Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exploring the Art Gallery's Collection
Although local works had been collected since 1875 the
gallery did not seriously begin seeking Australian and
non-British art until the 1920s, and not until the 1940s did
it begin acquiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
paintings. These contrasting collections are now its great
strength. Major temporary exhibitions are also regularly
staged, with the annual Archibald, Wynne and Sulman
prizes being most controversial and highly entertaining.
and
A Summer Morning
(c.1908), and George
Lambert's heroic
Across the
black soil plains
(1899),
impress with their huge size
and complex compositions.
Australia was slow to take
up Modernism.
Implement blue
(1927) and
Western Australian
Gum Blossom
(1928), both by
Margaret Preston, are her most
assertive of the 1920s. Sidney
Nolan's works range from
Boy
in Township
(1943) to
Burke
(c.1962), exploiting myths
of early Australian history.
There are fine holdings of
William Dobell and Russell
Drysdale, as well as important
collections of Arthur Boyd,
Fred Williams, Grace
Cossington Smith and Brett
Whiteley
(see p130)
.
Three Bathers
, an Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner painting from 1913
and Florentine styles. Hogarth,
Turner and Joshua Reynolds
are represented, as are Neo-
Classical works.
The Visit of
the Queen of Sheba to King
Solomon
(1884-90) by Edward
Poynter has been on display
since 1892. Ford Madox
Brown's
Chaucer at the Court
of Edward III
(1845-51) is the
most commanding work in
the Pre-Raphaelite collection.
The Impressionists and
Post-Impressionists,
represented by late-1880s
Pissarro and Monet, are
housed in the new gallery
wing. Bonnard, Kandinsky,
Braque and many other well-
known European artists are
also here.
Old Woman in
Ermine
(1946) by Max
Beckmann and
Three Bathers
(1913) by Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner are strong examples
of German Expressionism.
The gallery's first Picasso,
Nude in a Rocking Chair
(1956), was purchased in
1981. Among distinguished
sculptures is Henry Moore's
Reclining Figure: Angles
(1980), found resting by the
side of the entrance.
Grace Cossington Smith's
The Curve
of the Bridge
(1928-9)
AUSTRALIAN ART
Among the most important
colonial works is John
Glover's
Natives on the Ouse
River, Van Diemen's
Land
(1838), an image of doomed
Tasmanian Aborigines.
The old wing holds paintings
from the Heidelberg school of
Australian Impressionism.
Charles Conder's
Departure
of the Orient - Circular Quay
(1888) and Tom Robert's
The
Golden Fleece - Shearing at
Newstead
(1894) hang along-
side fine works by Frederick
McCubbin and Arthur Streeton.
Rupert Bunny's sensuous
Summer Time
(c.1907)
EUROPEAN ART
The scope of the scattered
European collection ranges
from the medieval to the
modern. British art from the
late 19th to the early 20th
centuries forms an
outstanding component.
Among the Old Masters are
some significant Italian works
that reflect Caravaggio's
influence. There are also
several notable works from
the Renaissance in Sienese
PHOTOGRAPHY
Australian photography from
1975 to today, represented in
all its various forms, is a major
part of the collection. In recent
years, however, the emphasis
has been on building up a
body of 19th-century Aust-
ralian work in a range of
early mediums. Nearly 3,000
Brett Whiteley's vivid
The Balcony (2)
from 1975
