache on paper image 57.2 x 76.2 cm (overall) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased from Gallery admission charges, 1983 Š estate of Fred Williams

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REVITALISING PERCEPTIONS OF PLACE three decades of work by Fred Williams Fred Williams: infinite horizons 12 August 2011 – 6 November 2011 | nga.gov.au/williams

Fred Williams: infinite horizons is a retrospective exhibition that provides the opportunity for visitors to engage with the achievement of one of Australia’s greatest artists. The exhibition focuses on Williams’s art from the late 1940s to 1981, including works from private and public collections around Australia and from the Tate in London. It highlights his strengths as a painter through important oil paintings and luminous gouaches that reveal his distinctive approach to the local environment and his passion for the process of painting itself.

Williams’s inspiration often emerged from the unique qualities of landscapes around Australia: from Upwey in Victoria to the Bass Strait in Tasmania to Weipa in far north Queensland to the Pilbara region in Western Australia. Although his art is often associated with dry environments, some of the surprises in the exhibition are his accomplished and innovative works that reveal his fascination with water—with ponds, seascapes, beaches, creeks, billabongs and waterfalls. The show includes other unexpected finds, such as magical, intimate studies of plants and animals, as well as portraits of family and friends.

The earliest landscape in the exhibition is Williams’s seminal Tree loppers 1955, revealing his interest in paring away inessential elements—a feature of his mature art. It leads into a group of works from the 1950s that deserve to be better known, focussing on trees, rocks and rivers inspired by environments around Mittagong in the Southern Highlands and Echuca and Sherbrooke in Victoria.

These early works also reveal the inspiration of French painters Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque, who abstracted from the real. By the early 1960s, Williams’s forest and sapling paintings were increasingly abstract, revealing affinities with a Japanese aesthetic. It was not that Williams was aiming for this connection but rather for a parallel understanding of the potency of evocation—that less can be more.

Between 1963 and 1965, Williams revolutionised the way in which we see the Australian landscape, conveying its spaciousness and the scatter of elements. As he said in an interview with James Gleeson in 1978: ‘Obviously, it was too good a thing for me to pass up. If there’s going to be no focal point in a landscape, then it had to build into paint’. His works were not about

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picturesque scenes but rather a clear-sighted response to the local terrain.

Two series showed the way: the You Yangs and the Upwey landscapes. The former were breakthrough works, moving from the vertical forests into open vistas enlivened by sensuous touches of paint suggesting the scrubby environment with no horizon. In the Upwey series, Williams introduced a definite horizon line, a precise division between heavily worked grounds and luminous clear spaces above, inflected with lively little plant-like notations. By the end of the 1960s, his paintings became increasingly minimal and open-ended. In the perfectly balanced Silver and grey 1969, Williams reached a pinnacle of what he had been aiming for since the late 1950s in the compressed energy and structure of the painting itself.

The studio 1977, publicly exhibited in this retrospective for the first time, is based on Williams’s Taronga road studio in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. A painting within a painting, the work on the wall depicts ferns regenerating after bush fires. While living at Upwey, the artist experienced terrifying bush fires in 1968 and witnessed different stages of the fire’s passage, including the aftermath when small plants sprang back to life. The organic forms of the ferns contrast with the geometry of the architectural features of the studio and the objects within it, reinforcing his passion for painting itself.

The 1970s saw a number of changes in Williams’s works. Lightning storm, Walkerville 1971 is a particularly striking small oil that has affinities with the strip gouaches that he painted in this decade.

The idea of painting in parallel horizontal strips was in part inspired by early colonial drawings and watercolours. Shown together, the group of gouaches and oils relating to seascapes and beaches in various locations (including Erith Island in the Bass Strait) are a revelation, meriting greater recognition alongside his earlier classic landscapes. They reveal a dramatic shift in his more-earthy palette to blues and iridescent greens complemented by warm yellows, showing him to be a most subtle and remarkable colourist.

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Williams’s abilities as a colourist were fully revealed in his series of Weipa gouaches and paintings of the Pilbara region, including the brilliant red Iron ore landscape 1981. The series came about through the invitation of Rod Carnegie of Comalco (now known as Rio Tinto, the principal sponsors of this retrospective).

The experience of flying over the expansive landscape of Western Australia made a profound impression on the artist. His first paintings of this area were works on paper, some painted in the landscape, others back in his studio. The retrospective includes a number of impressive gouaches that haven’t been previously exhibited, as well as major oils of the Pilbara that were among his last works prior to his death at 55 years of age.

Over the years, Williams’s art has steadily been building a national and international reputation. He was the first Australian artist to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Landscapes of a continent in 1977, and in the past decade his art has been shown at the Tate and the British Museum in London.

Some two and a half decades after his last Australian retrospective, Fred Williams: infinite horizons introduces a new generation to this important artist and provides the chance for a wide audience to engage with a range of his art over four decades, revealing afresh his distinctive and considerable artistic legacy.

(opposite) Fred Williams Lightning storm, Walkerville 1971–72 oil on canvas 91.5 x 127 cm private collection © estate of Fred Williams

Fred Williams The studio 1977 oil on canvas 122.3 x 122.2 cm private collection © estate of Fred Williams

(below) Fred Williams Iron ore landscape 1981 oil on canvas 152 x 182.4 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne presented through the NGV Foundation by Rio Tinto, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2001 © estate of Fred Williams

Deborah Hart Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post-1920

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Truly national the National Gallery’s exhibitions on tour While much of the attention of Australia’s gallery goers has been on National Gallery of Australia’s new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander galleries here in Canberra, our travelling exhibition program continues draw crowds in regional, remote and metropolitan communities across the country. Since the program’s inception in 1982, almost 9 million people have visited the National Gallery’s travelling exhibitions.

In the last six months alone, over 100 000 people have viewed seven exhibitions at 13 venues in Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria, from large cities to small country towns.

Robert Dowling: Tasmanian son of Empire

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was launched at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston in March 2010. It has since travelled to Geelong Art Gallery in Geelong and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra before ending its tour this year at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide.

The National Gallery of Australia exhibitions currently touring Australia include Australian portraits 1880–1960: paintings from the National Gallery of Australia collection, Space invaders: australian . street . stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers, In the spotlight: Anton Bruehl photographs 1920s–1950s and In the Japanese manner: Australian prints 1900–1940.

The diversity of the National Gallery’s exhibitions strikes a chord with regional audiences and provides venues with something different to offer. By staging National Gallery exhibitions in their galleries, venues have the opportunity to place their own high-quality collections and exhibition programs in the context of the national art collection. It also provides fertile ground for seeding artistic exchange and professional development and encourages greater access and enjoyment of the visual arts in regional areas.

Australian portraits 1880–1960 opened at the UQ Art Museum in Brisbane to the backdrop of a city still recovering from

devastating floods. Despite the tragedy, staff from the National Gallery and UQ Art Museum were committed to bringing the exhibition to Brisbane and worked tirelessly together to ensure its safe arrival and timely installation. The effort was rewarded when Director Ron Radford officially launched the exhibition’s national tour to an enthusiastic and grateful Brisbane crowd in January. The following day, the exhibition’s curator Anna Gray provided a well-attended tour of the exhibition in what was to the first of many educational and public programs to be held in conjunction with the exhibition. The UQ Art Museum’s concurrent exhibitions, Multiplicities: self portraits from the collection

and New 2010: selected recent acquisitions complemented Australian portraits 1880– 1960 in many ways. Likewise, the portrait exhibition Territorians was timed to coincide with Australian portraits when it opened at Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory in Darwin in April 2011. Australian portraits will show at the Warrnambool Art Gallery in Victoria later this year.

The national tour of the Gallery’s street art exhibition Space invaders was launched to an enormous crowd at the National Gallery’s opening night party in Canberra and enjoyed a similarly enthusiastic response in Brisbane when it opened at the UQ Art Museum in April. Remarkably, the

works in the exhibition are part of the only public collection of street art in Australia, which is held by the National Gallery of Australia. Space invaders has struck a cord with a social-media savvy and politically active audience and demonstrates the diversity of the National Gallery’s collection and exhibition program. The success of this exciting exhibition is likely to be repeated in Melbourne and Dubbo later in the year.

Also attracting younger audiences is the stunning photographic exhibition In the spotlight, displaying the work of the innovative Australian-born New York photographer Anton Bruehl. The exhibition opened at the Araluen Art Centre in Alice

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One of the most loved and sought-after travelling exhibitions projects is the Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift. The gift is comprised of three large suitcases (Red case: myths and rituals, Yellow case: form, space and design and Blue case: technology) the 1888 Melbourne Cup, and it commenced in 1990 through the generous benefaction of Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn.

This ongoing project continues to cross the country every year and provides children in schools, people living with a disability and audiences in remote regions with special access to works of art from around the world. The flexible nature of the program ensures that the national art collection can have a presence in the widest range of locations, including remote schools that only have one teacher, nursing homes and small regional galleries, libraries and museums.

In December last year, the cases were borrowed by Malkara School in Garran ACT. Educators from the National Gallery presented programs to the students and worked side by side with educators from the school, enhancing the opportunities for professional exchange and the development of partnerships. As a result of this collaboration the same students participated in the successful family-orientated Sculpture Garden Sunday held at the National Gallery in March.

This year’s tour for the Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift is once again proving to be exciting and diverse. The Blue case is currently travelling through regional Victoria to King Island off the coast of Tasmania and to Perth where it will be used by DADAA (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts) in Western Australia. It will return to the eastern states via Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. The Red and Yellow cases are touring through regional New South Wales and to Tasmania where they will be used in a regional touring program offered by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. In January, the 1888 Melbourne Cup began its tour of five regional galleries in Queensland, which will end in November at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in Townsville.

The Gallery often receives letters for Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn from people, children in particular, who express their delight in and gratitude for the program. The way in which this program connects people with art makes it a fundamental part of the Gallery’s vision of providing all Australians with access to the national collection.

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Springs at the end of April and includes Bruehl’s commercial work, as well as some of his more-intimate photography, from the 1920s to the 1950s. Many of the works in the exhibition were acquired in 2006 as a gift from the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc, New York, made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr. Other works are from the National Gallery of Australia Research Library’s extraordinary collection.

The Gallery continues to develop exhibitions to tour Australia and, next year, Australia will be treated with some of the best to date, including the retrospective Fred Williams: infinite horizons (see page 12), Roy Lichtenstein and unDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial.

One of the strengths of the National Gallery’s travelling exhibitions is that they come as a total package, complete with exhibition and educational support.

This support ensures that small, often resource-stretched regional galleries are

able to dedicate their resources to their own exhibitions or projects. The strong working relationships between the National Gallery and regional galleries is vital to the successful delivery of a truly national program of travelling exhibitions.

So, while people from around Australia visit the nation’s capital to see the Gallery’s remarkable new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander galleries, the National Gallery of Australia inturn travels the country to visit Australians, maintaining an active presence in the galleries, museums, schools and libraries in remote, regional and metropolitan areas. The travelling exhibitions program lies at the heart of the National Gallery’s mission to deliver an ever-changing program of highquality exhibitions and programs that are responsive and relevant to Australians wherever they may live.

(pages 16–17) Space invaders opening at the UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, 8 April 2011.

Photograph: David Sproule

(opposite) Malkara School student Marley Jenkins with 17th–19th century Indonesian ceremonial kettle and with a African brass Marka mask from late 19th – early 20th century (Red case), and three young girls at a Goulburn primary school marvel at Karl Millard’s Lizard grinder 2000 (Blue case). (above) In the spotlight: Anton Bruehl photographs 1920s–1950s at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Now showing at Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, until 13 June.

Mary-Lou Nugent Project Officer, Travelling Exhibitions

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Conservation in Southeast Asia a unique conservation intern program at the National Gallery of Australia Four interns from South East Asia recently completed a unique three-month intensive training program with the Conservation department at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. This program was funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation, one of the four programs of the J Paul Getty Trust located in Los Angeles, California. Applicants were selected from major cultural institutions in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, with the assistance of Australian Embassy and Consulate staff in these countries.

In some Southeast Asian countries where the conservation profession is not well established, training is often sought

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from guest conservators worldwide. These guest conservators visit institutions to deliver lectures or workshops or to aid local staff with specific conservation projects.

However, while programs like these have been invaluable in developing the field of conservation in the region, there is often a thirst for knowledge that remains after their completion.

The intensive training program at the National Gallery of Australia not only developed the interns’ basic preventive conservation and treatment skills but, by bringing them to work and learn in an established laboratory, they were able to gain insight into how the care of the

collection is managed across a wide range of activities within a national arts institution.

The program also aimed to provide interns with a thorough understanding of concepts and techniques in conservation by working in a fully equipped laboratory.

Throughout the program, practical sessions were undertaken in all major medium areas, including objects, paper, textiles, paintings and metals.

Interns were also required to develop preventive conservation skills: monitoring environmental conditions, undertaking disaster recovery workshops and pest management treatments. They also developed skills in storing and displaying

collections. To gain a wider understanding of how the care of the collection is managed within different types of institutions and collections tours were provided by the Australian War Memorial, National Library of Australia, National Archives, National Film and Sound Archives and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra as well as the Australia Museum and Maritime Museums in Sydney.

The enthusiasm of the interns and their desire to develop their knowledge in conservation was unfailing during their time at the National Gallery in Canberra. The Gallery’s conservation staff also enjoyed developing their knowledge

of other collections and cultures and the challenge of adapting their teaching skills to the unique problems each intern faced in their own institutions. The greatest benefit to all participants were the professional relationships that emerged between the interns and Gallery staff. This new network of knowledge sharing will provide invaluable assistance in caring for the unique collections in our neighbouring countries well into the future.

(from left) Senior Paper Conservator Andrea Wise assists Souliya Bounxaythip, Department of Heritage, Laos, to prepare pigments for consolidation.

Textile Conservator Hannah Barrett demonstrates a method for vacuuming a textile to Kyaw Shin Naung, National Museum, Yangon, Myanmar.

Le Nguyen Duy Anh, General Science Library, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, undertakes a pest inspection in the quarantine area.

Souliya Bounxaythip, Department of Heritage, Laos, and Soun Vannsidanel, National Museum of Cambodia, learn to repair broken ceramics.

Debbie Ward Head of Conservation

FEATURE | ARTONVIEW 21

(left) Philip Chauncy after Profiles of Aborigines of King George Sound taken

by Philip Chauncy Esq in 1852 1852 pen and brush and black ink 4.7 x 31.8 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

(opposite) Edmund DuCane Toodyay, Green Mount, Western Australia 1854 watercolour 24.8 x 52.5 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Edmund Henderson Perth, Western Australia 1862 watercolour 25 x 50.6 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

The Wordsworth Collection The National Gallery recently acquired an important group of historical works from Western Australia: the Wordsworth Collection. Prior to this, the Gallery’s collection included no oil paintings, watercolours and furniture from early colonial Western Australia.

Marie Louise Wordsworth is one of Western Australia’s most passionate and respected collectors. For more than 40 years, she has lovingly assembled a significant collection of Western Australian paintings, watercolours, prints and furniture. Based on Marie Louise’s deep knowledge of Western Australian history and her family heritage, the collection covers the Dutch, French and British explorations of the western coast before settlement and the settlements in Albany, Perth and Australind in the mid nineteenth century through to the importation of convict labour in the 1850s and the discovery of gold in the 1890s.

One of the treasures of the Wordsworth Collection is a remarkable sketchbook by Philip Chauncy containing rare portraits of 10 Aborigines (each named) from King George Sound. The sketchbook is accompanied by a large sheet of worked-up ink drawings of these people. Chauncy was a sketcher, amateur photographer, modeller and surveyor working in the Swan River Colony from 1841 to 1853.

Seven of the individuals depicted in his sketchbook were prisoners sent to Perth to be tried for various offences, mainly the theft of food. Wherever he lived, Chauncy made it his purpose to become acquainted with the local Aborigines and learn their language. He spoke of the patience and skill and ability of Aboriginal huntsman.

These drawings express his empathy and admiration.

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Marie Louise has followed her passion for Western Australian art with a singular intensity, actively pursuing works such as the splendid watercolour Perth, Western Australia 1862 by Edmund Henderson. It is an important image of the past, depicting Mounts Bay Road and the Steam Mills at the foot of Mount Eliza (on the left). But, more significantly, Henderson transformed the scene into a magical place, full of air and sparkling light, revealing how he had been captivated by his new world.

Many of the early Western Australian artists were engineers and surveyors, and among these was Edmund DuCane. He volunteered to go to Western Australia to superintend works for the convict establishment, designing convict buildings and supervising road construction. He also made a lively record of life and scenery in the colony, including this view of the Darling Range, near the National Park north-east of Perth, looking through to the coastal plain.

The collection includes a some fine and rare examples of Western Australian colonial furniture, constructed using local timbers.

These include a circular pedestal table crafted from jarrah by Joseph Hamblin, presumed to have been made in 1848–49 for Government House in Perth, and two remarkable pieces by Hookum Chan.

The National Gallery’s Wordsworth Collection complements the rich holdings of Western Australian art held in public and private collections in Perth. The purchase of this collection enables Western Australian culture to be seen by the Australian public in a national context as part of the story of Australian art.

Anne Gray Head of Australian Art

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A Sharpshooter Peel, Peel, Swan River Peel! Very Fine Peel! 1829 etching, printed in black ink, from one copper plate; hand-coloured; on paper printed image and text 31.2 x 21.4 cm sheet 32.2 x 22.6 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Robert Seymour (etcher) Thomas Mclean (publisher) Cousin Thomas, or the Swan River Job 1829 etching, printed in black ink, from one copper plate; hand-coloured; on paper printed image and text 32.8 x 22.2 cm sheet 33.2 x 24 cm The Wordsworth Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Early nineteenth-century caricatures English caricature in printed form was at its most strident in the years leading up to the British settlement in New South Wales.

Artists such as James Gillray lampooned political figures, foreign policy, fashion and the foibles of society with a vigour that today would see them charged with sedition, treason, blasphemy and perhaps pornography! Specialist print publishers such as Mrs Humphrey exhibited the latest caricatures in the windows of her shop and the public jostled daily to see who had fallen prey to the etcher’s needle. Australian subjects were part and parcel of the fray—with Sir Joseph Banks, for instance, depicted as the ‘The great South Sea caterpillar, transformed into a Bath Butterfly’.

In the late 1820s, when moves were afoot to formally establish a colony at Swan River in what is now Western Australia, the caricature was still a potent form of political comment. Cousin Thomas, or the Swan River job 1829 and Peel, Peel, Swan River Peel! Very fine Peel! 1829 both revolve around the Right Honourable Robert Peel, who was Secretary of State, and his cousin Thomas. Hearing of the rich potential of land at Swan River, Thomas led a syndicate 24 ARTONVIEW | ACQUISITION

of financiers who proposed to the Government that they would underwrite the development of the settlement if granted prime land.

The inference in both of these hand-coloured etchings is that Robert Peel influenced the decision to grant prime land to the syndicate. In Peel, Peel, the Secretary of State holds a box with a placard announcing that this is ‘A job for my country cousin’. While in Cousin Thomas, or the Swan River job, Thomas Peel is shown plucking a swan while he exclaims, ‘Cousin Bob’s letter did the job.

I shall feather my nest however’.

But all did not go as planned. The Government stipulated that Peel’s first settlers had to reach the colony by 1 November 1829 to have access to the prime land. Unfortunately, their ship arrived six weeks late, and Peel and his syndicate had to make do with inferior regions and eventually the whole scheme failed. Nor did the artists A Sharpshooter and Robert Seymour get everything right; in both caricatures the swans depicted are white, not the iconic black swans that inhabit the Swan River.

Roger Butler Senior Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings

Hans Heysen

Morning light 1913, oil on canvas, 117 x 101 cm, purchased with funds from the Ruth Robertson Bequest Fund, 2011 (in memory of Edwin Clive and Leila Jeanne Robertson)

Morning light shows two monumental gums before a sweeping pastoral vista. The grand old tree in the foreground was a favourite of Heysen’s. He was particularly enamoured of morning light; always up before dawn to catch the changing landscape in early sunlight, such as the effect of a cool morning depicted in Morning light. Heysen painted this work in 1913, in the decade immediately after he first acquired his now famous property, The Cedars, near Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills.

Heysen is one of Australia’s most significant landscape painters, and one of the most successful artists during his own lifetime. He so popularised the river red gum that people began to think that it was more typical than it was. By depicting this particular species he made it universal.

It is extraordinary that, prior to the acquisition of this work, the National Gallery of Australia held no major giant-gum-tree oil painting by Heysen from the Federation period. Moreover, it is hard to believe, given the popularity and familiarity of Heysen’s work, that Heysen painted only a handful of major oils (seven in all) on

the subject of the gum during the Federation period (1900–14).

Heysen was conscious that he was creating nationalist imagery, which would give us a new way of seeing our land and inspiring us to love these great gums. That is why he gave them inspirational titles such as ‘A Lord of the Bush’ and ‘Red gold’. As Ron Radford said in the book Our country: Australian Federation landscapes 1900–1914, ‘[after Heysen,] it would be impossible to paint the gum tree without Heysen’s symbolic use resonating in memory’.

A substantial bequest by Ruth Robertson made it possible for the Gallery to purchase this painting. Funds from this bequest will also go toward future acquisitions of early twentieth-century Australian painting.

Anne Gray Head of Australian Art

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Western Australian goldfields jewellery The National Gallery of Australia recently acquired an exceptional collection of Australian gold jewellery by most of the leading Western Australian jewellers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Western Australian goldfields and goldmining subject matter pervade the collection, further contributing to its importance as a document of regional fervour, aspiration and achievement during the state’s prosperous pre- and post-Federation periods. The collection was assembled over many years by Robert and Mandy Haines, and we are grateful that we were able to acquire it.

Most of the works eschew the prevailing commercial jewellery styles popular during this period. Instead, jewellers favoured literal and pictorial representations of shovels, picks, buckets and winches, arranged on bar brooches with arched lettering of the names of mining towns such as Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie, Marble Bar and Southern Cross.

The goldsmiths, many having set up premises on the Western Australian goldfields during the gold rushes of the 1890s, were among the leading jewellers of the day and a number of them went on to establish permanent businesses in Perth, Fremantle and elsewhere. Jewellery firms in other states also produced works in the goldfields style for the Western Australian market, and this collection includes examples by South Australia’s JM Wendt, Victoria’s Moore and Sons and Larard Brothers and Queensland’s Goldsmiths’ Hall Co.

(from top left) George Richard Addis Kalgoorlie brooch 1894–1899 18 carat gold 2.5 x 5.5 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Aronson & Co Coolgardie brooch c 1896 15 carat gold 3 x 4.8 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Donovan & Overland Southern Cross brooch c 1898 18 carat gold 1.6 x 4 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Marble Bar brooch c 1898 15 carat gold 4.4 x 5.7 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

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This group of works represents the main jewellers working as goldsmiths and retailing in Western Australia from the 1890s. These works reveal the jewellers’ accomplished craft skills and business acumen in recognising the desire of Western Australians to celebrate their natural resources and the wealth that ensued. Among them are Aronson & Co, Adolph Otto Kopp, Donovan & Overland, Thomas Scanlon, JW Dunkerton, George Richard Addis, Louis Boxhorn and Levinson & Sons.

This type of jewellery had potency beyond its small scale: it was desirable and intimate (several pieces have personal inscriptions) and a portable advertisement for Western Australia’s ascendancy in the Federation. Many such pieces were produced, but they eventually fell from fashion and were recycled for their gold content. The Gallery’s recently acquired group of Western Australian goldfields jewellery is, therefore, particularly important in having survived this fall.

The Western Australian focus of these works also brings national scope to the Gallery’s collection of Australian late colonial and early twentieth-century jewellery. Each work illustrates not only the aesthetic and technical achievements of some of the state’s earliest professional craft practitioners but also presents a compelling and intimate narrative of Australian social and commercial history at a period of national transformation.

Robert Bell AM Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design

Adolph Otto Kopp Swan brooch 1892–1904 15 carat gold, ruby 2.6 x 5.8 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Thomas Scanlan Swan brooch 1894–1905 15 carat gold, blue stone, pearl 2.3 x 5.8 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

Unknown Western Australian jeweller Brooch c 1908 18 carat gold, blister pearl 1.9 x 5.3 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2010

ACQUISITION | ARTONVIEW 27

Rodney Glick

Everyone no 1 2008, wood and synthetic polymer paint, 180 x 120 x 80 cm, purchased 2009

Everyone no 1 2008 is a larger-than-life sculpture of a woman seated on an ornate golden dais. At 180cm high, she has a significant presence, yet offers us a peaceful smile and holds out pink flowers in her four elegantly posed hands. It appears to be some kind of homage to a deity—albeit one casually attired in pink tracksuit pants.

Everyone no 1 is part of Rodney Glick’s ongoing series Everyone, comprising sculptures and digital photographs. The works are often based on portraits of friends and acquaintances captured in poses that suggest otherworldliness. The series began after Glick undertook residency at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where he spent a significant amount of time with the collection of Indian and Indonesian sculpture.

Glick’s multi-limbed sculptures make reference to depictions of deities not to belittle those gods but to prompt contemplation of the potential in everyone for both the mundane and exceptional.

In an interview with The Courier Mail last year, Glick said he wanted viewers to feel that the sculptures could be any one of us: ‘We could all be gods, we are all capable of violence or being lovely’.

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Everyone no 1 is accompanied by the taxidermied-cat floor rug I love animals and most of nature—feral cat 2008, which is Glick’s quirky Australian adaptation of the animal attendants that are often depicted with deities.

Born in Perth in 1961, Glick is one of Western Australia’s highly regarded contemporary artists. He is known for his distinctive humour and engaging works in a wide range of media, including installation, sculpture, painting, architecture and guerrilla-style conceptual projects in which he creates fictional identities, art theories, publications and exhibitions.

Everyone no 1 was first exhibited in Glick’s 2008 survey at Laurence Wilson Art Gallery in Perth, and other recent works from the Everyone series were included in the 2010 Sydney Biennale.

Miriam Kelly Assistant Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture

Thailand Rattanakosin period (1782–)

Ravana, King of Langka late 18th – early 19th century, clay, plaster, pigments, lacquer, gold, purchased 2010

The Ramayana, one of the great Indian epics, was introduced to Southeast Asia by Indian traders as early as the 8th or 9th century.

In Thailand, where it is known as the Ramakien (Glory of Rama), the legend has inspired storytelling, performance and the visual arts for centuries, and remains extremely popular. The destruction of the kingdom at Ayutthaya in 1767 and the subsequent relocation of the royal centre to Bangkok resulted in the tragic loss of most Thai literary texts. However, in the 1790s, King Rama I devoted himself to compiling surviving texts and composing the Ramakien in its present form, adding 40 episodes and many uniquely Thai elements to the story in the process.

The lengthy tale begins with the previous incarnations and early lives of the main characters and is best known for the series of battles that ensue when Ravana (Tosakanth in Thai), the demon King of Langka and supreme villain of the story, abducts Sita (Sida), the wife of the story’s hero Rama (Prah Ram). In the Ramakien version of the epic, unbeknown to Ravana, Sita is his daughter. As a baby, Sita was predicted to destroy the demon race and consequently

banished from his kingdom. The prophecy is validated when Rama, alongside his brother Lakshmana (Phra Lak) and the monkey army led by Hanuman, fights for Sita’s release and ultimately defeats the demon king.

This sculpture represents Ravana or possibly his ally Sahasadecha, the white-faced demon king of Pangtan who was killed in battle by Hanuman. The superhuman qualities of the demons are indicated by their multiple heads, with descriptions ranging from 10 to 1000, as well as their fangs and bulging eyes. Seated in a reverential pose, this sculpture may once have adorned the entrance to a noble residence or temple.

Melanie Eastburn Curator, Asian Art

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EL Kirchner

Bathing scene, Fehmarn, under overhanging trees (Badenszene auf Fehmarn unter überhängenden Baumsweigen) 1913, woodcut, 43.3 x 39.6 cm, The Poynton Bequest, 2011

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) was one of the founding members of the German Expressionist group known as Die Brücke, a bohemian group of artists established in Dresden in 1905. Like his fellow Expressionists, Kirchner rejected academic art. Instead, he wanted to create a raw style and sought to emulate the art of the South Seas and Africa. Kirchner was also attracted to the art of Paul Gauguin and the Fauves, adopting their brilliant palette and unrefined finish.

During his time in Dresden, Kirchner would sometimes holiday on the island of Fehmarn, in the Baltic Sea off the east coast of Germany. After his move to Berlin, Kirchner regularly spent his summers there in the years between 1912 and 1914, with his fellow artists Ernst Heckel and Max Pechstein and their partners.

Kirchner complained that the inhabitants of the island were ‘inbred’, but he loved the ‘meaty’, rich and exotic foliage and enjoyed the long northern European summer days with their shorter nights.

Inspired by this location, Kirchner began creating landscapes—at first without figures, then later in compositions of a bucolic fantasy world in which he depicted nude figures among the trees and flowers of strange, dense forests and in the waves of the wild oceans.

For Bathing scene, Fehmarn, under overhanging trees, Kirchner shows himself clothed and smoking a pipe among a group of naked women, including his lifetime partner the dancer Erna Schilling.

This rare woodcut is a richly textured image, which highlights Kirchner’s rough carving technique. Made in 1913, it represents the bucolic, poetic and lyrical side of German Expressionism—a counter to the foreboding and angst often found in this style.

Jane Kinsman Senior Curator, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books

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Jon Schueler

The first day 1956, oil on canvas, 121.9 x 228.6 cm, gift of Andrew Salvesen, 2010

Jon Schueler attempts perhaps the most ambitious subject possible in The first day 1956. The title refers to the creation of the Earth as narrated in the opening words of the Bible (King James Version), Genesis 1:

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth … 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Instead of conventional Romantic depictions of the subject, which use deep black and blazing white, Schueler renders the dazzling beauty of light as it is divided into colour. The immaterial becomes material. Blues and yellows are contrasted with hues of orange, red and purple, all made with myriad small strokes from a palette knife.

The technique imbues the paint with a rhythmic, nervous quality so that the colours flicker before our eyes. The first day is rich in impasto and the large canvas imparts a joyous effect.

Schueler (1916–1992) is part of the second generation of Abstract Expressionist artists. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he served in the Air Force from 1941 to 1945. Schueler then started painting, studying at the California School of Fine Arts under Clyfford Still and Richard Diebenkorn from 1947 to 1951. He encountered Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko when they were visiting professors there. Moving to New York in 1951, he met many prominent artists of the New York School at gatherings in Rothko’s studio: Franz Kline, Barnett Newman, Joan Mitchell and Philip Guston were among them. Schueler was the first artist to have a solo show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1957, the year it opened. The exhibition included The first day.

Christine Dixon Senior Curator, International Painting and Sculpture

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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

18 Nov 2011–18 March 2012 Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo NSW

Travelling exhibitions supporters

(details from left) Ethel Spowers The bamboo blind c 1926, purchased 1976 | Anton Bruehl Portrait of Marlene Dietrich, Hollywood 1935, gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc, New York, NY, USA, made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr, 2006 | Meek Love bomber 2004, Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, 2007 | Dušan Marek My wife c 1952, gift of James Agapitos OAM and Ray Wilson OAM, 2007. © estate of Dušan Marek | Lena Yarinkura Bush mice 2002

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National Collecting Institutions Touring & Outreach Program

AUSTRALIAN PORTRAITS 1880–1960

Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift

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

nga.gov.au/wolfensohn

17 Sep – 20 Nov 2011 Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tas 3 Dec 2011 – 29 Jan 2012 Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, Gymea, NSW

The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift enables people from all around Australia to discover and handle art. Made possible

by Jim and Elaine Wolfensohn, the gift comprises three artfilled 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.

Bookings are available now for 2012, please contact: travex@ nga.gov.au or (02) 6240 6650.

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FACES IN VIEW

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Bluebird and 120 birds 1–2 Liz Lea performing 120 birds and Bluebird, 24 February.

Hands Across Canberra Charity Ball 3 Carol and Richard Kenchington and Celia Lindsay, in the Gandel Hall at the National Gallery, 4 March.

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4 Gallery photographer David Pang and Canberra Times photographer Lyn Mills.

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Betty Churcher book launch

Sculpture Garden Sunday

5 The Gallery’s Gandel Hall was the perfect setting for Betty Churcher to launch her new book Notebook in Canberra, 7 April.

7– Children and their families join the fun at 10 the National Gallery’s annual Sculpture Garden Sunday, 6 March.

Space invaders

Varilaku

6 Jaklyn Babington, curator of Space invaders, with artists Anthony Lister, James Dodd, Mini Graff and Al Stark at the opening at UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, 8 April 2011.

11 Crispin Howarth, curator of Varilaku, with High Commissioner for Solomon Islands His Excellency Beraki Jino, Director of the National Gallery Ron Radford and Chris Chevalier fora Community Access Program

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in which approximately 35 Solomon Islanders living in the ACT enjoyed a private viewing of their national heritage, 10 March.

Backstage at the Ballets Russes 12 Gabriel Comerford and Caitlin Mackenzie perform excerpts from the ballet Petrushka for the theatre production Backstage at the Ballets Russes at the National Gallery, 11 March.

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News from the Foundation The National Gallery of Australia Foundation was established in 1989 to assist with acquiring works of art for the national art collection. The Foundation provides people with the opportunity to be part of building Australia’s national heritage through the arts. To be involved or for more information, contact Maryanne Voyazis on +61 2 6240 6691 or at foundation@nga.gov.au.

Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner and Weekend 2011 The fourth annual Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner commenced in the Australian Garden with French champagne and canapés. Robyn Maxwell, Senior Curator of Asian Art, then unveiled the exquisite Indian shrine hangings purchased with funds raised by guests and other donors. Guests then toured Ballets Russes: the art of costume with the curator Dr Robert Bell and Director Ron Radford.

James Kidman designed the evening meal to complement aspects of the exhibition, and the night ended with soprano Lorina Gore and pianist Tahu Matheson. Her Excellency Quentin Bryce AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, and His Excellency Mr Michael Bryce AM, AE, generously hosted lunch on Saturday at Government House, Yarralumla, and His Excellency Michel Filhol and Catherine Filhol graciously opened their home to guests on Sunday.

Robyn and Graham Burke, Leon and Judith Gorr and Warwick Ross at pre-dinner drinks for the Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 19 March 2011.

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American Friends visit Australia Over six days in March, 14 members of the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc, New York, attended events in Canberra and Sydney designed to familiarise them with the national art collection and the visual arts in Australia. A cocktail reception was co-hosted by the United States Ambassador to Australia His Excellency Jeffrey Bleich and the National Gallery’s Director Ron Radford AM. Ann Lewis AO, a member of the Gallery’s Foundation, graciously hosted a lunch in Sydney, and guests visited the extensive collection of Dr Colin Laverty OAM and Mrs Elizabeth Laverty. They then toasted Australia at a reception hosted

by Foundation Chairman John Hindmarsh and Rosanna Hindmarsh. It was a pleasure to share the treasures of the national art collection with our American friends. They are committed supporters of the National Gallery of Australia and great ambassadors of Australian art in the United States.

Gordon and Marilyn Darling with Assistant Director Simon Elliott at the residence of the United States Ambassador.

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2011 The annual Masterpieces for the Nation Fund is now in its ninth year, and the 2011 campaign is in full swing. Many thanks to those donors who have already contributed towards the acquisition of a striking and important selfportrait by Nora Heysen.

This is a particularly significant time to honour the practice of Nora Heysen, one of Australia’s great female artists, as this year marks the centenary of Heysen’s birth. With the generous assistance of donors, the acquisition of Self-portrait 1932 will celebrate the artist’s early life and the exceptional talent she showed for self-portraits at a young age—she was 21 when she painted this work. This painting will become an important addition to the national art collection.

Soprano Lorina Gore and pianist Tahu Matheson performing in the Gandel Hall for the Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 19 March 2011.

A generous bequest The Gallery recently received a most generous bequest from Ruth Robertson. Following Miss Robertson’s wishes, the bequest will be used for the acquisition of works of art by early twentieth-century Australian painters. Her extraordinary act of benefaction has already made possible the purchase of Hans Heysen’s magnificent Morning light 1913 (see page 25).

The National Gallery of Australia Bequest Circle is delighted to welcome Robert Meller as a new member. Mr Meller is the nephew of Miss Robertson.

If you have left a bequest to the Gallery in your will or you are interested in finding out more about leaving a lasting gift to the nation, please contact Liz Wilson on +61 2 6240 6469 or at liz.wilson@nga.gov.au.

Guests from the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc, New York, standing in front of the Indian pichhavai (shrine hangings) purchased with funds raised by Gala Dinner guests and other donors.

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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.

Under the stars at the National Gallery Summer nights were brought to life in Canberra at the National Gallery of Australia’s Sculpture Bar in association with Veuve Clicquot. Set among the stunning surrounds of the Sculpture Garden, the bar was a joint initiative of Moët Hennessy Australia and the National Gallery. It opened in December, the same week as the exhibition Ballets Russes: the art of costume. With a DJ and a selection of Veuve Clicquot’s best champagne and sparkling wine, word of mouth quickly spread and the bar became one of the capital’s Friday-night hotspots. The bar also hosted the Gallery’s early autumn series of live performances, Live at the Sculpture Garden, as part of Canberra’s Enlighten festival. The National Gallery partnered with Canberra-based design agency Cre8ive to give the bar its distinctive look in advertising and online.

The Sculpture Bar in association with Veuve Clicquot at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

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NAB supports arts education On the 6 March, the Sculpture Garden was transformed for this year’s Sculpture Garden Sunday into an enormous art-education workshop for children and their families.

Sculptural installations included a suspended spidery straw sculpture, a band of angels inspired by Antony Gormley’s Angel of the north (life-size maquette) 1996 and a larger-thanlife clay dog inspired by Rick Amor’s The dog 2002.

Sculpture Garden Sunday is now in its seventh year and is made possible by the generous support of National Australia Bank, the Gallery’s Art Education and Access Partner.

This year’s event was the most popular to date, attracting approximately 3000 people. It was also a true example of a working partnership with both NAB and NGA staff volunteering their time to educate and entertain visitors.

Eckersley’s Arts and Crafts and ACT event hire company Barlens also contributed to making the day a huge success.

Sculpture Garden Sunday at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 6 March 2011.

Lucky winners listen in to ABC Local Radio

Hindmarsh supports family fun at the Gallery

For the third year running, ABC Local Radio ran a promotion to support the Gallery’s major summer exhibition. The promotion went out on Classic FM and nearly every ABC Local Radio station across the country, and [how many?] winners and their guests travel to Canberra in March to have the ultimate Ballets Russes experience.

The winners met the Gallery’s Director, Ron Radford, ABC Nightlife’s Tony Delroy and Classic FM’s Emma Ayres.

They also receive a private tour of the exhibition by curator Dr Robert Bell. This promotion would not have been possible without the support of ABC Local Radio and Classic FM; they went to great lengths to come up with engaging and creative competitions relating to the exhibition. The 936 ABC Hobart winner, Florence Wren, for example, had to design a cocktail that reflected the ethos of the Ballets Russes.

Hindmarsh construction, development and property group are again supporting the Gallery as a major partner of the Ballets Russes Family Activity Room. Hindmarsh supported the exhibition Bill Viola: the passions in 2005 and were the principal sponsor of The story of Australian printmaking 1801– 2005 in 2007. The concept of a family activity room was started for Degas: master of French art in 2008 and continues to be a valued asset to all major exhibitions. It is only through the support of dedicated partners like Hindmarsh that the Gallery can provide valuable experiences like these to our young visitors.

Winners of ABC Local Radio’s Ballets Russes promotion tour the exhibition with curator Dr Robert Bell (centre), 4 March 2011.

The Ballets Russes Family Activity Room at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

ARTONVIEW 39

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 CohenTyler the Wolfensohn Family Foundation towards the Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift Travelling Exhibitions Program The Gordon Darling Foundation The Lidia Perin Foundation The National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund The Thyne Reid Foundation

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 Australia Council Department of Health and Ageing through the Dementia Community Grants Program

State and territory governments Queensland Government through 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 ACT Government through Australian Capital Tourism ActewAGL

40 ARTONVIEW

Aesop The Age Avant Card The Brassey Hotel of Canberra The Canberra Times Coopers Brewery Cre8ive Diamant Hotel Eckersley’s Art & Craft Forrest Hotel and Apartments Hindmarsh JCDecaux Macquarie Foundation Manteena Mantra on Northbourne Moët Hennessy Australia Molonglo Group National Australia Bank 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 Yulgilbar Foundation

Donations Includes donations received from 23 January to 20 April 2011 Pauline Gandel Stephen ME Mally Jason Prowd

Bequests Marie Howe Breckenridge Alison Euphemia Grant-Lipp Ruth Graham Robertson

Gifts Gavan Bromilow Rosemary Foot AO Ted Gregg and Gina Gregg Emmanuel Hirsh David Knaus Roslyn Packer AO Feliztas Parr Mike Parr Kenneth E Tyler and Marabeth CohenTyler Eric Whiteley

Thomas Gibbons Gael Newton Margaret Olley Art Trust Andrew Salvesen Arthur Wicks

Founding Donors 2010 Fund Julian Burt Claudia Hyles Peter Lundy RFD and Dr Maureen Bremner

Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner and Weekend 2011 Fund The Aranday Foundation American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc Rick Amor Terrey Arcus AM and Anne Arcus Philip Bacon AM Julian Beaumont and Annie Beaumont Anthony Berg AM and Carol Berg His Excellency Jeffrey Bleich and Rebecca Bleich Graham Bradley AM Sir Ronald Brierley Her Excellency Quentin Bryce AC and Michael Bryce AM Graham Burke and Robyn Burke Mark Burrows AO Julian Burt Nick Burton Taylor AM and Julia Burton Taylor Edward Cabot Robert Cadona John Calvert-Jones AM and Janet CalvertJones AO Terrence Campbell AO and Christine Campbell Harold Campbell-Pretty and Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Maurice Cashmere Jim Cousins AO and Libby Cousins Charles Curran AC and Eva Curran David Darling The Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer Helen Eager and Christopher Hodges James O Fairfax AC and Ray Hansen His Excellency Michel Filhol and Catherine Filhol Stephanie Fowler and Alexander Gough John Gandel AO and Pauline Gandel Harold Ganter and Nancy Ganter June Gordon Leon Gorr and Judith Gorr

Hiroko Gwinnett Peter Hack The Hon Justice Kenneth Handley AO and Diana Handley Catherine Harris AO, PSM Meredith Hinchliffe John Hindmarsh and Rosanna Hindmarsh Dr Helen Jessup and Philip Jessup Jr Dr Michael Joel AM and Anna Joel Stephen Johns and Michele Johns Gail Kinsella and Barbara Knackstedt John Kirby and Carolyn Kirby Lou Klepac OAM and Brenda Klepac Thomas Knapp Wayne N Kratzmann and Christine Gee Evan Lacey Ann Lewis AO Richard Longes and Elizabeth Longes Peter Lundy RFD and Dr Maureen Bremner Lee MacCormick Edwards and Michael Crane Alasdair MacLeod and Prue MacLeod Gunther Mau and Cream Gilda Mau The Hon Peter McGauran Robert Moore II Edgar Myer Rupert Myer AM and Annabel Myer Maurice Newman AC and Jeannette Newman William Nuttall Suzanne O’Connell Geoffrey Pack and Leigh Pack Roslyn Packer AO Ian Phillips and Zara Phillips Ruth Renard and Ralph Renard Gina Rinehart and Robert Sparke Rowan Ross and Annie Ross Warwick Ross and Margot Ross Evelyn Royal John Schaeffer AO and Bettina Dalton Lulu Serious Dr Gene Sherman AM and Brian Sherman AM Zeke Solomon AM Lady Marigold Southey AC Shane Sutton Susan Talbot Professor Ken Taylor and Maggie Taylor Village Roadshow Australia Jill Viola William Webb and Marijke Webb Mo Wedd-Buchholz Hope Welker and Ryan Welker

Geoffrey White OAM and Sally White Lyn Williams AM Peronelle Windeyer and Jim Windeyer Kaely Woods and Mike Woods Mark Young

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2010 Ann Cork

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2011 George Alexander and Judy Alexander Dr Michael Armitage and Susan Armitage Margaret Aston Betty Beaver AM Sheila Bignell Noel Birchall Phoebe Bischoff OAM Bob Blacklow AW Buckingham Graham Cooke Kerry-Anne Cousins Jean Cruickshank Mary Curtis & Richard Mann Dr Moreen P Dee Karen Dundas Sue Dyer Brian Fitzpatrick Olwyn Fleming Joseph Gani Joan George Geraldine Gibbs and William Gibbs William S Hamilton Brit Helgeby and Edward Helgeby Shirley Hemmings Janet Hine Dr Joe Johnson CSC, AAM, and Madelaine Johnson Judy Johnson Brian Jones Dr Frederick Lilley and Penelope Lilley Margaret J Mashford Patricia McCullough The Hon Geoffrey Miller QC and Rhonda Miller Bevan Mitchell Beth Monk and Ross Monk JF Nisbet Natasha Oates John Parker and Joss Righton PR Richards Lyn Riddett Susan Rogers

Dr James Ross Professor Ivan Shearer AM Elizabeth J Smith Joy Stewart Robyn Stone Sonia Tidemann Sue Volker and Derek Volker Romany White and Russell White Muriel Wilkinson Andrew Williamson Les Wright and Norma Wright

Members Acquisition Fund 2010 Elizabeth Aitken Robert Allmark John Austin and Helen Austin Ruth Baird Ronald Bannerman Gwendoline Bernoth David Biles and Julie Biles Jean Mary Billingham Jessie Birch Wendy Brackstone and Harry Brackstone Margaret Brennan and Geoffrey Brennan Rosemary Burke Daphne Carlson Maureen Chan Debbie Chua Kathryn Clarke Patricia Clarke Christine Clough JW de B Persse Judith Anne Dixon Rosemary Dupont S Eutrope Anne Formby Jan Forshaw Maureen C Taylor Roy Garwood Marya Glyn-Daniel June Gordon Ross Gough Elizabeth Grant and Howard Grant Danielle Griffiths Kerri Hall John Harrison and Danielle Kluth Andrew Hodges and Monica van Wensveen Jim Humphreys and Clare Humphreys Johnston Keski-Nummi Wilson Family Valerie Anne Kirk Barbara Krause Ursula Krueger

Diana Letts Gwen Macdonald Judith MacIntyre Elizabeth Mackie C and R Maclachlan Annabelle Main Susan D Martin Bruce Matear AM and Judy Matear Robin C McLachlan Wilma McKeown Selma McLaren Tina Merriman Rachael Milfull The Hon Geoffrey Miller QC and Rhonda Miller Paul Minogue and Mandy Minogue Joan Miskin and Barry Miskin Graeme Moller Beverly Molvig Ken Morrow and Noelle Morrow Janet Moyle Dr Angus McLean Muir Diana Mulhall and Michael Mulhall Philip Mullen Neil C Mulveney Colin Neave AM Claude Neumann Linda Notley The Hon Barry O’Keefe AM QC Tony Orford and Maria Timothy Milton Edgeworth Osborne Robert Oser Colin J Paine Vanessa Palmer and Alex Palmer John Parker and Jocelyn Righton Julie Peden Deborah Pippen and Jack Egerton Ronald B Raines Lynette Re and Tony Re Colin Rea Eric Reid Helen Rey Priscilla Holborow, Morgan Holborow and Meaghan Holborow Lyn Riddett Alan Rozen Mark Sampson and Ruth Sampson Robin Schall D Schneider and M Greeneklee

Professor Ivan Shearer AM Carol Slattery AD Smith and ML Smith David Stanley and Anne Stanley Jayne Stetto and John Fely Beth Stone Gay Stuart and Charles Stuart Susan Sutton Robert Swift and Lynette Swift Professor Ken Taylor and Maggie Taylor Jacqueline Thomson Vicki Thompson Sonia Tideman Rhonda Lockhart Janice C Tynan Allan Ulrich and Helen Ulrich Darren Viskovich Donald W Waterworth Heather Watson Mo Wedd-Buchholz Joyce West Joy Wheatley Muriel Wilkinson Karen Williams and Lindsay Williams Libby Williams Julia Wilson Robine Wilson and the late Donald Wilson Gwen Wilton Tempe Carveth-Wood Michael Wright and Robyn Wright

Bill Davy Memorial Fund Carlo Grossman and Joanna Grossman Helen Halliday and Richard Halliday

Decorative Arts and Design Fund Christine Goonrey Dr Neil Williams PSM and Margaret Williams

Melody Gough Memorial Fund Dr Ron Radford AM

Rotary Collection of Australian Art Rotary Club of Belconnen ACT Inc

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 41

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.

Darcey Bussell and Rafael Bonachela In March, members and their guests were treated to the delights of dance, choreography and collaboration at a luncheon with Darcey Bussell, former prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet, and Rafael Bonachela, the Sydney Dance Company’s dynamic Artistic Director.

Darcey and Rafael regaled the audience with stories of past dance partners, shared their insights into the magical world of dance and, as a special treat, gave the audience a sneak peek into an upcoming production. Afterward, they mingled with the audience, answered questions and even signed a few autographs.

Membership is very grateful to Moët Hennessy Australia for their support of this engaging and entertaining event.

Darcey Bussell and Rafael Bonachela speak to guests about dance and collaboration in the Gandel Hall at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 10 March 2011.

42 ARTONVIEW

Music at the Gallery In the spirit of London’s Wigmore Hall Concert Series, the National Gallery of Australia’s Gandel Hall Concert Series is a must-see experience in the Canberra arts, music and social calendar this winter. Australia’s best known talent will perform in the Gallery’s spectacular Gandel Hall.

A repertoire from the classical, baroque, renaissance and romantic periods.

The series, presented by AGB Events and the National Gallery of Australia, will be hosted by Emma Ayres of ABC Classic FM over four Sundays in July. Artists include tenor Rosario La Spina, soprano Amelia Farrugia, pianist Simon Tedeschi and the Lurline Chamber Orchestra.

See Artevents, the Gallery’s ‘what’s on’ brochure, for more members-only public programs and events.

Emma Ayres, ABC Classic FM presenter, with William Dowd, the Tasmanian winner of ABC Local Radio’s Ballets Russes promotion, 4 March 2011.

Latest issue of Artonview exclusive to members online

Revisit Masterpieces from Paris, with a trip to France

In response to recent viewer feedback and study groups conducted last year, the Gallery’s entire website has been redesigned and relaunched with a new look to provide a better online experience. As part of this redesign, current issues of Artonview will now be available online exclusive to members.

Imagine visiting the European masterpieces you sampled in 2009–10 during the National Gallery of Australia’s exhibition Masterpieces from Paris. With support from Qantas and Accor, the Gallery is offering its members the chance to win a trip for two to Paris. You and your guest will fly with Qantas and spend five nights at an Accor hotel in Paris, where you can spend time wandering through the Musée d’Orsay, catching up with old favourites and discovering new ones.

While Artonview is printed on PEFC- and FSC-approved paper using vegetable- and soy-based inks, we are pleased to offer you an electronic alternative. If you would no longer like to receive printed copies of Artonview and Artvents in the mail, please send an email to membership@nga.gov.au.

Back issues of Artonview will continue to be available online at nga.gov.au/artonview, as will the Artevents brochure at nga.gov.au/whatson.

Artonview now online for members.

To be in the running for this exciting Membership Travel Prize to Paris, you just need to make sure your membership is current on 31 August 2011. Don’t forget to renew your membership before then and good luck.

Permit number TP 11/00208.1

Inside the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Photograph: Alexander Franke

ARTONVIEW 43

Keeping Canberra’s creative energy flowing.

For 10 years ActewAGL and the National Gallery of Australia have collaborated to bring major exhibitions and acquisitions to Canberra.

James Turrell Within without 2010 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased with the support of visitors to the exhibition Masterpieces from Paris 2010 Photograph: John Gollings CCA0311/43

ActewAGL Retail ABN 46 221 314 841

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Classical and Ottoman Turkey

Istanbul, Ravenna and Venice

Oct 15 – Nov 2, 2011 $5,890 per person, twin share (land content only)

October 7-23, 2011 $6,500 per person, twin share

This 17-day journey takes us on a comprehensive but unhurried tour through Turkey’s rich past, ranging from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman palaces on the Bosphorus. We begin in Istanbul, staying in the heart of Emperor Contantine’s city, before enjoying the unique landscape and rock-hewn churches of Cappadocia. A slow journey up the Aegean coast takes us to several of the most beautiful Greek, Hellenistic and Roman sites of the ancient world, including Ephesus and Pergamon, and on to Gallipoli. The tour features three or four night stays and several flights to cut down on bus travel.

Celebrate the shared maritime history, visual culture and outstanding physical beauty of two great medieval cities.

We begin with six nights in Istanbul, whose dazzling churches, palaces and mosques captured the imagination of medieval Western Europe. Flying to Italy, we then spend two nights in Ravenna, the principal Byzantine city in Italy and home to some of the most outstanding mosaics of the Byzantine world, before travelling to Venice for six nights. More than any other city in Europe, Venice absorbed the culture and art of the East, creating a unique civilization in an unforgettable setting. Central, four-star accommodation throughout.

Tour leader: Archaeologist Judy Roberts

Also departing SeptemberNovember The fabulous Bay of Naples Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Naples

Bronze Age and Classical Greece Crete, Mycenae, Sparta, Delphi and Athens

Southern France and Corsica Fine art and history in Nice and Cannes, and scenery of Corsica

Laos and Angkor A journey along the Mekong from Luang Prabang to the temples of Angkor

Paris and New York Galleries, museums, walking tours and fine dining

Keep in touch!

Subscribe to our regular newsletter and e-bulletins at www.academytravel.com.au

Tour leader: Historian Dr Kathleen Olive

tailored small group Journeys › Expert tour leaders › Maximum 20 in a group › Carefully planned itineraries

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Yalangbara: Art of the Djang’kawu is an exhibition of captivating Aboriginal artworks by the Marika family from north-east Arnhem Land exploring the journey of the Djang’kawu ancestors.

Until 14 August 2011 National Museum of Australia

Free general admission. Open 9 am – 5 pm daily (closed Christmas Day). Lawson Crescent Acton Peninsula Canberra.

Freecall 1800 026 132. www.nma.gov.au. The National Museum of Australia is an Australian Government Agency.

A touring exhibition presented by the National Museum of Australia, developed by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in partnership with the Marika family and supported by the Northern Territory Government.

Supported by 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.

Djang’kawu, Ancestral Being of the Dhuwa Moiety Carvings 1960, by Mawalan 1 Marika. Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Sydney

Opens 21 may 2011

New CoNtemporary Galleries JoHN KalDor Family ColleCtioN art Gallery oF Nsw A major new gallery space featuring the most comprehensive collection of contemporary art in the country.

Spanning 50 years of works by the leading International and Australian artists of our time.

Open weekend 21 & 22 may WITh TALkS BY VISITING ARTISTS, CuRATORS AND ART SPECIALISTS

CONTEMPORARY ART WITH UBS

AGNSW contemporary galleries are generously supported by the Belgiorno-Nettis family AGNSW Contemporary Projects are supported by Andrew Cameron

ART GALLERY RD DOMAIN SYDNEY artgallery.nsw.gov.au Sol LeWitt’s Wall drawing #1091: arcs, circles and bands (room) 2003 detail © Estate of Sol LeWitt/ARS. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney

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Belmore Gardens and Macquarie Street, Barton ACT 2600 Telephone: 02 6273 3766 Facsimile: 02 6273 2791 Toll Free Telephone: Email: info@brassey.net.au Web: http: //www.brassey.net.au

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Open 7 days, 19 Kennedy Street, Kingston ACT 2604 Phone 02 6295 0192 www.silkroadgallery.com.au

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art of the forrest National Gallery of Australia FRED WILLIAMS RETROSPECTIVE 12 AUG 2011 – 6 NOV 2011 Fred Williams is one of Australia’s greatest painters. He created a highly original and distinctive way of seeing the Australian landscape and was passionate about the painting process itself. This is the first major retrospective of Williams’ work in over 25 years.

Enjoy Canberra’s latest exhibitions at the Forrest Hotel & Apartments. Prices start from $110 per person twin share inc: • overnight accommodation • full hot buffet breakfast Fred Williams Forest pond 1974 oil on canvas Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide South Australian Government Grant 1975

• ticket to the exhibition • a bottle of wine per room

National Museum of Australia NOT JUST NED. A TRUE HISTORY OF THE IRISH IN AUSTRALIA NOW SHOWING TO 31 JULY

Steal a weekend away and see rare objects from across Australia and around the world, such as the armour of the four Kelly gang members.

Prices start from $108 per person twin share inc: • overnight accommodation • full hot buffet breakfast • ticket to the exhibition • a bottle of wine per room

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Accor Advantage Plus members receive their 10% discount and A|Club members will earn points on each stay.

Novotel Canberra is a proud supporter of the National Gallery of Australia.

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Designed for natural living *Conditions apply. Visit novotel.com for details

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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

12 AUGUST – 6 NOVEMBER 2011 Fred Williams Hamersley landscape 1979 (detail), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, presented through the NGV Foundation by Rio Tinto, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2001. © estate of Fred Williams

Canberra | nga.gov.au

WINTER 2011 | 66