the story of
RAMA
Indian miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi UNTIL 23 AUGUST 2015
MYTH AND MAGIC Marc Newson Fund | Streetwise | Indian painting
Basohli style, Pahari The portrait of Rama c 1730 (detail), opaque watercolour and gold on paper, National Museum, New Delhi
ISSUE NO 82 | WINTER 2015 A$9.95
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Ruth Maddison Jim and Gerry from Some men series 1983, gelatin silver photograph, colour pencils, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1983
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FEATURES Crafting technology | 6
A painting’s secrets revealed | 32
Robert Bell introduces the innovative designs of the much-celebrated Marc Newson
David Wise brings Tom Roberts’s The sculptor’s studio into the conservation lab for a closer look
Seeing in the dark | 8
A venue near you | 34
Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax had tea with artist Heather B Swann to discuss the making of her recent work for NGA Contemporary
Mary-Lou Nugent reminds us of the NGA events and activities that happen around the country
Influence and evolution | 12
Fostering excellence | 36
Bronwyn Campbell reveals vignettes in the colourful and multifaceted history of Indian painting
Franchesca Cubillo traces the development of the NGA’s dynamic partnership with Wesfarmers
Life and art on the Sepik | 16
Grace under fire | 40
Crispin Howarth takes us to the remote Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea
Deborah Hart examines Imants Tillers’s The nine shots
On provenance | 26 Lucie Folan investigates the complex provenance histories at the National Gallery of Australia
REGULARS Director’s word | 5 Acquisitions | 42 John Young, Ralph Hotere, Janina Green, Paddy Fordham Wainburranga, Sarah Stone, Hilda Rix Nicholas
Members news | 49 Thank you … | 50
Betty Churcher AO • 1931–2015 •
Issue 82 | Winter 2015 Cover: Iatmul people Mai mask mid 20th century, wood, shell, clay, fibre, tusk, ochre, porcelain. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2014 Right: Former NGA director Betty Churcher behind the scenes in the Gallery. Photo: John Tsiavis Editor Eric Meredith Designer Kristin Thomas Proofreader Meredith McKendry Photographers Alanna Bishop, Eleni Kypridis, Lisa Mattiazzi, Brooke Shannon, John Tassie, Dominic Thomas Pre-press Michael Tonna Printing CanPrint, Canberra Contributors Dr Robert Bell AM, Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design Bronwyn Campbell, Researcher, Asian Art Provenance Project Franchesca Cubillo, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Lucie Folan, Assistant Curator, Asian Art Deborah Hart, Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post 1920 Crispin Howarth, Curator, Pacific Arts Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax, Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings Mary-Lou Nugent, Head of Travelling Exhibitions David Wise, Senior Conservator, Paintings Editorial artonview.editor@nga.gov.au Advertising artonview.advertising@nga.gov.au Reproductions copyright@nga.gov.au Back issues nga.gov.au/artonview National Gallery of Australia PO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601, Australia +61 (0)2 6240 6411 nga.gov.au Membership nga.gov.au/members | 1800 020 068 Artonview is free with membership, which comes with additional perks such as reciprocal benefits at the art institutions nationally Donations +61 (0)2 6240 6691 Sponsorship +61 (0)2 6240 6740 The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra is a not-for-profit entity. Many acquisitions, exhibitions and programs are made possible through private and corporate supporters. © National Galley of Australia Published quarterly. Copyright of works of art is held by the artists or their estates. Every effort has been made to identify copyright holders but omissions may occur. The views expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the National Gallery of Australia. Artonview may contain names and images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. ISSN 1323‑4552 Printed on FSC and PEFC certified paper using vegetable-based inks. FSC-C017269 | PEFC/21-31-41
Editorial Our winter issue is as colourful in its variety as our exhibitions for the season. Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax visited Heather B Swann in her new Canberra home and studio to discuss the artist’s work commissioned by the Gallery for the windows of Streetwise: contemporary print culture at NGA Contemporary. I’m told the tea was great although fortunately only the conversation made the page. The history of Indian painting is revealed in brief by Bronwyn Campbell, who recently joined the Provenance Research Project. Lucie Folan, one of the primary researchers on the project, provides us with an astute understanding of provenance and some of the project team’s findings to date. Crispin Howarth is our guide to the fascinating Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea, its many cultures, its art, its ‘myth and magic’. Mary-Lou Nugent and Franchesca Cubillo respectively provide insight into events associated with our travelling exhibitions and an important and developing partnership with Wesfarmers Arts. David Wise takes us behind the scenes into the conservation lab to see some of the important work being done on paintings at the moment—one, in particular, Tom Robert’s The sculptor’s studio 1885. Robert Bell highlights the work of designer Marc Newson, who is the subject of a newly established fund. Deborah Hart
explores the once controversial work The nine shots 1985 by Imants Tillers, which is currently on display with the recently acquired John Young painting Castiglione’s dream 1995–96 on which Lara Nicholls writes. Other great acquisitions are highlighted by Mary Angove, Shaune Lakin and Anne O’Hehir and Franchesca Cubillo. And we welcome back, after an absence of writing for Artonview, Anne Gray. Among the acquisitions, the Janina Green series is part of the exhibition Colour my world, a brilliant show of an often underestimated art form: handcoloured photography. The exhibition draws from the Gallery’s fine collection, insightfully moulded soon after the revival of handcolouring in Australia in the 1970s and added to over the years. Thank you to all those members who returned our recent survey so that we might learn more about you, your habits, your thoughts. We were very pleased by the response. Early on, some members expressed concerns that Artonview was going to follow the suit of other art magazines that have gone entirely digital. This is far from the case. What we hope to understand from those particular questions is simply what kind of digital version would best suit our readers. As for whether you’d opt out of receiving a printed copy, that will remain a personal
choice for members—as it is already. One member went so far as to ask ‘Would you replace Blue poles with an e-version?’ The simple answer is no, but we do find value in reproducing it, digitally and in print, not as a replacement but, in essence, as additional and important information for readers, for researchers and for visitors to our website. But the results on the survey are still out. I look forward to sharing them in the next issue and to implementing new ideas as time and resources allow. What is already clear is that the direction we’ve embarked upon, the Director’s thoughts on the magazine and your own vision seem very much in alignment. And what will always be true of Artonview, what remains at its core, is that it will ‘make the great National Collection accessible to the widest audience’, as the immortal Betty Churcher said in her introduction to the very first issue in 1995. Despite the battle that preceded it, Betty’s death was a shock. She seemed as eternal as the art she supported and, perhaps, as long as there is art in Australia, she will very much remain. For me, she brought an artist’s approach to administrating the arts—creative, stimulating and above all brave. Thank you, Betty Churcher. You were an inspiration. Eric Meredith
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Exhibitions NGA CANBERRA James Turrell Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, until 8 June Adult $25.49 (Mon–Fri) & $30.58 (Sat–Sun & public holidays) Member $20.39 | Student $20.39 Limited timed tickets available for each session Book now at ticketek.com or 1300 795 012 Myth and magic (pages 16–25) Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, 7 August – 1 November Colour my world (pages 44–5) Project Gallery, until 30 August The story of Rama (pages 12–15) Orde Poynton Gallery, until 23 August Streetwise (pages 8–11) NGA Contemporary, until 9 August Alive and spirited Childrens Gallery, until 28 June NGA ELSEWHERE Bodywork Artspace Mackay, until 5 July Rockhampton Art Gallery, 18 July – 23 August Stars in the river Tweed River Gallery, 19 June – 2 August Western Plains Cultural Centre, 14 August – 15 November Light moves Araluen Arts Centre, 26 June – 9 August William Kentridge QUT Art Museum, 3 July – 6 September Impressions of Paris Monash Gallery of Art, 18 July – 20 September Capital and country UQ Art Museum, 25 July – 1 November
East Sepik Province Papua New Guinea Awan early 20th century, fibre, clay, shell, hair, ochres. Museum Victoria, Melbourne, collected by Captain Walter Balfour Ogilvy, 1916 (X 94105) Reproduced courtesy Museum Victoria
Director’s word Gerard Vaughan
Our major retrospective on James Turrell is coming to a close in June. Like so many great artists, from Caravaggio to the Impressionists, he is an innovator in the representation of light and colour, but Turrell makes light itself, projected through modern technologies, his subject. Some have found his work challenging but, for those who spend the time to be with the work, the experience is unforgettable. I am sure this sensational show will be remembered for decades to come as a landmark in Australian exhibition history and I again pay tribute to its originator, my predecessor, Ron Radford AM. While the retrospective will end, Turrell’s major skyspace work Within without 2010 remains as a permanent fixture of our southern garden. Further, the sold-out perceptual-cell experience Bindu shards 2010 is now part of our collection and will return later this year. At the very beginning of April, we delivered three nude tours by Melbourne-based artist Stuart Ringholt within the Turrell retrospective, a response both to an aspect of Ringholt’s practice, and Turrell’s view that the whole body absorbs light and is nourished by it. We were astonished by the press reaction, and the story went global. Like all challenging art-based projects, public reaction was divided, but the project was a good example of the NGA proposing an innovative take on contemporary practice—and certainly a ‘one‑off’. The NGA should always be prepared to be brave and innovative, and we will hopefully undertake other surprising and at times challenging projects that are thoughtful in their intellectual underpinnings yet question the limits of what art should or could be. I understand that the performance
aspect of next year’s Mike Parr exhibition will be powerful, and the creating our new department of Contemporary Art Practice— Global (with the appointment of a new Senior Curator now underway) is very relevant in this context. In the coming months, we will embark on our first gallery-wide collection rehang in many years. It will take time and is being carefully considered, but, as we progress, Artonview will cover aspects of this major project to re-think our collection displays. We were all sorry to learn of Betty Churcher’s passing at the end of March. The NGA was privileged to host her memorial event at which a distinguished group of her friends, colleagues and admirers presented moving tributes. Over three hundred people attended, reflecting on Betty’s warmth, charm, incisive mind and industrious, multi‑faceted life. Personally, I will always think of Betty as a renaissance figure, as an artist, as an academic, as a major force in art museum administration and as Australia’s most loved art communicator. It was pleasing that the Director of London’s British Museum contributed a wonderful video tribute to Betty’s memorial event. Neil MacGregor AO recently made headlines by announcing his retirement. He is a particularly close friend of galleries and museums in Australia—look out for the trilogy of British Museum shows soon to come to the National Museum of Australia—and, this year, the British Museum opened the first major exhibition in the United Kingdom to present a history of Indigenous Australia. MacGregor has long been admired as one of the greatest directors in the museum’s very long history and as a major player on the
global scene as museums and their collections face such enormous challenges. London’s National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery have also changed leadership this year, with Gabriele Finaldi of the Prado Museum (but a former Deputy Director of the National Gallery) announced as Nicholas Penny’s successor and Nicholas Cullinan from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as Sandy Nairne’s. All places to watch in the coming months. For me, the highlight of our winter season will be our exhibition Myth and magic, as it expands our understanding of the visual cultures of the Sepik River region of our close neighbour Papua New Guinea. Our countries’ histories are connected in many ways, perhaps most memorably (given it’s the ANZAC centenary this year) during the First World War when Australian troops secured the region, but also extending, of course, to our shared resistance to invasion in the Second World War. We have recently embarked on an important project to help re-establish the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery, funded and led by DFAT as a key part of Australia’s contribution to PNG’s celebration of forty years of independence. The NGA has taken a lead role in this endeavour. The PNG museum and art gallery will be celebrating this anniversary with Built on culture, an outstanding exhibition drawn from its extensive collection of objects from twenty provinces. I encourage everyone to visit our Sepik exhibition in Canberra and delight in the rich culture of one of our nearest neighbours. And watch this space. An important part of our own collection re-installation will be a better, more extensive presentation of our Pacific treasures.
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Left: Marc Newson Wood chair 1998, bent beech heartwood, stainless steel. Manufacturer: Cappellini Opposite: Marc Newson Voronoi shelf 2007, Carrara marble Images courtesy Marc Newson 01_06_05Newson 17 11 09 44335 01_33_29Newson_11
CRAFTING TECHNOLOGY Robert Bell introduces the innovative designs of the much-celebrated Marc Newson and the newly established acquisition fund at the NGA
Marc Newson is celebrated internationally as an innovator in the design of products as diverse as aircraft interiors, furniture, appliances, watches, bicycles and simple objects for the home. All bear the mark of his characteristic approach of developing forms that appeal to the sense of touch as much as to the eye. While industrially produced, his work reveals a strong craft aesthetic instilled by his training and his fascination with not only the organic structures of the natural world but also the freewheeling optimism of the world of early science fiction and new industrial technologies. His understanding of materials and process allows him to work across the industrial design spectrum,
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collaborating with manufacturers willing to risk new approaches to design problems. Newson was born in Sydney in 1963 and graduated from the Sydney College of the Arts in 1984, studying sculpture and jewellery. He soon gained international acclaim for his Lockheed lounge of 1986, a dramatic sculptural aluminium chaise longue that blended biomorphic shapes with industrial material and construction techniques. Moving to Tokyo in 1987 gave him the chance to develop his work for a number of companies there and in Europe. In 1997, he moved to his current base in London, establishing his company Marc Newson Ltd. His Wood chair 1988 and Felt chair 1989 for the Italian Cappellini company and his
Embryo chair 1988, Black hole table 1988, Wicker lounge 1990 and Orgone chair 1993 for the Japanese company Idée demonstrated how fluid organic designs could be translated into materials as diverse as wood, felt, cane, plastic and metal. Later limited-edition objects include spectacular Carrara marble furniture combining artisan and industrial technologies. In his Random pak sofas and chairs of 2007, Newson drew from his experience in the aerospace industry to achieve the ethereal, web‑like structure of laser sintered electroformed nickel. The high technology and limited production of these works result in an object of high value, which, like much of Newson’s work, will filter
down and influence his designs for massproduced objects. With a wide clientele of design‑oriented companies and manufacturers, Newson has had the opportunity to design luxury goods as well as everyday objects, many of which are widely available. His role as Creative Director for Qantas Airways has given countless airline passengers the chance to experience his work. In 2014, he began working as a designer for Apple, the results of which will undoubtedly make his work even more accessible. While Newson’s work is included in major overseas and Australian museum design collections, he is not yet represented in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. In 2015, the Gallery initiated
a program to research and acquire a group of his most innovative works to show his development and achievements over the past thirty years. The program is supported by the Marc Newson Fund, which was established at this year’s National Gallery of Australia Foundation Gala Dinner and Weekend, an annual event that raises funds for the acquisition of a work of art. This year, contributions by members of the Foundation went toward seeding a fund to grow a singular collection of one artist’s work. Despite being such a radical break from the gala tradition, the idea was warmly received and supported, demonstrating the faith Foundation members have in the relevance of a collection of works by Australia’s most
celebrated contemporary designer. The Gallery is working with Newson, his collaborators and manufacturers to source earlier, unique and limited-edition objects as well as those in current production. The collection will be augmented with documentation, drawings and prototypes, with the aim to build a full profile of this important Australian designer’s contribution to design.
MARC NEWSON FUND You too can help the NGA build a representative collection of works by this globally acclaimed Australian designer foundation@nga.gov.au | +61 (0)2 6240 6408 Donations above $2 are tax deductible
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NGA Contemporary, featuring Heather B Swann’s images on the exterior windows, April 2015
SEEING IN THE DARK Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax had tea with artist Heather B Swann to discuss the making of her recent work for NGA Contemporary
Heather B Swann is afraid of the dark, but only because she is very good at imagining a strange shadow world. It is an inconvenient side effect of her extraordinary imagination. We are chatting in her kitchen. I slice wedges of lemon cake while she pours hot water over Earl Grey tea-leaves. As always, we begin talking about books and happily discover a shared appreciation of The hearing trumpet, the classic 1976 novel by Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. Often described as an occult twin to Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, this peculiar and playful story follows the fantastical transformations that occur in the life of its 92-year-old heroine. For Swann, this idea of things not having to make sense lies at the heart of her creative process: ‘Once you allow yourself to relax into uncertainty then anything can happen’. She embraces what the Romantic poet John Keats called ‘negative capability’, a willingness to live with uncertainty and mystery. Describing herself as a ‘confuser’, Swann’s practice of extensive and intuitive drawing is her key to the richly generative state that in turn reveals the animal and human forms of her enigmatic sculptures.
Having recently moved to Canberra with her academic husband, Swann initially found herself overwhelmed with feeling ‘uprooted’ from her inner-Melbourne apartment close to family and friends. As we drink our tea beneath a large hawthorn, she acknowledges that a new proximity to nature is compensation, smiling at thoughts of street trees laden with bright white cockatoos, the shapes of seed pods found out walking and the thrill of being about to work outside in a large backyard. She has the particular freedom of the newcomer, unconfined by habit or routine, which enables her to see the strange in the familiar. Soon after unpacking her home and studio, Swann was invited by Roger Butler, the National Gallery’s Senior Curator of Australian Prints and Drawings, to contribute images for the exterior windows of NGA Contemporary to advertise Streetwise: contemporary print culture. He knows of Swann’s printmaking background from which her monochrome palette originated and had acquired for the national collection several of her drawings that juxtapose image and text. Although Swann has rarely worked to commission, she viewed the
challenge as an opportunity to ground herself in her new home, responding to the invitation as ‘a way of welcoming me to Canberra’. As a sculptor, Swann is fascinated with contemporary architecture, and she describes the NGA Contemporary project as akin to ‘being given a very large sheet of paper’. After visiting the lakeside gallery and measuring its large windows, back in her studio Swann cut sheets of paper to scale and began to draw. Working quickly with ink and acrylic paint, she dismissed her early efforts as ‘too illustrative’ and her next series of ideas as ‘too site-specific’. A bus-trip to Sydney to buy bottles of Sennelier inks enabled Swann to relax into her favourite drawing medium and realise that her rich vocabulary of imagery and themes would translate beautifully into the gallery spaces. And so, against an archway, she reimagined in white ink one of her anthropomorphic ‘Sardon’ figures (from her 2013 exhibition Family at Bett Gallery, Hobart), then drew a pair of banksia-men heads studded with eyes from her current sculpture, music and performance project Nervous. This suggested ‘a series of plants’ and so the organic forms
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Heather B Swann drawings in ink and synthetic polymer paint commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia for the façade of NGA Contemporary, 2015 © Heather B Swann
of drooping she-oak and Atlas cedar cones collected on walks around Mount Ainslie found their way onto the paper. These too grew eyes. As we move indoors into the quiet light of her studio, Swann talks about how the shadowy shapes of the seedpods will cloak NGA Contemporary with much-needed darkness (to protect the works of paper inside from fading) and yet all the windows are covered with eyes as a way of exploring ideas about ‘seeing in the dark and interiority’. We remembered an earlier conversation about Swann’s fascination with Italian artist Giuseppe Penone, particularly his 1970 work Reversing one’s own eyes in which the artist was
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photographed wearing mirrored contact lenses that reflected the world he could not see back out to the viewer. The curious parade of creatures that emerged from days and nights of drawing also expresses Swann’s fascination with metamorphosis. Leafing through rows of sketchbooks dating back to her first trip to Europe on an art school scholarship, she reminisces about the enduring influence of Flemish artist Hiëronymus Bosch, whose darkly symbolic paintings of the late Middle Ages in turn inspired many Surrealist artists, including Leonora Carrington, and contemporary artists such as Louise Bourgeois. Swann often draws on the wellspring of European mythology and fable, extending
this symbolism into zoomorphic and anthropomorphic forms that people her own uncanny universe. One sketchbook entry from a recent visit to the National Gallery of Australia includes a quote from a Joan Miró interview with Yvon Taillandier first published in XXe Siécle in 1959. Swann transcribed the quote in her distinctive spiky black letters, taken from the wall label accompanying Miró’s painting Paysage 1927: ‘In a picture it should be possible to discover new things every time you see it. A picture must be fertile. It must give birth to a world. Whether you see in it flowers, people, horses, it matters little, so long as it reveals a world, something alive’.
The latent power of the metaphor lies at the heart of Swann’s visual language and in part comes from years of experience working as a bookseller and her voracious pleasure in reading ‘beautiful sentences’. Sitting at her long ink-stained workbench, we sip the last of our tea as she talks about the weighty writings of Patrick White and Cormac McCarthy that make her want to ‘stop every three sentences to consider the state of the world’, how poetry responds to things in life that don’t make sense and can’t be pinned down and how objects contain stories if you know how to read them. In Swann’s company, the world seems to brim with possibility. She has the artist’s gift
of looking sideways, which she describes as ‘the restless nature of an artist—always looking around, looking at things differently, seeing shapes when they are not there, making things bend to our will and to our metaphor.’ At one end of the table a small sketchbook and packet of Japanese brush-pens are waiting to be packed into her handbag, as Swann is about to leave for the Venice Biennale. She will return after the large vinyl prints of her drawings have been installed onto the NGA Contemporary windows, complete with inkblot-shaped peepholes for peering through into the vibrant print exhibition that waits inside. She grins with anticipation—‘I can’t wait to see it’.
STREETWISE Showcasing Australian contemporary print culture at NGA Contemporary until 9 August For the diary: ‘Auslan sign-interpreted tour’, 28 June, 2.30 pm ‘Art explorer’, drop-in workshop for ages 8–12, 16 July, 10.30 am – 4.00 pm ‘Artist’s talk’, Sarah Contos, 16 June, 12.45 pm
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Guler style, Pahari The great battle between Rama and Ravana c 1780 (detail), opaque watercolour and gold on paper. National Museum, New Delhi 269194
INFLUENCE AND EVOLUTION Bronwyn Campbell reveals vignettes in the colourful and multifaceted history of Indian painting
From the time of the earliest Islamic presence in India, especially under the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), Islamic culture had an influence on the domestic populace, and vice versa. This cross-cultural influence burgeoned under the successors of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal emperors, who united much of modern India under a central leadership. The Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan promoted music, dance, painting and the other arts in their courts and were responsible for commissioning wondrous architectural masterpieces, including the Taj Mahal, one of the most recognisable buildings in the world. In the first half of the seventeenth century, the influence of Rajput culture became more pronounced, particularly by the time of Shah Jahan, who ruled from 1627 to 1658—Shah Jahan’s mother and one of his wives were Rajput princesses. Under the reign of these emperors, court painting grew beyond the Persian tradition of portraits, calligraphy, floral panels and illustrated sagas and developed a distinct style of its own. The Ramayana, a saga detailing the exploits of the hero and prince in exile Rama, has been an inspiration for visual and performing
artists in India for well over two thousand years. In the 1580s, the emperor Akbar commissioned a Persian translation and a series of paintings illustrating key events in it, firmly placing this ancient subject into a new pictorial tradition. The early seventeenth-century provincial Mughal painting Rama in pursuit of the golden deer in the forest clearly shows the influence of the courtly style of Delhi, the seat of the Mughal emperors. This can be seen in the flattened picture plane, with the landscape stacked almost vertically into the painting, in the rich detail and the fantastically shaped rocky outcrops of the upswept landscape, a feature which bears testimony to the early Mughal emulation of Persian painting, which is, in turn, indebted to the fabulous, towering mountains of Chinese landscape painting. The golden age of Mughal painting came to an end with emperor Alamgir (also known by his birth name Aurangzeb), who reigned for half a century from 1658. His religious conservatism and taste for empirical expansion over cultural spending saw artists leaving his court to seek patronage in the palaces of provincial Mughal leaders and Rajput
princes in the kingdoms of Himalayan India and around the area today know as Rajasthan. The silver lining to this exodus of talented imperial court-trained painters was that, in some way, it sparked the diverse and flourishing regional painting styles of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, descended but also quite distinct from the local painting traditions that previously existed. Straddling the Mughal and Rajput traditions are the paintings of Malwa, a district located on a plateau bordering on south-eastern Rajasthan. Under Islamic rule from the start of the fourteenth century, the dominant religion in the region was Hinduism and the cultural influence of neighbouring Rajputs was strong. Celebration in Ayodhya: the birth of Rama and his three brothers c 1650–60 exhibits a stylistic connection to earlier local traditions of manuscript illustration. The architectural compartments of Celebration in Ayodhya are reminiscent of the vignettes that appeared amid blocks of text in the earlier painting styles, a device influenced in turn by illuminated Qur’ans and heroic Persian sagas. Despite the clearly Hindu subject matter,
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we can see the pervasive influence of classic Mughal architecture in the inlaid white‑marble cusped arches and gold-tipped fluted domes. Nevertheless, the influence of the domestic painting tradition prevails—not only in subject but also in the rigid profiles, wide eyes and dotted pearl jewellery. In spite of the stiffness of the figures, the painting is packed with colour and activity and conveys a lively tone of celebration. Rama, identified by his blue skin, is in the cradle in the room on the upper-left corner of the painting. Rama’s half‑brothers Bharata and the twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna are in the rooms below and their father, the king of Ayodhya, is receiving the horoscopes of his newborn sons from a holy man in the upper-right room.
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Nestled in the lush foothills and rich river valleys of the Himalayas, the northernmost states of modern-day India were home to talented family dynasties of painters whose patrons were the rulers of the Rajput kingdoms in which they lived and worked. Often referred to as Pahari, ‘from the mountains’, paintings from the Punjab are among the most colourful and distinctive of Indian painting styles. The famed Shangri Ramayana was created for the rulers of Kullu by several painters during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries—possibly to celebrate the dedication of the state to the worship of the god Vishnu through his avatars Rama and Krishna. The pages of the Shangri Ramayana are now dispersed among collections around the world,
with the majority in the National Museum, New Delhi. Valmiki sees the hunter killing one of a pair of kraunch birds depicts the incident that precipitated the sage Valmiki’s vocation to record the tale of Rama. On his way to the river to bathe, Valmiki sees one of a pair of courting cranes killed by a hunter. His poetic response to the tragic sight prompts the appearance of the god Brahma, who tasks Valmiki with recording the epic. The scene not only exhibits the bold colours, unadorned background and stiff figures of early Pahari painting but also reveals its characteristic freshness and immediacy with the grieving female crane tumbling out of the sky after her dying mate and the wideeyed horror of the sage’s reaction to the loss.
The stories of Rama and Krishna continued to be important subjects in Pahari painting for the next century and, although the depictions became gradually more sophisticated, the early paintings from the hill kingdoms are among the most novel and striking in the history of Indian painting. For the first time in Australia, the National Museum, New Delhi, presents The story of Rama, one hundred and one exemplary works from its vast collection of more than seventeen thousand paintings. The exhibition represents most of the major styles of Indian painting from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, many of which bear complex relationships of influence and evolution. It leads the viewer through the narrative of one of the world’s
great epic poems, all the while unfolding the history of Indian painting in its infinite variety and glorious colour.
THE STORY OF RAMA The epic tale of Rama illuminated through Indian miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi, at the NGA until 23 August For the diary: ‘Stories from the Ramayana’ Kiran Shah, 12 July, 11.30 am & 2.00 pm (Auslan sign-interpreted) ‘Three hundred Ramayanas or more?’, Dr McComas Taylor, 15 July, 6.00 pm ‘Indian miniatures: materials and conservation’, Andrea Wise, Fiona Kemp and James Ward, 30 July, 12.45 pm
Opposite: Malwa style, Central India Celebration in Ayodhya: the birth of Rama and his three brothers c 1650–60, opaque watercolour on paper. National Museum, New Delhi 269115 Above: Mandi style, Pahari Valmiki sees the hunter killing one of a pair of kraunch birds; page from the Shangri Ramayana mid 18th century, opaque watercolour and gold on paper. National Museum, New Delhi 269114
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Sawos people ‘Malu’ plaque 19th century, wood. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1977 116223
LIFE AND ART ON THE SEPIK Crispin Howarth takes us to the remote Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea to explore the birthplace of some of the country’s most fascinating objects
Unless you have in lived in Papua New Guinea or are familiar with the history of Australian administrative regions or Australian military campaigns of the First World War or you are an avid collector of Melanesian art, you have likely never heard of the Sepik River region. Even if you have heard of it, unlike the homes of other great works in Australia’s national art collection, this beautiful part of Papua New Guinea is seldom visited. The wilds of the Sepik River and its southern tributaries— the Blackwater, Korewori, Yuat and Keram rivers—are not your typical tourist destination. And yet, the Sepik River is one of the largest river systems in the world and is home to an array of art-producing communities distinguished for their visual arts, including sculptures of supernatural beings, masks and other fascinating objects that beguile and bewilder all who encounter them. Australian administration of the Sepik region began slowly a century ago with a few sporadic and short visits by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force during the First World War, when the term ‘Sepik’ entered into common use. Prior to this, the river was known for thirty-five years as Kaiserin
Augusta Fluss (Empress Augusta River), after the German Empress, as the northern half of Papua New Guinea was a German colonial interest from 1884 until it was surrendered to Australian forces in September 1914. Following seven years of Australian military administration, a League of Nations mandate granted civil administration to Australia. Papua New Guinea established independence on 16 September 1975 and has since maintained ties with Australia as our closest Pacific neighbour. These bonds continue to strengthen forty years on, even in small but significant ways such as the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding for a twinning partnership between the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery and Australian institutions led by the National Gallery of Australia. Long before, during and after the upheaval of the early twentieth century, many of the arts traditions of the region’s local communities continued to be practised. There are over 8000 artefacts (without counting tools, spears, bows and numerous arrows) from the Sepik held in Australia. Such a large amount of material underlines the prolific nature of art
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production by Sepik communities and of the visual appreciation by the many visitors to the region, including military personnel, patrol officers (better known as kiaps), prospectors, labour recruiters, missionaries, anthropologists and art dealers. But, first, what of the world from which these arts come? The Sepik is a river of undulating twists and turns through a tropical wilderness for most of its length, approximately 1125 kilometres. At its mouth, through which great amounts of muddy brown fresh water flow into the Bismarck Sea, the Sepik River is about one and a half kilometres wide, and the difference in colour between the seawater and the river water can be seen some thirty kilometres off shore. Sections of the river are covered in large areas of sago palm swamp, swathes of wild sugarcane and tall grasslands—materials used
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in a still thriving local trade culture and, more recently, of industrial interest. Its width from bank to bank varies considerably, but it is, on average, about six hundred to seven hundred metres from bank to bank, with villages dotted along its course. Village houses tend to be raised on posts due to the flooding of the wet season and the only practical form of transport is by a dugout wooden canoe. With each wet season, between November and March, monsoonal rains cause the river to rapidly swell and expand over its banks to form massive floodplains that feed into a colossal basin area of swamplands broken only by a handful of low hills. One of the more surreal aspects of the Sepik River is the ‘floating islands’ that drift sluggishly downstream. With the ever-changing nature of the river, huge chunks of the riverbank, held together by the knotted roots of
plants, breakaway, forming floating islands covered in vegetation. Known by the Iatmul (pronounced Yat-mool) people, the largest group in the region, as agwi, these islands can be covered in trees and can be so large as to be mistaken for solid land. When the river recedes during the dry season, new channels are created for its never-ending flows and beautiful oxbow lakes are formed from its old course—until the next time the river rises. These oxbow lakes are microcosms for fish and bird life, and larger animals—pigs, cassowaries and smaller mammals such as cuscus—are found elsewhere in the forests. Plenty of marine life, including fish, eels, prawns and lobsters, live in the river itself, and there are even sharks and sawfish to be found in its shallower depths. But the most revered and respected inhabitant is the saltwater crocodile. Perfectly adapted
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Opposite, from left: Iatmul people Mai mask mid 20th century, wood, shell, clay, fibre, tusk, ochre, porcelain. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2014 Iatmul people Ambusap (bridal veil) mid 20th century, shell, fibre. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2008 Right: Biwat people, Yuat River Shield early 20th century, wood, ochre, bast, cassowary feathers, cane. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1970
to the surrounding swamp environment, it is a neighbour of which to be wary. Understandably, then, the crocodile permeates the myths and legends and art and architecture of many communities of the Sepik. Sculptures of crocodiles can be larger than life-size; some are the length of four people, as is the case of the colossal spirit crocodile figure from the Korewori River on loan to the National Gallery of Australia from the National Museum and Art Gallery of the Papua New Guinea. Australia’s national collection includes a ceremonial house post covered in carved designs of crocodile scales, and even an exquisite bridal veil, ambusap, from the collection incorporates the crocodile motif. Traditional jewellery from the Sepik River is among the most ornate in Melanesia, and the veil, which terminates in a woven crocodile head, shows the tightest
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Opposite: Sawos people Kipma tagwa (ancestor hook) mid–late 19th century, wood, shell, patina. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2013 Right: Kipma tagwa in the ceremonial house of Torembi village, 1958–59. Mandeville Special Collections, University of California, San Diego, Anthony Forge Papers (MSS 411) Photo: Anthony Forge
hand‑binding technique and great attention to detail in the application of hundreds of tiny nassa shells. The art of the region is bewilderingly inventive through the use of so many varied materials: pig tusks; feathers; worked and polished shells; clay; human, animal and fish bones, hair and teeth; wood; the fur and skins of opossums and flying foxes; fibre and a vibrant palette of ochres. In many instances, the artists creating these works used the resources they had at hand, but they did not always contain themselves there. Anything obtained from trade with visitors was also incorporated into their work. The optical blueing agent Reckitt’s Blue, a major international brand before the mid nineteenth century, was particularly sought after, as was red paint. Colour was an important part of any ceremonial object. Ochres in a range of red, from a deep russet to a salmon pink, are noted. Yellow and a bright orange are also known and were traded in compact lumps.
A brilliant white is produced by burning and crushing shells or from deposits of ochre. Other colours were obtained from certain trees and plants. Application of these paints was sometimes as simple as using the fingers to smear them onto a surface, although brushes were also easily made by chewing a twig until it was fibrous enough to apply paint effectively. Stone-bladed adzes of various sizes were used—and were still in use in some areas as late as the 1960s—to both fell trees and rough out blocks of wood intended as masks or spirit figures, for example. The more‑detailed work was done with skilfully wielded wooden mallets and stone blades hafted to form chisels. A tooth of a pig, rat, flying fox or other mammal and even fish bone were hafted to create finer grades of engraving tools. To make holes, pump drills with tiny, sharp stones, bones or teeth as drill bits were used or awls made from stingray spine were employed. Slivers of bamboo, the sharp edges of certain shells and pig tusks were used as
scraping knives to smooth the surface of wooden objects. It is worth taking the time to closely study works of art that come from this region, and others like it, as the particular tools used by an artist can be discerned in the subtle effects upon the surface of a figure or mask. There is less visual rigidity than there is with objects created using metal tools; without the cleanedged sharpness of manufactured steel, the designs become more fluid and sculptural volumes are seemingly more organically expressed than they are lucidly composed. Aside from the immense skill and intimate knowledge of their materials that all Sepik River carvers attain over years of learning, there are ritualised rules of conduct that have to be followed when making important objects. These rules vary depending on the religious or magical significance of the object to be created and differ from community to community. The observances include sexual abstinence, avoidance of certain foods and working in secrecy at a secluded place away
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Left: Biwat people, Yuat River Wusear (figure from a flute) early 20th century, wood, shell, hair, ochre, fibre. Private collection Opposite, from left: Iatmul people, Kanganaman village Post from a ceremonial house early–mid 20th century, wood, shell. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1970 Sawos or Iatmul people Wundjumbu (spirit face from a ceremonial-house post) 19th century, wood. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, gift of Margaret and Michael Cockburn and family, 2007
from the village or in the ceremonial house away from the eyes of uninitiated young men, women and children. Each community has its own artistic cannon, history and cosmology. According to an origin myth of the Iatmul people, who live along the banks of the middle length of the river, the world was created by a primordial crocodile that swam everything into being. Every time the floods came, it was thought to be the primal crocodile settling down into the waters, as the land and the crocodile’s back are one and the same. Earthquakes were signs that the crocodile was moving. The jaws of a crocodile symbolically represent this worldview: the upper jaw is the sky and all within it and the lower jaw is the land and the river and everything upon and in it. Every Iatmul village has at least one ceremonial house that serves as the centre for all political and religious activity. They are places where men spend their spare time relaxing and talking among themselves while sitting on shaded platforms. These majestic
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240783 SEPIK_Supp_14 31928_catcard_01_CMYK Left: Iatmul people Stopper from a ceremonial lime container late 19th – early 20th century, wood, fibre, ochre. National Museum of Australia, Canberra Opposite, from left: Initiated man with scarification marks, possibly Mindimbit village, 1925. National Library of Australia, Canberra, EWP Chinnery collection of photographs of Papua New Guinea, 1912 to 1937 Photo: Ernest William Pearson Chinnery
Decorated overseer of initiates with sawfish rostrum weapon, Palimbei village, 1953. Museum of Anthropology, University of Queensland Photo: Des Bartlett
buildings are supported by giant wooden posts spectacularly carved with clan-associated figures, animals and overlapping patterns. In the concealed upper chamber of the ngeko, ritual objects such as ancestral figures, masks, and other important items are stored away from uninitiated eyes. The ceremonial house is also where a community’s boys are initiated into manhood. A temporary fence is erected outside and initiates are kept inside in seclusion for months while being instructed in arcane knowledge and receiving the scarification marks to their backs and chests. The marks are one of the more spectacular forms of indigenous body art still being practised in the twenty-first century. To have received these scars proves to all onlookers that a youth has become an adult who can rightly take their place in society. The scar pattern symbolises the teeth marks of the ancestral crocodile, which has ‘devoured’ the initiate, transforming him so that he may return to the community a man, and a warrior, ready
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to defend his village and to participate in intertribal warfare. Within Iatmul communities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a man was considered worthless and could not marry without having successfully returned from a raid with a trophy. Headhunting was a widely practised cultural activity along the Sepik River that led to an incessant cycle of revenge attacks, ambushes and raids between communities. Unsurprisingly, it was reports of massacres resulting from headhunting that led the Australian civil administration to establish bases on the Sepik River for its Patrol Officers in a successful bid to bring peace to the region in the mid 1920s. While headhunting ended over a lifetime ago, life along the Sepik continues much as it has done for centuries. Cooked sago is still a staple food and the ubiquitous dugout wooden canoes continue to be made and used for travel and fishing. Each community still has a strong sense of identity defined by pre-Christian myths and oral histories, and they continue
with traditional cycles of events such as initiations and, to a lesser extent than the first half of the twentieth century, the creation of extraordinary ceremonial arts. The upcoming exhibition Myth and magic: art of the Sepik River, at the National Gallery from 7 August, is an exceptionally rare opportunity—perhaps only once in a lifetime—to encounter masterpieces from the Sepik, works of art that speak of a time and a place where spirits and ancestors were integral to daily life. These works come from the exceptional collections of Australian museums and art galleries, and the National Museum and Art Gallery of Papua New Guinea has lent five of its masterpieces of which two are travelling for the first time outside of Papua New Guinea and the others for the first time since the 1960s. The exhibition celebrates the unique cultures of a country that has been part of Australia’s history and will very much be part of its future, a country that is now celebrating its fortieth anniversary of independence.
MYTH AND MAGIC Traditional arts from communities of the middle and lower Sepik River and its southern tributaries, at the NGA from 7 August to 1 November For the bookshelf: Myth and magic: art of the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea is available at the NGA Shop and selected bookstores nationally For the diary: ‘Art of the Sepik River forum’, with experts on Papua New Guinean art, culture and history, 7 August, 9.30 am – 4.00 pm ‘Snap!’ Mini members come face-to-face with live baby crocodiles, 15 August, 10.30 am ‘Art after hours’, wine and tour for members with Crispin Howarth, 20 August, 5.30 pm
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North-west India Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara c 700, bronze, silver, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1978 111963
ON PROVENANCE Lucie Folan investigates the complex provenance histories at the National Gallery of Australia with particular focus on the new Asian Art Provenance Project
From its beginning, the National Gallery of Australia has collected historical Asian art, particularly from Australia’s near geographic neighbours in South and Southeast Asia. The impetus to focus on this collecting area was provided by the Gallery’s founding document, the Lindsay Report of 1966. Intended to celebrate the great artistic achievements of the region and enrich cultural knowledge of Asia in Australia, the collection has grown over these past five decades through gifts and bequests and through purchases from public auctions, accredited art dealers and well‑known collectors. The many great works that have become part of the collection over the years have complied with internationally accepted due-diligence measures designed to reduce the risk of inadvertently acquiring illegally exported or illicitly sourced works of art. The return to India in 2014 of a Chola-period Shiva Nataraja sculpture from the Gallery’s collection, however, highlighted the need to review processes and implement new strategies in this endeavour. The Gallery has now embarked on a multifaceted initiative to re-examine and publish the provenance of
the more than five thousand works of art in its Asian collection, renewing a long-standing commitment to an otherwise exemplary record of ethical collecting. Of course, provenance is a central aspect of the Gallery’s ongoing collection research and is especially important when acquiring, exhibiting and publishing works of art. In addition, certain collecting areas, not just Asian art, come with specific issues that demand more focused attention on ownership histories. For instance, in 2002 the Gallery played a leading role in international museum efforts to redress the widespread spoliation that occurred during the Nazi occupation of Europe. Items in our national collection believed to have been in Europe between 1933 and 1945 were subject to possible claim and, therefore, thoroughly researched and published online with full ownership histories. In 2012, the National Gallery of Australia was alarmed when the prominent New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor, from whom it had acquired a number of works between 2002 and 2011, was extradited to India to face charges of trading in stolen and illegally exported Indian art. Prior to his arrest, Kapoor operated
the Manhattan art and antiques dealership Art of the Past for over thirty years, supplying works to important art institutions worldwide, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore. Among the Gallery’s works from Art of the Past was a spectacular Chola-period bronze sculpture of Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja) that closely resembled an archive photograph of one of the items being sought by police. After this image was circulated (approximately four years after the sculpture entered the collection), the Gallery contacted the Indian High Commission in Canberra and fully cooperated with the official investigation. Before purchasing the Shiva, the Gallery consulted stolen art registers, archaeological records and a great many publications on Chola-period art and obtained legal advice and expert opinions. Documents supporting the sculpture’s legitimate purchase, ownership history and legal export from India prior to relevant cultural heritage legislation were checked. However, as details of the case emerged, it seems increasingly likely that the
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Left: Mathura, Uttar Pradesh India Seated Buddha 2nd century, red sandstone Opposite: Patan, Gujarat India Goddess Lakshmi or Gangaur 17th century, wood, pigments. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1969
documentation was fabricated and that the Gallery was the victim of an elaborate fraud. In 2014, following an official request from the Indian government, Australia repatriated the sculpture to India, along with a stone Ardhanarishvara from the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Kapoor remains in a Chennai prison, where he has been awaiting trial for almost three years. The Gallery is currently attempting to ascertain authentic provenance details for the other works sourced from the dealer but recognises that these will remain questionable, despite some appearing to be from legitimate sales, perhaps until Kapoor himself provides information. This case does not, of course, exist in isolation; it is part of the broader legal and ethical issue of illicit trade in cultural heritage material. Over time, there have been many incidents of theft, illegal excavation, looting and unlawful export of art objects. The problem has a long history in Asia, where it has been magnified by a convergence of
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factors, including a wealth of significant art and cultural material, colonial legacies, difficulties managing heritage sites and implementing regulations, political instability and corruption. As the international art market places high values on historical Asian art, monetary incentives also drive the continuation of illegal activity. Art and antiquities acquired by criminal means may disappear into private collections or be channelled into the marketplace, perhaps accompanied by false provenance papers. The prolific media coverage of these activities in recent years, although bringing greater public awareness to the issue, has resulted in the widespread misconception that all Asian art objects now in museums were at one time wrongly displaced from their countries of origin. This, however, ignores the many avenues of legitimate trade that have been available and encouraged over the centuries. In 1970, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) established the watershed Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property to address this complicated global issue. UNESCO sought an aligned approach, developing measures to be implemented by governments internationally. Under the convention, states were to safeguard their own cultural property by clearly designating certain items as protected, enacting effective legislation, supporting education campaigns, publicising thefts and damage and funding national inventories, heritage institutions and archaeological research. In addition, signatory nations were to consider any forced transfers of cultural property during foreign occupation to be unlawful and were to uphold one another’s systems through legislative measures, import monitoring and, if necessary, repatriation. The principles of the UNESCO convention were to be applied from the time of its acceptance and brought into effect through
national laws. Australia ratified the convention with the introduction of the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986, which came into force the following year. Important to note is that the 1970 convention did not aim to eliminate trade in cultural property nor recommend the return of cultural heritage material long held in museums or private collections. It aimed, instead, to establish a new ethical standard and to introduce common regulations. One of the basic tenets of the convention is ‘that the interchange of cultural property among nations … enriches the cultural life of all people and inspires mutual respect and appreciation’. It also advocates that mechanisms such as export certification for items not subject to restrictions be established to allow legal movement of cultural property. The 1970 UNESCO convention greatly influenced museum ethics. In the past, many collectors privileged the importance of acquiring extraordinary works of art, often with little regard to origin, legal title or circumstances of export. Today, UNESCO’s guidelines underpin the collecting and due-diligence policies of most international museums, including those of the National Gallery of Australia and its sister institutions in other Australian states and territories. Despite the UNESCO convention serving as a significant milestone and a workable model of cooperative global management followed by many governments, museums, art dealers and collectors, the illicit trade in cultural objects has continued and, by some accounts, escalated since the 1970s. Many cultures have suffered profound loss of heritage material in recent decades. Examples in Asia include the irreparable damage caused by extensive looting of Cambodian archaeological sites, the opportunistic plundering of museums in wartime Afghanistan and Iraq, countless thefts from temples and sites and widespread trafficking in protected cultural objects. The National Gallery of Australia’s new Asian Art Provenance Project seeks to reassess the provenance details of all historical Asian works of art in the collection. It includes an independent review of existing provenance documentation by former justice of the High Court of Australia the Honourable Susan Crennan AC, new in-depth research, improved library resources and the publication of provenance histories online. While the Gallery anticipates that the backgrounds of most
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Left: Karnataka India Sambhava, the third Jina 12th century, bronze. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2013 Opposite, from left: Tamil Nadu India Ganesha 15th century, bronze. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1993 Kandy district, Central Province Sri Lanka Standing Buddha 12th century, bronze. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Sally White OAM and Geoffrey White OAM Fund, 2013
objects will be found to meet legal and ethical guidelines, others may warrant further action. Already, project research has contributed to a significant act of restitution. A secondcentury stone Buddha sculpture from the collection is being returned to India with the assistance of the vendor from whom the Gallery purchased the work, the established New York art dealer Nancy Wiener. This is one of the only repatriations to be fully compensated and was achieved through open and honest dialogue between an art dealer, a museum and the government of the country of origin. This was a model outcome for a sculpture for which the provenance was found wanting and shows that art dealers in possession of such works are not always complicit in any criminal activity, as the Kapoor case might suggest. Ethical collecting and management of foreign cultural property are concerns shared across the museum community, and the Asian Art Provenance Project aims to foster collaboration with a range of national and
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international organisations. For instance, the Gallery contributed to the Australian best practice guide to collecting cultural material, released last year by the Ministry for the Arts. The publication is the most comprehensive of its type, demonstrating Australia’s strong commitment to the ethical collecting of art. Good relationships with museums and galleries in Asia also result in significant long‑term loans such as the three superb sculptures from the National Museum of Cambodia, which has given Australian audiences the opportunity to appreciate Cambodian art without the potential risk of buying an unethically sourced work. The Gallery will likely seek similar loans from other Asian nations in the future. Finding and sharing information is one way in which museums can assist in illuminating unethical behaviour and the obscurities of art market transactions. The Gallery’s ‘Asian art provenance research’ webpage currently features seventy-two significant South and Southeast Asia sculptures with full ownership
histories, purchase details and prices paid, and the page will continue to expand as research progresses on additional works of art. Rather than publishing on only the works of art with questionable backgrounds, information on every work investigated is provided. This approach has been taken so that all documentation and assumptions can be critically assessed, providing greater transparency regarding the transfer of Asian cultural property and a resource for provenance researchers. Through the website, academics, curators, collectors and knowledgeable members of the public can contribute any information they have on the featured works of art or on others owned by the Gallery. The Asian Art Provenance Project has revealed some valuable information, much of which was found in documents on Gallery files, in catalogues of past auctions or exhibitions and in books documenting historical collections. For instance, a serene twelfth-century bronze of the Jain saviour
Sambhava appears in a 1967 Sotheby’s catalogue along with the information that it was once owned by renowned collector of Indian art Josef Remigius Belmont. Also once in the Belmont collection was a south Indian fifteenth-century Ganesha figure, which was later owned by the eccentric Robert Hatfield Ellsworth. The son of an opera singer and a dentist, Ellsworth became an influential connoisseur of Asian, particularly Chinese, art who helped build numerous significant museum collections in the United States of America as an art dealer and philanthropist. He was well known for his flamboyant style, living with his partner Masahiro Hashiguchi in a palatial art-and-antique-filled apartment on New York’s Fifth Avenue where he, according to Alexandra Munroe’s March 2015 article in ArtAsiaPacific, ‘dressed like an Edwardian and drank his bourbon from a Queen Anne silver tumbler’. Despite painstaking research, it is rare to discover a complete provenance record for a work of art that has been in circulation
for centuries or to isolate the circumstances in which it left its place of origin, especially as details may have only ever existed in memory, with no tangible record made. For example, although one of the finest and most distinctive sculptures in the collection, little is known with certainty about the provenance of a north Indian twelve-armed Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, scientifically dated to around the eighth century, which entered the collection in 1978. The Gallery’s charming wooden figure of Goddess Lakshmi or Gangaur was bought in 1969 from an antique shop in Mumbai in India by Helen Sweeney, who was commissioned by Australia’s Commonwealth Arts Advisory Board. Sweeney kept careful notes of the name of the shop and price paid, but nothing is known of the sculpture’s origin and it is designated as being from seventeenth century Gujarat on stylistic grounds only. Similarly, a twelfth-century Sri Lankan Standing Buddha purchased in 2013 has a valid export permit but no documentation
to definitively confirm its origins and historical chain of ownership. The ongoing illicit trade in Asian cultural objects, and concomitant loss and destruction of heritage material and historical knowledge, is of great concern to museum professionals internationally. Guidelines, policies and procedures are continually being adapted to reduce the risks of unwitting complicity in art crime but will remain inadequate without dedicated resources, strengthened relationships and projects to raise awareness and improve the accessibility of existing archaeological records. Through its Asian Art Provenance Project, the Gallery aims to promote a culture of accountability, cooperation and knowledge sharing and to contribute positively to knowledge of Asian art and its collecting histories.
PROVENANCE RESEARCH More information about Asian art provenance research at the NGA is available online
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A PAINTING’S SECRETS REVEALED David Wise brings Tom Roberts’s The sculptor’s studio into the conservation lab for a closer look
The National Gallery of Australia has many important paintings by Australian artist Tom Roberts spanning his career. Some of the artist’s works that are very rarely off display due to their national significance have recently been brought into the Gallery’s conservation lab for treatment, allowing us to have a closer look at their masterful execution and at some of the secrets they hold. One work, in particular, The sculptor’s studio 1885, reveals some of Roberts’s painting style shortly after completing studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Roberts was born in Dorset in England and came to Australia at the age of thirteen in 1866. He studied painting part-time in Melbourne at a variety of schools in the 1870s, including under greats such as Swiss-Australian painter Louis Buvelot. However, it was not until 1881, after working as a photographic assistant for
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much of the previous decade, and saving his wages, that he returned to England and entered the Royal Academy Schools to study full-time. The sculptor’s studio is signed and dated 1885, painted towards the end of the four years he spent in London and shortly before he returned to Australia. It is an interesting work—in many ways typical of a Royal Academy Schools graduate at the time, but in others quite different. The painting was executed on a commercially prepared Rowney canvas, which Roberts would have bought from a local artist suppliers. The canvas was probably already on the wooden stretcher when he bought it, as it is one of the standard sizes that were, and still are, sold: twenty-four by thirty-six inches (approximately sixty by ninety centimetres). Roberts would have spent much of his time at the Royal Academy practising drawing
from models and plaster casts. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, drawing was still seen as the foundation of an artist’s training, so Roberts most likely completed sketches in preparation for this painting. At the very least, he would have made an outline drawing on the canvas before he started, evidence of which, although now hidden under the paint layer, can be discerned by fragments of charcoal in paint cross-sections. Once he had sketched out the main elements of the work, Roberts began painting. To a certain extent, this involved ‘colouring in’ the drawing; however, the traditional practice of painting thinly, carefully blending tones into one another and modifying colours with washes and glazes was not something to which Roberts strictly adhered. The foreground, for example, was thickly applied, with numerous layers laid over one another when the paint
Opposite: Tom Roberts The sculptor’s studio 1885, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1972 80823 Right, clockwise from top left: Paint cross-section from grey curtain behind model, showing two varnish layers at the top, the grey paint of the curtain underneath, followed by red background paint and the white ground at the bottom; detail of the carved relief figure on the far right, illustrating Roberts’s use of scraping back to accentuate the shadows; outline sketch of two kangaroos on a rock in the lower right‑hand corner; removing the discoloured varnish layers during cleaning.
was still wet. The artist used a flat square-ended brush and a palette knife to work the paint. Roberts used his square-ended brushes across the surface to build up textures with a series of overlapping, directional brushstrokes to create, for example, the facets in the rocks, the carved stone figures and the folds in the draperies. The painting was not completed at a single sitting but was created over a period of time. A minute flake of paint taken from the grey curtain behind the model’s head shows the layers in cross-section. Above the white ground at the bottom, a pink layer is revealed, demonstrating that Roberts painted the whole area red before putting in the curtain. This red is made up of two layers: a thick light pink followed by a thinner dark red. The distinct boundary between the two shows that the first pink layer had time to dry before the second was applied. This must have been a period of
days or perhaps even weeks. Likewise, the grey layer on top was painted over a dry surface. The grey is applied fairly thinly, however, allowing the red underneath to influence the surface colour. After the painting was completed Roberts revisited it. He appears to have completely repainted the lower right-hand corner, altering and extending the rocks, changing the dark blue cloth and adding the present dark red shadow both here and around the sculptor’s legs. This was done fairly soon after the work was completed as the new paint subsequently cracked. He also, unconventionally, selectively scraped the dry paint layers back to the bare canvas around the carved figures, using the dark lines this created to emphasise the shadows. Two varnish layers over the grey of the curtain can also be seen in the paint crosssection. Before the recent treatment, the
surface of the painting was very glossy and the whole image had a golden glow due to the discolouration of these layers. The topmost layer was an old restoration varnish applied after the work had been previously cleaned. The cumulative yellowing effect of the layers significantly altered Roberts’s original colours and tonal balance. The removal of this discoloured layer has helped restore some of the artist’s original intent. The painting holds another more personal secret, this time hidden in plain sight. As mentioned, the painting was completed just before Roberts returned to Australia. If we look at one of the rocks in the bottom right foreground, what first seem to be shadows are actually outline sketches of two kangaroos, one standing tall and the other hunched forward— perhaps a sign of Roberts’s eager anticipation of the journey home to Australia.
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A VENUE NEAR YOU Mary-Lou Nugent reminds us of the NGA events and activities that happen around the country
Opening events and public programs have always been a mainstay of exhibitions at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. This arrangement is no less a focus for the Gallery’s exhibitions that tour extensively to towns, cities and remote communities in Australia and abroad, and have done so for the past twenty-seven years. To date, almost ten million people have viewed 127 exhibitions at nearly 1600 locations outside Canberra— home to the national collection of over 150 000 works of art. These visitors have enjoyed the opportunity to connect with the national collection without leaving their own postcodes, and this connection is made more meaningful through the variety of public programs that accompany these exhibitions. So far this year, six exhibitions are touring nationally as part of the National Gallery of Australia’s travelling exhibition program.
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Stars in the river: the prints of Jessie Traill, which has already toured to Darwin and Townsville this year, can be seen at Tweed River Gallery from 19 June. Capital and country: the Federation years 1900–1914 has just finished its showing at Newcastle Art Gallery but will travel to Brisbane and open at the UQ Art Museum on 25 July. The tour of William Kentridge: drawn from Africa was launched at the Western Plains Cultural Centre in January and is also touring Brisbane in winter, opening at QUT Art Museum on 3 July. Impressions of Paris: Lautrec, Degas, Daumier opened at Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in late March and runs to 7 June before opening at Monash Gallery of Art on 18 July. Bodywork: Australian jewellery 1970– 2012 is on display at Artspace Mackay and then Rockhampton Art Gallery as part of its ninevenue, seven-state tour. And the Wolfensohn
Gift travelling exhibition program continues to intrigue and delight children and adults at schools and galleries across the country. Tour venues are universally enthusiastic about ensuring that these exhibitions are supported and promoted actively at the local level, and opening events are an important part of this promotion. The recent launch of Impressions of Paris in Darwin is testimony to these dynamics. On what turned out to be one of the wettest nights of the year, over 450 people still braved the wild weather to join National Gallery of Australia Director Gerard Vaughan in officially launching the exhibition and its national tour. The evening had a definite French appeal, with French food and beverages, and the addition of a French gypsy swing band (flown in from interstate especially for the event) added to the Parisian flavour. Jane Kinsman, curator of the exhibition, also
presented a well-attended and insightful floor talk for the opening weekend. While openings of the Gallery’s travelling exhibitions are not always such grand affairs, they are popular highlights on local social calendars. They also take different forms. The opening of Bodywork at the Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery in April, for instance, was celebrated as a weekend forum with the exhibition’s curator Robert Bell and participating artist Robert Foster. The National Gallery of Australia also works closely with venues to organise specific public programs that add value to the exhibition experience. As part of the national program for Stars in the river, the Gallery and participating venues have developed a series of artist-run workshops. At the Perc Tucker Regional Art Gallery, for example, a printmaking workshop run by well-known master printmaker Basil
Hall was offered to members of the public. For the tour of Bodywork, workshops run by either local or non-local jewellery makers have been organised to develop greater understanding and appreciation of the intricate and innovative techniques used in jewellery making in the past forty years. Many regional venues highly value the opportunity to offer these programs to their audiences and see them as excellent opportunities to bring outside skills into the region while, at the same time, raising the profile of their venues. So, while the works of art from the national collection are being appreciated at regional venues, so too are the public programs and events that accompany these displays. These events provide the local venues with instant publicity and chances to initiate valuable word‑of‑mouth promotion and important socialising and networking opportunities for
their audiences. Openings also provide local venues with excellent leverage opportunities with sponsors, the local council and local members of parliament. More importantly, however, they provide local audiences with a way to more fully appreciate works of art in the national collection, which might otherwise be out of reach to Australians who for many reasons cannot, or have yet to, make the journey to Canberra.
Opposite and above top left: Impressions of Paris at Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Photo: Fiona Morrison
Above, clockwise from top right: French gypsy swing virtuosos La Mauvaise Réputation; Wendy Wood and Louise Cummins; Basil Hall masterclass run at Umbrella Studio in conjunction with Stars in the river at the Perc Tucker Regional Art Gallery Photos: Fiona Morrison and Jill O’Sullivan
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Inside Within without 2010, James Turrell’s skyspace permanently situated in the Gallery’s southern garden, for the 2014 Indigenous Leadership program 20141022nga2118__0654
FOSTERING EXCELLENCE Franchesca Cubillo traces the development of the NGA’s dynamic partnership with Wesfarmers Arts
We have seen a remarkable proliferation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art over the last few decades. The national and international art sector has begun to appreciate and understand this new and exciting art form. It is now quite common for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works of art to feature in glossy interior-decorating magazines or as part of an official backdrop for a politician presenting some new policy statement on national television. It clearly has become a part of the broader Australian national identity. However, despite this and despite there being thousands of practicing Indigenous Australian artists, there are still very few Indigenous people employed in the sector to care for, manage, interpret, represent and promote this national art, which today has a major international audience. Australian Indigenous art is culturally distinct from Australian art with European lineage but is equally part of our national identity. Understanding the cultural framework from which the art emerges is critical to our understanding and appreciation. Thousands of Indigenous Australian artists create an estimated 10 000 paintings every year. However,
if we consider the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people employed in administrating the arts sector, we find that it is relatively quite low. Indigenous art history is currently being written, and it is important that this story unfolds through many Indigenous voices. If we are ever able to truly communicate and understand the complexity and beauty of this new art to an international audience, we need more strong Indigenous Australians working in the sector, providing further cultural insight. The National Gallery of Australia recognised this need in 2009 and embarked on a partnership with Wesfarmers Arts to develop a program that would increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in the visual arts sector, with a view to developing the leadership potential in Australia’s Indigenous arts workers. The program formed after extensive consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals, stakeholders and communities across Australia. Aden Ridgeway and his consultancy firm Cox Inall Ridgeway was engaged to undertake this consultation and also sought advice and guidance from the
Gallery’s Indigenous staff and the convened Indigenous Leadership Advisory Committee. The combined feedback and outcome of this consultation included the development of a ten-day Indigenous Arts Leadership program and a two-year project-based Fellowship. Based at the Gallery, the Arts Leadership program provides participants with insight into the behind-the-scenes activities of a major international art gallery over ten intensive days of instruction and workshops. This opportunity allows Indigenous people considering careers in the arts and those who have had initial employment in the sector to consider the bigger aspects of the visual arts and to learn best practice from highly trained and experience staff. Alternatively, the Fellowships, of which there were two, provided mentorship for mid‑career Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to further develop their particular areas of interest or expertise. These $50 000 Fellowship opportunities were originally for a two-year period and were based at the Gallery in Canberra working specifically on a project of their interest. Six years on and the alumni consists of fifty-four remarkable Aboriginal
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and Torres Strait Islander people from across Australia. There are brief biographies of some of our graduates on the Gallery’s Indigenous Arts Leadership program website. Of particular note are our Fellowship graduates, Jirra Lulla Harvey, Glen IsegerPilkington, Kevin O’Brien and Bradley Harkin. Fellowship recipients each chose a different area of focus, including respectively: developing an Indigenous arts marketing strategy; harnessing new digital technologies, including creating an Indigenous art iBook in association with our second National Indigenous Art Triennial, unDisclosed; creating culturally appropriate, technical design strategies associated with travelling
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exhibitions; and gaining insight and technical expertise in the area of art handling and exhibition installation. Recently, the Gallery and Wesfarmers Arts added two additional elements to the program. Graduates of the leadership program can now access both national and international fellowship opportunities, which will take place, as previously, at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra but also at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia in the United States of America and the AAMU Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Utrecht in The Netherlands. Graduates can also apply for an annual scholarship up to the value of
$10 000 to pursue professional development opportunities in the visual arts. Suzanne Barron was the inaugural recipient of the scholarship in 2014, and the funds allowed her to explore object and bark-painting conservation practices in the Aboriginal community of Yirrkala in north‑east Arnhem Land and to fulfil a three‑week internship in the Gallery’s Conservation department. Barron’s story is available on our Indigenous Arts Leadership website. In 2015, we welcomed our new leadership program ambassadors, Rachel Maza and Jonathan Jones, two remarkable Indigenous leaders who have forged incredible careers in the wider art sector. Maza’s focus on film,
radio, theatre and television has seen her the recipient of many awards, and Jones is an artist and a curator of national and international standing who is represented in major collecting institutions throughout Australia. The strength of their collective wealth of skills, experience, advice and leadership is of significant value to those yet to shape their careers, and we are fortunate that they join us in shaping the future direction of this exciting program. Through these combined approaches, the National Gallery of Australia and our partnership with Wesfarmers Arts has developed a prestigious and professional program that will foster the next generation
of Indigenous arts leaders. We have already seen remarkable results from our graduates. The ongoing implementation of this exciting program, with its varied applications, ultimately goes toward encouraging sustainability and longevity and employment opportunities for Indigenous professionals to work in the visual arts and broader cultural heritage sector.
INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP The NGA supports Indigenous leadership in the arts, including through training programs, fellowships and scholarships offered in partnership with Wesfarmers Arts nga.gov.au/indigenousleaders
Opposite: The Indigenous Leadership program graduating class of 2014 with alumni, ambassadors and NGA staff, 22 October 2014 Above: Ambassadors of the 2014 Indigenous Leadership program Rachael Maza and Jonathan Jones in front of Pintupi artist Walangkura (Jackson) Napanangka’s Untitled 2009, acquired in acknowledgement of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations with support from The Myer Foundation, 2010 20141022nga2118__1010 20141022NGA_2383_0023
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Imants Tillers The nine shots 1985, synthetic polymer paint and oil stick on ninety-one canvas boards. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, gift of the artist, 2008 © Imants Tillers. Represented by Viscopy 184737
GRACE UNDER FIRE Deborah Hart examines Imants Tillers’s The nine shots, which sparked heated national debate on post-colonialism in Australia almost thirty years ago
Imants Tillers’s The nine shots 1985 is one of the most significant, thought-provoking paintings of the late twentieth century. Undertaken thirty years ago, it has since become an iconic work, a history painting even, that paradoxically retains its enduring power from its poetic ambiguity. Over time, it has become increasingly apparent that, although Tillers’s imagery has been sourced from reproductions, there are strong personal resonances in the specific selections and combinations and in the tangible transformations that occur in the making. These connect with his familial past and with his experience as a young Australian artist in Sydney in the late 1960s, when conceptual art was influential in his work— his interest in Marcel Duchamp shows in the title ‘The nine shots’, from Duchamp’s famous The large glass 1915–23 that broke shortly after its premiere showing in 1926. It was also a time when questions about origins and originality were in the air. The nine shots can be read as an image of place and displacement, of a local ethos and culture experienced second-hand, of longing and belonging. The two main sources for his imagery are Michael Nelson Jagamara’s Five dreamings 1984 and Georg Baselitz’s Forward wind 1966 from his series A new type 1965–66 of battle-worn defeated soldiers. By 1985, Tillers felt that his visual lexicon of imagery, which included artists he admired most in the world, could no longer exclude what he saw as some of the most significant art happening anywhere: Aboriginal painting. While the initial reception of the work in 1985 was positive, it sparked heated debate about the appropriation of imagery from Aboriginal art when it was reproduced in the
book for the 6th Sydney Biennale in 1986, on the page before the entry on Jagamara (alternatively spelt Tjakamarra). Gordon Bennett painted The nine ricochets 1990, a riposte to The nine shots that, in turn, borrowed images from Tillers’s art. The intricacies of the debates initially sparked by the reproduction of The nine shots and renewed by attention received by The nine ricochets are too complex for a brief article, but it is worth referencing Ian McLean’s insightful two-part essay on the subject in Art Monthly Australia (April and May 2010). Interestingly, although reproduced in the book, The nine shots was not exhibited in the biennale and was not even shown in Australia until 1988. Tiller’s work in the biennale was actually Lost, lost, lost 1985. Similarly, however, a sense of loss is implicit in the The nine shots, in the lumbering giant of a man who appears to be rising up from the ashes of war. Standing over three metres tall, Tillers’s figure is monumental but also awkward and vulnerable, his arms outstretched like a crucifixion. He is set against the tree, perhaps referring to German forest mythology and the search for renewal through nature. In the postwar era, many German artists were wrestling with notions of how to grapple with the present and future in the face of the horrors of Nazism and war. Tillers felt there were resonances with the figure and his idea of convict settlers: invaders of another land who were at the same time displaced from their homelands. Complex ideas about waves of migration were not foreign to him as the son of migrant Latvian parents who had experienced the Second World War firsthand and were faced with the
challenges of making a new life while holding on to folkloric aspects of their own Latvian past and wrestling with issues of language— of translation and mistranslation of past and present across cultures. Jagamara’s Five dreamings is informed by hidden meanings of his culture and his profound sense of Country. Tillers adapted aspects of the work rather than the whole, locating the displaced figure in a field of dots, painterly marks and symbols referring to watering holes and meeting places. He initially saw Jagamara’s image in reproduction in Art and Australia and was struck by its beauty and potency. Its inclusion in his work was a mark of respect for the artist and the work, not a ‘colonisation’ of the spiritual signifiers, as some accused him of at the time. McLean noted in his 2010 essay that, even at the time of the biennale, Jagamara ‘understood Tillers’s gesture as a commitment to dialogue and cultural exchange …’ Some twenty-five years after The nine shots was painted, Tillers and Jagamara collaborated on a number of paintings. By this time, Tillers’s home and studio were in Cooma in country New South Wales, and his feeling for place was ever-present. While debates of the 1980s remain complex, part of the power of Tillers’s work is that there are no monolithic readings. Instead, it opens up questions about place and displacement, about cross-cultural appropriations and about open-ended attempts to find meeting places between cultures. These are issues that remain worthy of enquiry and contemplation today, and the Gallery is very grateful to Tillers for his considerable generosity in gifting this highly influential work to the national collection.
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Floating worlds and the Chinese diaspora
John Young Castiglione’s dream 1995–96 digital print, synthetic polymer paint and oil on canvas 219.5 x 613.5 cm On display: Australian contemporary galleries 252028 In 2014, the National Gallery of Australia acquired one of the most important works to be painted by Australian artist John Young. Castiglione’s dream is the grand summation piece of Young’s critical series Double ground, which explores the complex geopolitical and psychological experiences of the people who make up the complex Chinese diaspora in Australia and globally. A painting of mesmerising beauty and subtle disquiet, it works on our perceptions on many levels. We glimpse a sense of a grand history painting with a narrative we cannot fully grasp, as panels of seemingly random images float over what appears to be a classical Chinese landscape painting. Young writes in his studio notes, ‘This is a personal work, yet the experiences retraced may be one common perhaps of many in the diaspora; memories, sentiments of departure and severing from an old culture, the denial and indifference to the loss, the anxiety of an unknown new
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land, and the reality and hardship on the new shore’. Young was born in Hong Kong in 1956 but was sent to Australia at the age of eleven, fleeing the violent political disruption brought about by the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1967. After studying philosophy at the University of Sydney, his early forays into painting engaged with minimalism, resulting in his polychrome paintings of 1989–93. But, like many artists of the postmodernist era, minimalism and abstraction could not provide the visual possibilities required for complex issues about identity, memory and lived experience. Castiglione’s dream digitally reproduces a section from One hundred horses painted in China in 1728 by Giuseppe Castiglione, a Milanese Jesuit missionary to Peking. The image quite deliberately appears to fade away before us due to the artist’s application of a milky glazing. Of his technique, Young comments, ‘The layering of white “porcelain” glazing is also a literal expression of the fading power of the grand narratives … and [is] replaced by the seduction of kitsch … The grand narrative literally fades, and is superseded by fragmentary kitsch’.
Hovering over the classical landscape are painted panels, their iconography taken from a disparate array of stock images. For example, the rocky landscape in the top-left corner is taken from a 1980s Chinese travel brochure and the crouching nude is a rendition from John Everard’s 1952 book Artist’s model, which was a standard-issue guide for art students and professional artists in the late 1950s. The painting resonates like a dream: a sequence of images floating over a narrative that, although fading, leaves us with a powerful sense of unease. In relation to others in the series Double ground, Young has described this work as ‘the more ambitious attempt in articulating a psychic landscape. My concerns are and always have been with the recognition, severing and reawakening to old or distant cultural values and resonances. This may, I suspect, have something to do with my own voyage of coming to Australia on my own to live at the age of eleven’. Lara Nicholls, Assistant Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture
Clear influences in the abstract Ralph Hotere 1931–2013 Not titled 1963 paint on paper, 271 x 176 cm Gift of Wallace and Janet Ambrose, 2014. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. 100 Works for 100 Years On display: Australian Modernism galleries 251936 Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph) Hotere, one of New Zealand’s most significant modern artists and born of Maori heritage, brought a refined lyricism to his abstract vernacular. An early example is the recent gift of a large-scale 1963 painting on paper, a work that communicates the artist’s fundamental concern: the relationship between nature and the built environment. This seminal work in Hotere’s distinctive style was painted in London, where he resided from 1961 to 1965, having received a fellowship—the last to be awarded by the Association of New Zealand Art Societies—to attend the Central School of Art and Design. A year prior to creating the work, Hotere undertook studies in residence at the Michael Karolyi Memorial Foundation in Vence, France. Influences from this period inform the work, particularly the fluidity of Henri Matisse’s abstract forms and the artist’s own bullet-hole motif from his 1962 series Algeria (a response to Algeria’s fight for independence from French colonial rule). The work is most probably Hotere’s recollection of the wide-open spaces of New Zealand. Having qualified as a pilot as part of his military service in 1953, he was familiar with the abstracted wonders afforded by an aerial view. Earth tones render a seemingly spontaneous arrangement of abstracted forms. These forms respond rhythmically to one another as a poetic arrangement of disparate yet harmonious parts. At the end of 2011, not long before his death in February 2013, Hotere was awarded membership to the Order of New Zealand in recognition of his lifetime of contributions to the visual arts. This significant early work was given to the Gallery by Dr Wallace and Janet Ambrose, who had received it from Hotere. They first met the
artist in Auckland in the early 1960s and became close friends with him. They built their Canberra home to accommodate the painting. So, to share this greatly loved painting with the nation demonstrates the altruistic nature of these two important benefactors.
Opposite: John Young Castiglione’s dream 1995–96 Represented by Viscopy
Above: Ralph Hotere Not titled 1963
Mary Angove, Gordon Darling Graduate Intern
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Colour my tradition
Janina Green The bridge and the willow 2002–03 twelve Type-C photographs on fabric each 24.8 x 24.8 cm Gift of the artist, 2015 On display: Colour my world, until 30 August Melbourne photomedia artist Janina Green has for over three decades produced handcoloured photographs that explore the possibilities and implications of applying colour to photographic prints and the historical dimensions of the practice. She has done this with a particular interest in the roles women have played as handcolourists in the history of photography, especially as innovators.
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Green’s subjects include photographic images derived from a wide range of sources, including popular culture and art history. These are often combined with images taken by Green on medium-format film and presented in series that reflect on photography and the notion of origins, paying particular attention to the ways in which photography ascribes meaning and positions of power. She has also spoken about the fact that she uses handcolouring as a way of infusing images with sensuality and emotion, which she feels can be missing from blackand-white prints—a sentiment that many photographers who colour their work identify as a motive.
The Gallery has recently acquired Green’s series The bridge and the willow, which brings together two of the artist’s handcoloured photographs, taken from her archive and rephotographed, and fragments from late nineteenth-century handcoloured Japanese photographs. The Japanese images come from an album of Meiji-period (1868–1912) handcoloured albumen prints in Green’s personal collection (an album originally purchased by Mr and Mrs McLeod in Japan in 1889). The Meiji period represents one of the great flowerings of the practice of handcolouring photographic prints. Albums of handcoloured souvenir photographs became a regular
feature of the tourist experience of Japan. The images were most often of a pastoral and ancient paradise and were circulating at a time of rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and militarisation in Japan. At the same time, they satisfied a fascination with all things East and Southeast Asian—a fascination that Green understands, as she is interested in the often transcendental forms and aesthetics of Chinese and Japanese art. The two images taken by Green in the sequence are a still life showing a vase with the image of Mount Fuji and a composite image showing Green’s friend standing in a Japanese room, the interior extracted from an image in the Meiji-period album.
In these works, Green stitches together her contemporary practice and the history upon which it draws. Once scanned, each image, which had been coloured by hand in its original form, was subjected to an additional process of digital handcolouring with an early edition of Photoshop. By digitising the images, Green brings them into the present, reflecting on the subtle and intriguing roles images and visual memory play in our lives.
Janina Green The bridge and the willow 2002–03
Shaune Lakin, Senior Curator, and Anne O’Hehir, Curator, Photography
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As the Rembarrnga remember it Paddy Fordham Wainburranga c 1932–2006, Rembarrnga people Too many Captain Cooks 1988 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 150 x 90 cm Gift of Penelope McDonald, 2014. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program On display: Indigenous galleries 264603 If ever there was an Arnhem Land bark painter who developed his own innovative and distinct style it was the late Paddy Fordham Wainburranga. His bold illustrations of the Rembarrnga ancestors on twenty-four of the two hundred hollow log coffins that make up the The Aboriginal Memorial 1988 stand in direct stylistic contrast to the others. His depictions of impressive Balangjarngalain spirit figures appear to be caught in a tortured state of metamorphosis; they are elongated figurative forms frozen in time, regurgitating, twitching and recoiling erratically, full of foreboding spiritual power and energy. As a senior cultural leader, Wainburranga thought it important to retell and reinforce the ancient ancestral narratives of the Rembarrnga peoples. But he also wanted to ensure that contact history was recorded from an Indigenous perspective, and his personalised history paintings started to emerge during the mid to late 1980s and included his epic 1988 work Too many Captain Cooks, which was accompanied by a short film of the same name. This significant work was painted in the exuberant lead-up to Australia’s bicentennial celebrations to let the wider community know that, according to Rembarrnga and Ngalkbun peoples and other Yolngu peoples in central and northeast Arnhem Land, Captain Cook and his two wives came to Sydney a million years ago. This, however, is not a parody of European history; it is Rembarrnga history. Cook lived in harmony with the local Aboriginal people. He brought many important materials with him: calico, blankets, tobacco, steel knives and axes. He was the first law man and showed the Aboriginal population how to build a dugout boat and make paddles. Cook also brought with
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him a donkey and a nanny goat. These are just some of the items that pertain to the fascinating Rembarrnga and Ngalkbun Dreaming narrative. As the story unfolds through a series of unfortunate encounters with the Devil, and also because of injuries sustained at the hands of his relatives back on Mosquito Island, Cook eventually dies. However, in his place, many Captain Cooks soon came, causing havoc with the Aboriginal people, killing them, moving them off their land and destroying
their culture. With the bicentennial pending, Wainburranga felt compelled to tell the true story of Captain Cook. In the 1989 video accompanying the painting, Wainburranga expands on the story and explains that there are songs and ceremonies that are associated with this first Captain Cook. Franchesca Cubillo, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
Opposite: Paddy Fordham Wainburranga Too many Captain Cooks 1985 © Paddy Fordham Wainburranga. Represented by Viscopy
Right: Sarah Stone Eastern rosella of New South Wales c 1790
Illustrating early discoveries Sarah Stone 1758–1844 Eastern rosella of New South Wales c 1790 pen, ink, watercolour, 35.9 x 26.6 cm On display: Australian colonial galleries266893 When the first bird specimens from Australia arrived in England, they ruffled the feathers of the scientific establishment. Sarah Stone’s Eastern Rosella of New South Wales is a rare watercolour of one such bird. This superb rendering of Platycercus eximius (or Nonpareil parrot, as it was then named) conveys Stone’s astute understanding of the scholarly purpose of natural history illustrations. In depicting the rosella in profile and of natural size, perched on a branch with wings partially raised, the viewer is able to discern the wingspan, as well as the idiosyncratic colouring of the species’ cheek patches and scalloped feathers. Stone was the first female artist to depict Australian subjects of scientific interest.
This work is one of Stone’s many fine watercolours of Australian birds, although she never visited the colony. This particular painting was produced from a specimen sent by John White, Surgeon-General to the First Fleet. White forwarded his diaries and natural history specimens to his friend Thomas Wilson, who employed Stone and four others—Frederick Nodder, Edward Kennion, Charles Catton and an artist whose surname was Mortimer—to illustrate the collected flora and fauna. Sixty-five of these illustrations appeared as plates in White’s Journal of a voyage to New South Wales, published in 1790 by John Debrett just a few months after Debrett’s rival and publisher of the official account of the voyage John Stockdale released Voyage of Governor Phillip. Stone was responsible for the drawings for forty-nine plates in White’s book, including all studies of birds (although the rosella did not feature in the volume). The popularity of
the journal brought about its translation into German, then Swedish and French. Stone’s work was also used for engravings in George Shaw’s 1792 Museum Leverianum and Thomas Pennant’s 1798 A view of Hindoostan. Stone was not trained as a natural history illustrator but nevertheless established a strong reputation for depicting a huge variety of specimens and ethnographic material from the Pacific and around the world, particularly while working for the prolific natural history collector Sir Ashton Lever. She produced over a thousand watercolours from Lever’s collection, nine hundred of which survive today. This watercolour, the first by Stone to enter Australia’s national art collection, is a valuable addition to the nation’s holdings of pre-1800s works on paper. Mary Angove, Gordon Darling Graduate Intern
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Strength of a friendship Hilda Rix Nicholas 1884–1961 Une Australienne 1926 oil on canvas, 103 x 81 cm On display: Australian Federation galleries
Hilda Rix Nicholas Une Australienne 1926 © Bronwyn Wright
In Une Australienne, Hilda Rix Nicholas deliberately chose to identify her subject as an Australian woman. The woman, dressed in the height of fashion, looks assertively out of the picture, with a powerful, if haughty, presence. Her elegance and physicality is conveyed through her pose, the turn of her head, the strain of her neck muscle and the hand gently resting on her thigh. This was one of eight pictures Rix Nicholas showed in the Salon of 1926. The Salon judges were impressed, and she was made an Associate of the Société Nationale des BeauxArts as a result. On receiving this honour, Rix Nicholas commented in a letter to Charles Robert Chisman, ‘I wish above all things … to associate my work with the portrayal of my own sunny land and her peoples’. The subject of Une Australienne is Rix Nicholas’s friend Dorothy Richmond, whom she had met in Sydney around 1919. It was with Richmond that Rix Nicholas first travelled to Delegate on the southern border of New South Wales, where she began to paint Australian landscapes. While staying in the area at the property of the Wrights, she developed a close friendship with Ned Wright and his cousin Edgar. In 1924, Rix Nicholas and Richmond travelled to Europe, sharing a studio in Paris. After returning to Australia in 1926, Rix Nicholas went back to Canberra and Delegate in 1927 (again with Richmond), where she rekindled her friendship with Edgar Wright, whom she married in June 1928. This portrait, then, is not just one of Rix Nicholas’s most striking works of an Australian subject; it is also significant because it is one of the portraits that brought her acclaim in Paris and it is a portrait of one of her closest friends, who was instrumental in Rix Nicholas meeting her husband Edgar Wright. Anne Gray, Head of Australian Art
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MEMBERS NEWS A warm new atmosphere in the Members Lounge will help make your next visit to the NGA a comfortable and enjoyable one. Bring your friends
Fresh look for members Gallery members have expressed their delight at finding their Members Lounge has had a recent refresh, including a return of the couches to help you relax and enjoy the view of the Sculpture Garden and Lake Burley Griffin. We look forward to seeing more of our members and their guests enjoying the inviting atmosphere and warming soups over the colder months. We have plenty of exciting events planned that will help keep you warm this winter, including a night of 1970s tunes, dance and cocktails inspired by some of the handcoloured Australian photographs in the superb new exhibition Colour my world. The popular ‘Coffee with the curator’ will take you through
the magical world of Indian miniature painting, with curator Melanie Eastburn as your erudite guide. A visit to the Queanbeyan production house F!NK & Co, the brainchild of internationally renowned artist Robert Foster, will be topped off with wine and nibbles with the artist and his team. Many of you may already have in your home some of the stunning F!NK & Co objects designed by Australian artists. As spring approaches and we say goodbye to the colder months, the exhibition Myth and magic will introduce us to some spectacular works from the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea. We have an exhilarating tour planned for our mini members aged four
to eight in which they can come face to face with live baby crocodiles. But, for the adults, we have a charming tour with curator Crispin Howarth followed by wine in the new Members Lounge.
MEMBERSHIP nga.gov.au/members | free call 1800 028 068 Play your part in the life of the National Gallery of Australia and enjoy the many benefits of membership. Visit our website for exclusive programs for members or to join today
NGA Member Lounge
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THANK YOU …
Exhibitions, programs and acquisitions at the National Gallery of Australia are realised through the generous support of:
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Decorative Arts and Design Fund Meredith Hinchliffe Prof Emer Barbara van Ernst AM
Foundation Board Publishing Fund Ray Wilson OAM
Foundation Fundraising Gala Dinner 2015 Andrew Andersons AO Susan Armitage and the Hon Dr Michael Armitage Philip Bacon AM Julian Beaumont OAM and Annie Beaumont Sandy Benjamin OAM and Phillip Benjamin Anthony Berg AM and Carol Berg Kay Bryan Ann Burge Julian Burt and Alexandra Burt Burton Taylor Foundation Robert Cadona Terrence Campbell AO and Christine Campbell Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Maurice Cashmere Phil Cave and Judy Harris Peter Clemenger AO and Joan Clemenger AO Trevor Cohen and Heather Cohen Philip Constable and Mary Constable Henry Dalrymple James Darling AM and Lesley Forwood The Honourable Mrs Ashley DawsonDamer AM Christopher Deutscher and Karen Woodbury Lauraine Diggins Danny Goldberg John Grant AM and Susan Ashton John Green and Jenny Green
Richard Griffin AM and Jay Griffin Andrew Gwinnett and Hiroko Gwinnett Peter Hack Damien Hackett and Michelle HolmesHackett Catherine Harris AO, PSM, and David Harris Bill Hayward and Alison Hayward Warwick Hemsley and the Hon Melissa Parke MP Sue Hewitt Sam Hill-Smith and Margo Hill-Smith Meredith Hinchliffe John Hindmarsh AM and Rosanna Hindmarsh OAM James Hird and Tania Hird Michael Hobbs Neil Hobbs and Karina Harris Gail Kinsella Wayne Kratzmann Tony Lewis and Helen Lewis Richard Longes and Elizabeth Longes Dr Andrew Lu OAM and Dr Geoffrey Lancaster AM Peter Lundy RFD and Dr Maureen Bremner Robyn Martin-Weber Edgar Myer and Suzie SwnukowskaMtonga Myer Family Company Allan Myers AO, QC, and Maria Myers AO Geoffrey Pack and Leigh Pack Dr David Pfanner and Dr Ruth Pfanner Dug Pomeroy and Lisa Pomeroy Kenneth Reed AM Denis Savill and Anne Clarke John Schaeffer AO and Bettina Dalton Penelope Seidler AM Geoffrey Smith Dr Warwick Smyth and Jane Smyth Ezekiel Solomon AM Lady Southey AC Kevin Stephenson and Noella Stephenson Emer Prof Ken Taylor AM and Maggie Taylor Dr Caroline Turner AM and Dr Glen Barclay Bret Walker SC and Dr Sarah Pritchard Ellen Waugh Lou Westende OAM and Mandy ThomasWestende Geoffrey White OAM and Sally White OAM Lyn Williams AM Dennis Wilson and Tauba Wilson Ray Wilson OAM Wright Burt Foundation Jason Yeap OAM
Gifts of works of art Yvonne Audette Glenn Barkley and Lisa Havilah
William Bowness Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham Hester Gascoigne, Toss Gascoigne and Martin Gascoigne Franck Gohier Janina Green Margaret Janssens and Peter Janssens Material Pleasures Matthew Sleeth HM Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, Queen Mother of Bhutan Wesfarmers Limited
Honorary Exhibition Circle Patrons James Erskine and Jacqui Erskine John Schaeffer AO and Bettina Dalton
Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2014 Ted Delofski and Irene Delofski Jan Howard John Jackson and Ros Jackson
Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2015 Prof Jeff Bennett and Ngaire Bennett Bruce Cook Sue Daw OAM Sue Dyer Julia Ermert and Rupert Ermert Avril Hetherington W Nevin Hurst Sanya Ritchie OAM
Members Acquisition Fund 2014–15 Simonetta Astolfi Judith Avery Andrew Bennett Toni Brewster Diana Brookes Maureen Chan Wendy Cobcroft Ted Delofski and Irene Delofski T Ezra and J Ezra Peter Henderson and Heather Henderson Gerry Kruger and Ted Kruger Jodie Leonard Betty Meehan Leo John Murphy Dr Roslyn Russell Peter Sharp and Lesley Fisk Karenza Warren
Rotary Collection of Australian Art Rotary Club of Belconnen
South Australian Contemporary Art Fund Macquarie Group Foundation
Treasure a Textile Maxine Rochester
J OI N
THE PALACE MOVIE CLUB AND
EXPERIENCELE! TY S N I A M E N I C FREE TICKETS, EXCLUSIVE INVITES, DAILY DISCOUNTS ENQUIRE TODAY AT THE CINEMA BOX OFFICE OR ONLINE AT palacecinemas.com.au/movieclub WINTER 2015 | ARTONVIEW 51
call for entries important fine art auction sydney • august 2015 for appraisals, please contact sydney • 02 9287 0600 info@deutscherandhackett.com • www.deutscherandhackett.com
Bronwyn oliver Bloom, 1998 copper, 130.0 cm diameter SolD $192,000 (inc. BP) November 2014
National Gallery (France/USA/UK, 2014, 181 minutes) Wednesday 17 June
Film, food, fashion and feeling Wednesdays 10 June – 8 July 6:30 pm James O Fairfax Theatre
An extraordinary insight into the inner workings of London’s National Gallery, one of the world’s foremost art institutions – itself portrayed as a brilliant work of art.
National Gallery of Australia
El Somni [The Dream] (Spain, 2014, 82 mins)
Catch some of the most exciting recent cinema
A sublime visual experience revealing the making
about art, culture and ideas in a program curated
of the world’s most extraordinary dinner: an opera
and introduced by film writer and critic, Simon
in twelve dishes created by 40 international artists
Weaving
with gastronomy by the famous Roca brothers.
Series: $70, $60 concession, $50 members
Imber’s left hand (USA, 2014, 76 mins)
Wednesday 24 June
(five films)
Wednesday 1 July
Single session: $16, $14 concession,
A deeply moving tribute to painting and life, this
$12 members
bittersweet journey follows painter John Imber as
Bookings: online.nga.gov.au/eventbookings
he adapts to a life threatening disease. Australian premier – followed by Skype Q & A
All films exempt from classification: 18 +
with director, Richard Kane.
Iris (USA, 2014, 78 mins Classification TBA)
Best of enemies (USA, 2015, 87 mins)
Wednesday 10 June
Wednesday 8 July
An intimate portrait of Iris Apfel, the quick-witted,
A riveting documentary about the legendary
flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old designer and
series of televised debates in 1968 between two
style icon who believes fashion, art and people
great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal
are life’s sustenance.
and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Image: Iris Apfel in IRIS, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo: Jeff Bark
MEMBERS RECEIVE 10% DISCOUNT
WORLD CLASS ART
NGA SHOP INDIGENOUS ARTS | BOOKS & CATALOGUES JEWELLERY & CERAMICS | PRINTS & POSTERS | FINE ART CARDS
‘Perception and Reality’ by Andrew Rogers
Open 7 days 10.00 am – 5.00 pm Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2601 | (02) 6240 6420 email: ecom@nga.gov.au
ANDREW SAYERS
Nature Through the Glass of Time 2 MAY - 27 JUNE 2015
ANDREW SAYERS Nature Through the Glass of Time 2015 oil on canvas 100 x 130 cm
Forthcoming exhibitions
Michael McWilliams: An Aussie Wally July - August Nora Heysen: Drawings from the Estate of the Artist August MICHAEL McWILLIAMS The Reunion 2014-15 synthetic polymer on linen 120 x 180 cm
NORA HEYSEN 1911 - 2003 Drawing from the Life Model, Central School of Art, London c.1934 pencil on paper
L AU R A I N E 5 Malakoff Street North Caulfield VIC 3161
54 ARTONVIEW | WINTER Tel:2015 03 9509 9855
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DIGGINS Email: ausart@diggins.com.au Website: www.diggins.com.au
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Gallery Hours: Tues - Fri 10am – 6pm, Sat 1pm – 5pm
DOURO River Cruising
Drink in the colours of Portugal. Nourishing sun-drenched vineyards, lush valleys and sleepy villages, the Douro River offers a leisurely cruising alternative to its more well-known European counterparts. Gliding over its sparkling waters, APT’s MS AmAVidA represents the most convenient and luxurious way in which to experience this beautiful Mediterranean region.
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Douro Delights Lisbon to Madrid 14 days from $8,995* per person, twin share Vila Régua Real Pinhão 7 MS AMAVIDA Barca d’Alva Porto Salamanca Lamego Figueira Caldas de Castelo de Aregos 3 Rodrigo Coimbra
P EXCLUSIVE! Choose from a wide range of accommodation options, with Outside Balconies in more than half of staterooms
Guimarães
P INCLUDED – Unique cultural experiences in up to 14 towns, villages and cities P INCLUDED – Services of an APT Cruise Director, and local guides in most locations P INCLUDED – All onboard meals and beverages†, tipping, transfers and port charges P INCLUDED – APT’s Freedom of Choice Inclusions and Signature Invitations
Sintra
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
MADRID
3 LISBON
Cascais
ORDER YOUR FREE BROCHURE & DVD TODAY
CALL 1300 510 370 www.aptouring.com.au/Europe2016 or see your travel agent
*Conditions apply. Prices are per person (pp) twin share and include port charges. Prices are inclusive of savings where applicable. Prices are correct as at 3 April 2015, and may fluctuate due to changes in availability, surcharges, fees, taxes or exchange rates. Price based on EUPDCLM14: Based on 25 June 2016 (Cat. E). All offers are valid until 31 July 2015, unless sold out prior. Prices are subject to availability, available on new bookings only, not combinable and may be withdrawn at any time. A limited number of offers are available on selected itineraries and departures. DEPOSITS: 1st non-refundable deposit of $1,000 pp is due within 7 days, a 2nd non-refundable deposit of $2,000 pp is due by 31 October 2015. Final payment is due 100 days prior to departure. Flights must be booked by APT. Airfares are valid departing MEL/SYD/BNE/PER/ADL. Flights are in economy class with Emirates (or an airline of APT’s choosing). Subject to availability of airline and booking class. FLY FREE: Offer includes free return economy airfare and air taxes to the value of $850 pp. Valid on a selection of cruise/tours departing in 2016 in Category E & D Staterooms. †Complimentary beverages exclude French Champagne, premium spirits and selected wines. Australian Pacific Touring Pty Ltd. ABN 44 004 684 619. ATAS accreditation # A10825. APT2191 WINTER 2015 | ARTONVIEW
55
Michelangelo to Gaudi Grand Tour of Italy
Grand Tour of Spain
October 13-30, 2015 with Dr Nicholas Gordon April 5-22, 2016 with Dr Kathleen Olive From a private tour of the Sistine Chapel to the golden mosaics of St Mark's Basilica in Venice lit up at night, many special experiences await you on this journey through the history, art and architecture of Italy. The itinerary progresses from Ancient Rome and Pompeii to medieval and Renaissance Italy and features three and four night stays in Naples, Rome, a medieval village in Umbria, Florence and Venice. Our expert tour leaders ensure you get the insights and experiences not available to most travellers. Some excellent meals and carefully selected accommodation complement the sightseeing program. $8,250 pp, twin share (land content only) $2,200 single supplement
October 11-28, 2015 with Dr Angela Smith April 10-27, 2016 with Dr Jeni Ryde From the exotic sites of Moorish Al-Andalus to the modernista architecture of Gaudi in Barcelona, our Grand Tour of Spain surveys the tumultuous history and magnificent art and architecture of Spain. Our itinerary takes you to famous sites and less well-known gems, and gives you ample time to relax and enjoy contemporary Spanish culture. The tour begins with the medieval worlds of Granada, Cordoba and Seville, then continues to royal Madrid and the exuberant city of Barcelona. We also survey the outstanding cuisine of Spain by dining at fine regional restaurants. $8,330 pp, twin share (land content only) $2,250 single supplement
Visit academytravel.com.au for detailed information EXPERIENCE THE ACADEMY TRAVEL DIFFERENCE! › Expert tour leaders › Maximum 20 in a group › Carefully planned itineraries
Level 1, 341 George St Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: + 61 2 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) Fax: + 61 2 9235 0123 Email: info@academytravel.com.au Web: academytravel.com.au
Australia’s art magazine of record since 1987.
Proud media partner of the National Gallery of Australia Subscribe today and save 20% for an Australian one-year universal subscription print + digital + back issues. Only AU$128
www.artmonthly.org.au/subscribe.asp
BROADSHEET.com.au
Celebrating
100 years of energising Canberra 2015 marks a major milestone for ActewAGL. 100 years ago the Kingston Powerhouse was commissioned to switch on our city’s lights and we’ve been energising Canberra ever since. And we’re only just getting started.
CCA0315/10
Supplying local energy yesterday, today and tomorrow.
City Lights – surreal morning lights in the capital Chadwick Clark, Lyneham ACT.
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The Brassey of Canberra Belmore Gardens and Macquarie Street, Barton ACT 2600 Phone: 02 6273 3766 Email: info@brassey.net.au
CANBERRA’S ONLY HERITAG OR REFER TO OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRASSEY.NET.AU BOU T IQUE HO T EE L (ES T. 192 7 ) WINTER 2015 | ARTONVIEW 59 Canberran Owned and Operated
CALL FOR BOOKINGS THROUGH THE HOTEL 1800 659 191
12 SEPTEMBER TO 11 OCTOBER 2015
It’s winter now in Canberra, but at the Floriade site around a million bulbs are waiting to burst into vibrant bloom come spring! But don’t wait until then to book your Floriade accommodation - book now and take advantage of great Early Booking rates! Novotel Canberra 65 Northbourne Avenue, Canberra. Tel. 02 6245 5000 | novotelcanberra.com.au
Novotel.com | Accorhotels.com *Rate based on accommodation in a standard room and subject to availability for stays between 12 September and 11 October 2015 (inclusive). Maximum of up to 2 adults and 2 children (under the age of 16, when staying with parents using existing bedding) per room. Up to two children enjoy free buffet breakfast when dining with parents. Early Booking rates apply to bookings at least 30 days in advance. For further details and full terms and conditions visit Accorhotels.com
J O I N O U R G L O B A L L O YA L T Y P RO G R A M AT ACCO R H OT E L S . CO M
Image credit: VisitCanberra
BE INSPIRED BY FLORIADE THIS SPRING!
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We are doctors, engineers, business owners and geologists, to name a few; but what we all have in common is that we are dynamic and innovative individuals, helping our clients to discover their potential every day. PwC Australia helps organisations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. We’re a member of a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 195,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory, tax & legal, and private clients services. PwC is one of Australia’s leading professional services firms, bringing the power of our global network of firms to help Australian businesses, not-for-profit organisations and governments assess their performance and improve the way they work. Having grown from a one-man Melbourne accountancy practice in 1874, to the worldwide merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998, PwC Australia now employs more than 6,000 people. Visit us at www.pwc.com.au ©2015 PricewaterhouseCoopers. All rights reserved.
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EVENTS
02 6239 1112 info@fortyfourtwelve.com.au
We're behind the scenes at major events across Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. Now we can make your event tick right here in Canberra. We integrate sound, vision, lighting and staging to create amazing event experiences. Events are our passion. Our goal is to deliver your message with precision. We work with you, share your vision, and ensure everything runs like clockwork.
Proudly supporting the arts in Canberra for over 30 years
Maliganis Edwards Johnson congratulates the NGA on their latest acquisition of Dorothy Napangardi artwork
mej.com.au
Level 8, 60 Marcus Clarke St Canberra City ACT 2600 Phone 02 6257 2999
WEEKDAYS 5.30AM
68 ARTONVIEW | WINTER 2015
CANBERRA’S PREMIER shopping destination Located in the heart of the city, Canberra Centre is home to David Jones, Myer and Canberra’s leading collection of Australian and international brands. Zara Hugo Boss Jigsaw David Lawrence Saba Sass & Bide Country Road Apple Veronika Maine Mimco Trenery Rodd & Gunn Swarovski
Until 30 August Free | Open daily 10 am – 5 pm | Follow us on
www.canberracentre.com.au | Bunda Street, Canberra City | Phone 6247 5611
Ruth Maddison Jim and Gerry from Some men series 1983, gelatin silver photograph, colour pencils, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1983
fashion
the story of
RAMA
Indian miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi UNTIL 23 AUGUST 2015
MYTH AND MAGIC Marc Newson Fund | Streetwise | Indian painting
Basohli style, Pahari The portrait of Rama c 1730 (detail), opaque watercolour and gold on paper, National Museum, New Delhi
ISSUE NO 82 | WINTER 2015 A$9.95
NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA
nga.gov.au