artonview artonview

ISSUE No.55 ISSUE ISSUE No.55 spring 2008 spring No.55 ISSUE s pr in g g ALLE R NATIONAL 2008 Y OF Y AUST R ALIA

ARTS OF THE PACIFIC · FREDERICK MCCUBBIN · EAST ASIAN GALLERY The National Gallery of is an Australian Government Agency Issue 55, spring 2008

published quarterly by 2 Director’s foreword National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 6 Foundation and Development Canberra ACT 2601 nga.gov.au exhibitions and displays ISSN 1323-4552 Print Post Approved 8 Gods, ghosts and men: Pacific arts from the National pp255003/00078 Gallery of Australia © National Gallery of Australia 2008 Copyright for reproductions of artworks is Crispin Howarth held by the artists or their estates. Apart from uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, 16 Degas: master of French art no part of Artonview may be reproduced, Jane Kinsman transmitted or copied without the prior permission of the National Gallery of Australia. Enquires about permissions should be made in 18 Gallery of East Asian art writing to the Rights and Permissions Officer. Robyn Maxwell The opinions expressed in Artonview are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. 24 Home at last editor Eric Meredith Joanna Krabman designer Kristin Thomas photography Eleni Kypridis, Barry Le Lievre, conservation Brenton McGeachie, Steve Nebauer, John Tassie rights and permissions Nick Nicholson 26 Painted by the sun: early Asia–Pacific photography advertising Erica Seccombe Andrea Wise, Fiona Kemp and James Ward printed in Australia by Blue Star Print, Canberra collection focus enquires The editor, Artonview 32 Costumes of the Ballets Russes National Gallery of Australia Robert Bell GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 [email protected] acquisitions advertising 34 Frederick McCubbin Violet and gold Tel: (02) 6240 6587 Fax: (02) 6240 6427 Anne Gray [email protected] RRP $8.60 includes GST 38 A magnificent gift of Albert Namatjira watercolours Free to members of the National Gallery of Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax Australia 40 Owen Yalandja Yawk yawks For further information on National Gallery of Tina Baum Australia Membership: Coordinator, Membership GPO Box 1150 42 Deborah Paauwe From the waist down Canberra ACT 2601 Anne O’Hehir Tel: (02) 6240 6504 [email protected] 44 Bahau people Funerary figure Lucie Folan 46 Larsen and Lewers Silver bowl Robert Bell

47 Travelling exhibitions 48 Faces in view

(cover) Frederick McCubbin Violet and gold 1911 (detail) oil on canvas 87.0 x 144.5 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased with the generous assistance of the Hon. Ashley Dawson- Damer and John Wylie, AM, and Myriam Wylie 2008 Director’s foreword

As we near the close of our twenty-fifth anniversary year it the exhibition of McCubbin’s later works, which we are is a good time to reflect on some of its high points. planning for August next year. Turner to Monet: the triumph of landscape presented, The Gallery recently received a generous twenty- for the first time ever, outstanding Australian landscape fifth anniversary gift of a collection of Albert Namatjira paintings within the context of their contemporaries watercolours from Gordon Darling, AC, CMG, and in Europe, America and elsewhere. The success of the Marilyn Darling. These brilliant Indigenous paintings of exhibition, for which the Gallery was the only venue, can the central Australian landscape are fine examples of be measured in terms of the more than 180 000 visitors, Namatjira’s distinctive style, which was to inspire an entire the very high proportion of first-time visitors to the Gallery, Hermannsburg School. It would now be impossible for us the highest sale of catalogues per head ever and about to gather such a fine collection together ourselves. thirty million dollars injected into the local economy. In this issue of Artonview we also highlight the More recently, we celebrated the career of Richard acquisitions of Owen Yalandja’s evocative yawk yawks, Larter, a Canberra artist of national repute, in a a gift of John and Janet Calvert-Jones; a new silverwork retrospective that covers five decades of his artistic practice. by Helge Larsen and Darani Lewers, two of Australia’s On display in our Project Gallery, Orde Poynton Gallery and most senior silversmiths; a playful work of contemporary the Australian contemporary gallery, this vibrant exhibition Australian photographer Deborah Paauwe; and a stunning finishes on 14 September. Indonesian funerary figure from Kalmentan, dating from Picture paradise: Asia–Pacific photography 1840s–1940s, the mid fourteenth century. which also opened in winter, presents about five hundred The National Gallery of Australia holds the nation’s early photographs of the Asia–Pacific region, including largest and most valuable art collection, largely acquired Australia. It is the first historic photographic survey over just three decades of collecting. To celebrate this exhibition of our geographic region and reflects the new significant achievement and the twenty-fifth anniversary emphasis of the Gallery’s photographic collection on our of our opening we have published a handbook, Collection region. In another of the many firsts associated with Picture highlights, which illustrates some two hundred and fifty paradise, this is the first time an institution has shown significant works from all parts of the Gallery’s collection. It nineteenth-century photographs in a variety of appropriate is available for $24.95. period frames. Indeed, the framing systems were developed The new East Asian display in gallery 10 is the final as part of the Gallery’s innovative reframing project covered reconfiguration of the permanent collections before in this issue. completion of Stage One of our building redevelopment During our silver anniversary year we have made in early 2010. It features some highlights of our collection many significant acquisitions for the national collection, of Chinese and Japanese art such as the pair of six- many of them announced in earlier issues. We have fold screens of horses and trees by the shore from the already exceeded the target of twenty-five million dollars Muromachi period (1392–1573) and the eighth-century with the help of many generous donors. For example, the Chinese tianlu and pixie earth spirit guardian figures, both acquisition of Frederick McCubbin’s Violet and gold 1911 of which are illustrated in Collection highlights. In this issue (on the cover of this issue) was made possible though of Artonview, Robyn Maxwell, Senior Curator, Asian Art, the generous assistance of Ashley Dawson-Damer, and has written an insightful piece on this new display. John Wylie, AM, and Myriam Wylie. Violet and gold is Early in our collecting history, the Gallery acquired a brilliant painting celebrating the light and colour of some outstanding works from the Pacific region, laying the the Australian bush at Mount Macedon on a spring foundations of our relatively small but significant Pacific morning. It is a wonderful addition to our collection of Arts collection. We have recently revived this collection and Australian federation landscapes and will be a feature of the exhibition Gods, ghosts and men: Pacific arts from the

2 national gallery of australia National Gallery of Australia will showcase some of the display in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gallery. Visitors observe the ten- metre-long Holterman Gallery’s most rarely seen works along with some recent One highlight of the Gallery’s celebration was a concert panorama at the media remarkable additions to this collecting area. This includes of the enchanting voice and music of Geoffrey Gurrumul launch for Picture paradise. the early nineteenth-century Maori chieftain’s cloak (see Yunupingu. We also celebrated the twenty-first birthday of Artonview issue no. 53). Curated by Crispin Howarth, The Aboriginal Memorial. Curator, Pacific Arts, the exhibition focuses on sculptural Although our silver anniversary ends where it began arts, old and new, including magnificent masks and figures. a year ago in October, we will continue to strive for This issue also features a collection focus article by excellence. The Gallery’s December blockbuster exhibition Robert Bell, Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design, Degas: master of French art will be a highlight of the next on the Gallery’s collection of Ballet Russes costumes and issue and will be sure to please crowds during Canberra’s their connection to Australian history and culture. As summer months. highlighted in issue no. 54, this collection requires extensive conservation treatment in preparation for a major Ballets Russes centenary exhibition at the end of 2009. In July, we celebrated NAIDOC Week. Canberra was the focus city for the 2008 NAIDOC Week celebrations and we were pleased to honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander cultures with a program of events and a renewed Ron Radford

artonview spring 2008 3 credit lines

Donations Claudia Hyles Father W G A Jack David A Adams His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Judy Johnson Australian Capital Equity Sara Kelly Ross Adamson King O’Malley’s Antoinette L Albert Sir Richard Kingsland, AO, CBE, DFC Robert O Albert, AO Joyce E Koch Gillian Alderson Robyn Lance Robert C Allmark Sandra K Lauffenburger William J Anderson Judith G Laver Judith H Andrews Stephen R Leeder, AO, MD Susan Armitage Paul and Beryl Legge Wilkinson Sheila Bignell Penelope E Lilley Susan Boden Parsons Judith MacIntyre Sarah Brasch Macquarie Group Foundation Margaret Brennan Jennifer Manton Jennifer Brown Robert Maple-Brown Berenice-Eve Calf Margaret J Mashford Debbie Cameron Patricia F McCormick Deborah Carroll Yoichi Minowa Amanda Cattermole Harold Mitchell Foundation Vicki Clingan Shirley J O’Reilly Diana V Colman Greg Paramor Ann Cork John V Parker Lyn Cummings Kim Paterson Curran Family Foundation Jonathan Persse David R Curtis Mara Praznovszky Ashley Dawson-Damer Prescott Family Foundation Jennifer Doyle-Bogicevic Jason Prowd Doug England Ralph M Renard Pauline Everson Anthony Rohead R H Fleming Jennifer J Rowland Rosemary Foot, AO Roslyn Russell William P Galloway Kenneth Saxby June P Gordon Gisella Scheinberg, OAM Pauline M Griffin, AM Heather G Shakespeare, OAM Warwick Hemsley Elizabeth J Smith William S Hamilton Phyllis Somerville James Hanratty Elizabeth Tanner, AM Natasha L Hardy Ken Taylor John Harrison Noel C Tovey Elizabeth Healey H N Truscott, AM Shirley Hemmings Caroline Turner Neil Hobbs William Tyree, OBE Theodora E Hobbs Chris Van Reesch Snr Laura Holt Morna E Vellacott Keith H Hooper Vicki Vidor, OAM Reverend Bill Huff-Johnston

4 national gallery of australia Elizabeth G Ward Denis Savill Joy Warren, OAM Raphy Star Peter G Webster Tom Trauer Joyce P West Theo Tremblay Jenine Westerburg Robert Vanderstukken Stephen Wild Ray Wilson, OAM, and James Agapitos, OAM Yvonne Wildash I S Wilkey Grants Ray Wilson, OAM Australia Council for the Arts through the Showcasing the Lady Joyce Wilson Best International Strategy, and through its Aboriginal Robine Wilson and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board, Visual Arts Board Donna Woodhill and Community Partnerships and Market Development Evelyn Young (International) Board. We would also like to thank the numerous anonymous The Gordon Darling Foundation donors who have donated to the National Gallery of The San Diego Foundation Australia Foundation. Visions of Australia through its Contemporary Touring Initiative, an Australian Government program Gifts and Bequests supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding The American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia assistance for the development and touring of Anne Atyeo Australian cultural material across Australia, and Neville Black through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative Gregor Cullen of the Australian Government and state and territory The family of the Late Peter Russell governments Gordon Darling, AC, CMG, and Marilyn Darling Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund Sponsorship Dr Anna Gray BHP Billiton Linda Gregoriou Brassey Hotel of Canberra Ross Griffith Casella Wines Wenda Gu Forrest Hotel and Apartments Brent Harris Mantra on Northbourne Pauline Hunter National Australia Bank Dale Jones-Evans Qantas Sara Kelly R M Williams, The Bush Outfitter Derek Kreckler Sony Foundation Australia Leonie Lane Yalumba Wines John Loane Andrew Lu, OAM Marian Maguire John McPhee Bridget McDonnell Peggy Muttukumara John Neeson Nasser Palangi Mike Parr Ron Radford, AM Larry Rawling William Robinson The Rotary Collection of Australian Art Fund

artonview spring 2008 5 Foundation and Development

As we come to the conclusion of our twenty-fifth anniversary year we are also approaching our target of $25 million – which is very exciting. The National Gallery of Australia’s Director Ron Radford, AM, Chair of the Council Rupert Myer, AM, and Chairman of the Foundation Charles Curran, AC, are thrilled with the support provided by Australians throughout the nation. We are confident we will make an announcement on our target in the next issue of Artonview (available in December). Gordon Darling, AC, CMG, and Marilyn Darling recently gifted fifteen Albert Namatjira paintings and have pledged ten more. This extraordinary donation has assisted the Gallery to achieve our $25 million target. The Darlings have been long-term supporters of the Gallery. Gordon Darling’s vision to establish the Gordon Darling Australian and Pacific Print Fund is the reason that the Gallery has an unrivalled collection of Australian and Pacific prints. Foundation directors have been extremely supportive of the Gallery’s Twenty-fifth Anniversary Gift Program. Recently, Kerry Stokes, AC, kindly donated funds to our travelling exhibitions program, which provides regional that the Gallery was able to strengthen our collection of areas with a range of stimulating exhibitions throughout contemporary glass by purchasing Sea urchin I 2007 by the year. This year, as a result of our travelling exhibitions Kevin Gordon. Ms Benjamin’s efforts in garnering support program, Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape painting for the Gallery’s Decorative Arts and Design collection is 1850–1950, Grace Crowley: being modern, and Culture highly appreciated. Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial have been The Decorative Arts and Design collection has been viewed by audiences around Australia. generously supported through donations made by Council member John Calvert-Jones, AM, and his wife Raphy Star. Most recently, he donated two glass works Janet Calvert-Jones generously donated funds to acquire the by Brian Hirst, Cycladic series guardian II vase 1987 and magnificent sculptureUbirikubiri 2007, the remarkable work Cycladic series vase 1988, which strengthen the Gallery’s of art that featured at the entrance to the exhibition Culture contemporary glass collection. Warriors (see Artonview no. 53 for more about Ubirikubiri). Foundation Director Linda Gregoriou and Dale Jones- Masterpieces for the Nation appeal 2008 Evans gifted Dirty manna by Mike Parr to the Gallery. This The appeal is progressing very well and we are most work greatly adds to the Australian Prints and Drawings grateful for the support provided from donors throughout collection. the country. This year, donations are going towards the Foundation Director Jennifer Prescott, through the acquisition of two paintings: Doreen Reid Nakamarra’s Prescott Family Foundation, donated funds so that the Untitled 2007, which will be an important addition to Gallery was able to acquire the poignant Tusk the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art collection, 2007 by Ricky Swallow for the Australian Painting and and Autumn moon festival [Sharad Purnima], a pichhavai Sculpture collection. Ricky Swallow is a young but renowned for the Asian Art collection. If you would like to receive a artist, and the Gallery is thrilled to have this important work brochure about this program, please contact the Foundation in the national collection. Office on (02) 6240 6454. Also, for more details on the Foundation Director Sandy Benjamin, who is also Masterpieces for the Nation appeal 2008, see Artonview the Chair of the Decorative Arts and Design Collection issue no. 54. Development Fund, donated funds to the Foundation so

6 national gallery of australia Bequest Program Corporate Members Program & Yalumba Rare and Mr Rupert Myer, AM, Mr Ron Radford, AM, Mr Hugh Fine Dinner We are very excited about launching an official bequest Jackman, and The Hon. Peter Garrett, AM, MP, at the program at the National Gallery of Australia. More details Yalumba and the National Gallery of Australia’s Corporate 2020 Summit Dinner at the National Gallery of Australia. about this program will be available in the next issue of Members Program held an evening of fine art, wine and Artonview. If you are interested in being involved or would dining on 27 May in conjunction with the exhibition Turner Mr Dan Bisa, Mrs Jo Bisa, Mrs Anna Bezos and Mr George like more information please contact Annalisa Millar, to Monet: the triumph of landscape. The evening was a Bezos, at the Corporate Executive Director, National Gallery of Australia Foundation, great success with various Canberra businesspeople turning Members & Yalumba Rare and Fine Dinner at the National on (02) 6240 6691. out to enjoy the exhibition and a delicious dinner with six Gallery of Australia.

of Yalumba’s finest wines to be tasted. A highlight was the (opposite) 2020 Summit Dinner at the National Gallery guest speaker Jane Ferrari. Ms Ferrari is the internationally Mr Kerry Stokes, AC, and Mrs of Australia Christine Stokes, at the 2020 renowned Yalumba crusader. She is a born storyteller Summit Dinner. In an atmosphere charged with creative energy, we were whose infectious enthusiasm and outstanding knowledge delighted to welcome participants of the 2020 Summit to of wine ensured the evening was both informative and a champagne supper and private viewing of the exhibition entertaining. We thank everyone who attended this Turner to Monet: the triumph of landscape. premier event. Also a special thank you to Yalumba for The evening was hosted by Chair of the Council Rupert providing rare and fine wines, entertainment and prizes on Myer, AM, and Director Ron Radford, AM, who were both the night. delegates of the Creative Australia stream of the 2020 The Corporate Members Program offers businesses Summit. The Gallery was also represented at the Summit by the opportunity to become involved in arts sponsorship Brenda L Croft, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait at an entry point level. If you are interested in hearing Islander Art, a delegate of the Indigenous Australia stream. more about the program please contact Frances Corkhill, We would like to thank Champagne Pol Roger and Sponsorship and Development Officer, on (02) 6240 6740. Yalumba for their support of this evening. The mood was We are grateful to the following corporate members relaxed and jovial allowing informal discussion to continue for their continued support: Mantra on Northbourne, The into the night. Brassey of Canberra, Forrest Hotel and Apartments, Casella Wines, Champagne Pol Roger and Yalumba.

artonview spring 2008 7 exhibition

Gods, ghosts and men: Pacific arts from the National Gallery of Australia

10 October 2008 – 11 January 2009 Orde Poynton Gallery and Project Gallery

Iatmul people The Pacific covers one third of the Earth’s surface. It is the Arts collection are radically different in many respects yet Papua New Guinea, East Sepik Province, Tambanum village largest and deepest ocean on the planet; the landmass of very similar in others. While the traditional arts consist of Gable mask from a haus Australia is dwarfed by its size and could fit into the Pacific masks, shields and ancestral that (for the main tambaran 1920–50 wood, ochre, shell 124.0 x Ocean at least twenty times. part) are not still in use among Pacific communities, the 100.0 x 50.0 cm Australia has strong connections to the Pacific through artists working today sometimes draw on this heritage National Gallery of Australia, Canberra historical, political and geographical ties. We are the as a source of identity. The exhibition Gods, ghosts and Purchased 2008 western border to this watery expanse in which many men focuses firmly on the traditional sculptural arts as thousands of islands break the deep blue surface in chaotic the recent travelling exhibition Imagining Papua New patterns like stars in the sky until the Pacific is hemmed in Guinea featured many great works from the contemporary again, to the west, by the eat coast of the Americas. collection. Discussions on the classification or divisions So large is the Pacific and vast the distance between between art and artefact, traditional or contemporary may island groups that each is distinctive in its own right for seem to be required but are not necessary; any culture that the array of animals, plants and the people that live there. an artist works within is subject to change. It is the very Many Pacific Island communities were and are connected nature of human cultures to change due to internal and to one another through trade and social links even when external influences. For the Pacific region great changes the distance between islands is considerable. Some cultures were experienced for centuries prior to the introduction of also developed in isolation, such as the Rapa Nui people Western expeditions in the eighteenth century. of Easter Island. Papua New Guinea supports hundreds of The recognition of traditional Pacific arts as art rather distinct yet interconnected cultures but the country is still than examples of material culture has a fairly short history, large enough for relatively isolated communities to have shorter than one might expect. During the late nineteenth developed unique arts. century, the anthropological understanding was that The National Gallery of Australia’s first Director, James unravelling the differing forms, motifs and designs would Mollison, was instrumental in developing the Pacific Arts assist in delineating one tribal community from another; collection. With great foresight, he acquired many of the it was not an admiration of the aesthetic values of a work works in the exhibition Gods, ghosts and men: Pacific arts and its ability to affect the viewer.1 from the National Gallery of Australia. Being judiciously Such an appreciation for Pacific arts has, in part, a careful in his selection, Mollison acquired a number of debt to the contemplation of African art by artists in the the most iconic objects in the collection, including the cubist and expressionist movements during the early 1900s. Ambum stone, the Double figure from a housepost [To-reri The championing and occasional appropriation by artists, uno] from Lake Sentani and, in 1985, Max Ernst’s private mainly in Europe, of what were seen to be the exotic arts collection of non-western art – some of which is displayed of cultures living in distant lands did not address any real in the exhibition. It was not until 2006 that the Gallery understanding of the Pacific arts or the people who created regained its focus on Pacific arts and, in the past two years, them. It was more the dynamic of the exotic tribal object several works of great importance have been acquired, being a touchstone or visual cue to connect with, or unlock including a bridal veil from Papua New Guinea, a war club an artist’s innate sense of primitivism. from the Marquesas Islands and the cloak of a Maori chief. By the 1920s, art from the Pacific struck a chord with The Gallery holds collections of traditional and members of the surrealist movement who were attracted contemporary Pacific arts – the latter includes the largest by the less structured almost subconscious plasticity collection of contemporary prints from Papua New inherent to Melanesian art compared to the seeming Guinea in Australia. Both of these spheres of the Pacific rigidity of African masks and figures. Melanesian figurative

8 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2008 9 Mathew Salle sculpture, especially those of Papua New Guinea’s Sepik Several works from this gift are exhibited in Gods, Papua New Guinea, New Ireland River region, often depict mythical beings with both ghosts and men along with works that Sir William Dargie Bird and snake fighting [Turu] animal and human attributes along with flowing surface collected directly from the communities and individuals 2004 wood, ochres, shell designs that surrealist artists likened to having dream-like during his expeditions to Papua New Guinea in the late 38.0 x 104.0 x 12.0 cm qualities – which fired their discussions and creativity in 1960s. The Gallery is very lucky to have collections formed National Gallery of Australia, Canberra the arts. During the mid twentieth century in Australia, in ‘the field’ as information about the works is usually Purchased 2008 artists were introduced to and inspired by the Pacific arts recorded. An important collection gathered in the late Tigoana in various situations beyond the large cluttered cases in nineteenth century is the Fellows collection of Massim art. Solomon Islands Figure of a spirit being [Adaro] museums. William Dobell and Guy Warren’s experiences in This collection of art from south-eastern Papua New Guinea c. 1940 wartime New Guinea left lasting impressions, as it did for comprises of works made for or given to Reverend Samuel wood, patinas, shell 82.0 x 19.0 x 16.0 cm many Australians who served in the Pacific Islands during Fellows and his wife Sarah in recognition of the Kiriwinian National Gallery of Australia, Canberra this time. Far removed from the Pacific itself, other artists people’s embrace of Christianity. Purchased 2008 working in Britain during the 1940s, such as When viewing works in the exhibition Gods, ghosts and Robert Klippel, were exposed to a wealth of Pacific and men, we are really looking at only the husks, the arts through their mutual friend, the ‘primitive’ art dealer physical elements, of rituals and festive events – which are William Ohly. still remarkably moving even though they are now silent. Pacific arts as an influence to artists from outside The dramatic spectacle of song, dance and the sense of the Pacific has been well documented from a Western immediacy the audience experienced when viewing masked viewpoint, beginning with the activities of Robert Louis performers cannot be contained and collected. Stevenson and Paul Gauguin; however, interest in the The bridal veil (ambusap) with its painstakingly applied motivations and actions of indigenous artists whose names shell decorations would have been a treasured item by are now lost is very much a later twentieth-century move in its owner. The veil formed a major part of a series of the study of Pacific arts. adornments a bride would wear for the important event of A pioneer in observing Pacific arts to gain an indigenous entering her husband’s house for the first time. How the viewpoint of the artistic process was Professor Anthony wearer of this particular veil (presumably the envy of other Forge of the Australian National University, whose seminal women in the community for wearing attractive finery) studies in the mid-to-late twentieth century of Abelam art must have felt upon this occasion in her life we cannot still hold impact today.2 The National Gallery of Australia is guess at, yet the work itself, its flowing intricacy, conveys very fortunate to have received a gift in memory of Forge. a sense of elegance befitting the event it was made for. The gift is formed of many works Forge purchased from the Religious beliefs for Pacific communities prior to the Abelam people and other communities during his work in twentieth century were linked by the earnest need to Papua New Guinea. connect with, placate, charm and control the influences

10 national gallery of australia of spirits and the cosmic order though the use of magic and rituals. For the majority of Melanesian cultures their spiritual beliefs could broadly be considered animist in the sense that all things are equal: humans are on an equal footing to every living thing in their environment and each object has a soul or spirit connected to it. In the Eastern Solomon Islands, people believed – and, in places, still believe – in water spirits that can manipulate the sea and travel on rainbows. These spirits are called adaro. The Gallery’s adaro figure has porpoise- or dolphin-like, which the water spirit can control. Where he steps, shoals of fish follow. The figure, carved by Tigoana, is not only a representation of an adaro spirit but can also be thought of as the adaro spirit itself; the sculpture is a vessel for the spirit to enter when called upon for assistance. Another two works that, now silent, can only hint at their once pivotal and chaotic importance for their audience are the Susu masks from New Britain. These masks are not just striking in their appearance; while worn, they are the very spirits themselves – through performance, they become the manifestation of a particular spirit, if only for the briefest of moments. To ‘activate’ a mask, a figure or other object and make it alive with the spirit it was intended to house involved convincing the spirit or ancestor to enter the work through invocation and ritual adherences. The use of magical ingredients play a major role in activating these vessels: special herbs, pieces of animal meat, powdered lime, shells, money and even bodily fluids are some of the symbolically offered ritual substances that could be spat or smeared on objects to energise the connections between worlds

artonview spring 2008 11 to a spirit or an ancestor. In some instances, the process old with a pecked design below its more recently painted Cook Islander people Cook Islands, Aitu Island involved the application of colour as certain colours have surface. Ka has produced series of shields with identical Seat for a noble [No’oanga] magical importance and the act of painting a work would designs for warring groups, maintaining the collective 19th century wood 16.0 x 50.0 x 23.0 cm entice the desired spirit to take residence in the object. identity of the fight group in much the same way football National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Strict rules needed to be observed by the artist, colours are worn. The shield depicts two birds of paradise Purchased 2007 including the abstention from eating certain foods or perched upon a skull with glaring eyes and below is the (opposite) entering into sexual or social activity until the process slogan ‘six 2 six’ which, in the Wahgi Valley area, is an Kaipel Ka of producing the work of art was completed. The idea invitation to party all night long; although, in this context, Papua New Guinea, Western Highlands Province, Banz of activating or breathing life into a mask or figure of it has become an aggressive statement intended to unnerve Six to six shield 1990–95 wood, paint, wire, rattan an ancestor for it to be communed with, supplicated the opponent – ‘we will fight you from dawn until dusk, 148.0 x 47.0 x 12.0 cm or implored to assist in some way was common across six to six’. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra the Pacific although each community developed distinct Weapons across the Pacific were also embellished Purchased 1996 approaches – from simple rituals to elaborate ceremonies – beyond their brutal function as bludgeoning clubs to a Awyu people to procure the support of the ancestors, gods and spirits. level where many communities, particularly in Polynesia, Western New Guinea, Papua The exhibition includes several shields from Papua New enlisted specialist carvers to produce beautifully balanced, Province, Mappi or Ederah River Guinea and one from Awyu people of West Papua from immaculately finished weapons that played a great part in Parrying shield 20th century wood, ochre, lime 95.5 x the Max Ernst collection. Each shield is highly decorated; communicating the high esteem accorded to the owner. 27.0 x 8.0 cm indeed, it is rare to encounter shields from Melanesia The face-like business end of the U’u club from the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra without carved or painted designs across their surfaces. Marquesas Islands is a superb example of the elaboration Max Ernst Collection, purchased The meandering designs on the small leaf-shaped Awyu and care taken by specialist artists in producing war clubs. 1985 people shield may depict body adornments, geographical The U’u club is immediately one of the most iconic works locations or even a rapidly moving river but, without of art from the Pacific. It couples functionality with a solid information, the intent behind the motifs remains delicate attention to detail; and those details have been cryptographic while the imagery remains bold. Nonetheless, adapted from the socially important temporal art of body each shield’s design identified the community or clan of decoration, tattoo. their owner and, through the strength of the designs, fear Several of the Polynesian works exhibited relate in some could be instilled into an opponent. way to their owners status and prestige, none more so One of the contemporary works in the exhibition is than the objects that were once associated to those of high a shield painted by Kaipel Ka. The shield is actually quite social rank. The stool No’oanga from the Cook Islands, with

artonview spring 2008 13 14 national gallery of australia its four legs reminiscent of a crouching animal poised and works lends a certain enigmatic charisma. And it is these Kamakaing Papua New Guinea, Tami ready to move, was the property of an ariki (a hereditary small but magical mysteries that can enhance our ability Island, Wonam village chieftain). It was used during meetings to ensure no-one to contemplate and suspend our beliefs. In a similar vein Bowl in the form of a fish [Njul potipah] 20th century else’s head was higher than that of the chief. to the Surrealists, who contemplated Pacific arts with far wood 14.0 x 8.3 x 24.5 cm In pre-Christian Polynesian societies, the head was larger gaps in their understanding than we have today, we National Gallery of Australia, Canberra the most important part of the body as it has strong can make closer connections between the works and the Purchased 1969 connections with mana, a spiritual quality that generates ancestors and spirits that have been said to inhabit them. (opposite) great respect. People and objects can both hold levels We can imagine, for instance, that the housepost figure Iatmul people Papua New Guinea, East Sepik of mana. Older objects absorb mana though their long Mogulapan is actually the spirit of Mogulapan himself and Province, Kanganaman village histories and connections with people and this mana can that a mask is not just a mask but a spirit in physical form. Orator’s stool [Kawa rigit] 1920–50 still sometimes be felt or sensed by people who identify These intangible qualities affect our senses when wood, ochre, shell 122.0 x 51.0 x 45.0 cm particular works as part of their heritage. assessing the aesthetics of the Pacific arts – particularly so National Gallery of Australia, A singularly magnificent work from the Pacific Arts with the expressive forms of Melanesian art – that set apart Canberra Purchased 2008 collection is the Maori cloak Huaki – fibre arts are rare in the sculptures of ancestors and spirit beings from so many Polynesia compared to objects produced in wood, stone of the other spheres of art within the National Gallery of and bone. Cloak-making was an art whose secrets where Australia. closely guarded by women who acquired the specialist skill Currently inanimate, these objects were once – and, in and knowledge to work flax into such robes of splendour. some cases, possibly continue to be – more than superb Huaki are the rarest of all cloaks from New Zealand and works of art. They are the spiritually charged places, the the Gallery’s example undoubtedly was owned by a leader lightening rods, where the ancestors themselves and of great importance, a person with strong mana whose otherworldly spirits could interact with and influence the majesty was visually communicated through wearing human world. Although dormant, these charged works of the huaki. art can speak for themselves. Gods, ghosts and men divulges the richness and Crispin Howarth diversity of this region but still barely scratches the surface Curator, Pacific Arts, and curator of Gods, ghosts and men of the National Gallery of Australia’s collection of over two Gods, ghosts and men: Pacific arts from the National Gallery of thousand works from the Pacific. It reveals, however, the Australia is proudly supported by the National Gallery of Australia greatest works by artists who were recognised within their Council exhibitions fund. communities for their ability to create. notes The names of many Pacific artists have been lost 1. A C Haddon, The decorative art of British New Guinea: a study in Papuan ethnography, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1894. For the period over time or were simply not recorded when a work in which it was produced, Haddon’s book remains an exemplary work was traded out of a community’s circles. However, this dealing with a comparative analysis of the visual arts of British New Guinea. lack of knowledge regarding the names of the artists or 2. Anthony Forge, ‘Style and meaning in Sepik art’, in A Forge (ed.), Primitive art and society, Oxford University Press, London, 1973, the people who wore, danced, consulted or used these pp. 169–92.

artonview spring 2008 15 forthcoming exhibition

Degas: master of French art

12 December 2008 – 22 March 2009

Horses, ballerinas, laundresses are [Degas’] predilections and of all the things in the world which surround him seem to preoccupy him exclusively. But what truth there is in his draughtsmanship, and how astute is his understanding of colour.1 Jules-Antoine Castagnary, 1874

Edgar Degas The exhibition Degas: master of French art spans the period pejoratively described the group as ‘Impressionists’. Many The dance class began 1873, finished 1875–76 from Edgar Degas’ early portraiture and historical subject adopted the title as a badge of honour, although Degas oil on canvas matter to his late experimental paintings and photographs found the term distasteful. It was also on this occasion that 85.0 x 75.0 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris of the 1890s. It also examines the rich visual and literary the critic Jules-Antoine Castagnary made his comments on sources that Degas drew upon in his early years. Degas in the journal Le Siècle. A major theme of the exhibition is the transformation From this time Degas came to be known for his of Degas as an artist and his experimentation, which thoroughly modern French subject matter – the ballet, contributed to the developments of his singular style. It behind the scenes at the opera, the racecourse, the traces his development from finely crafted paintings to café-concert, milliners, laundresses, brothels and bathers. those that possess a brilliant palette and loose brushwork Later, his art became more exploratory in its composition and concludes with radical works that include finger and its execution while taking on the appearance of painting. This makes him an influential figure in the greater intimacy and more informality. Unlike other artists evolution of modern art – an artist whose work was both associated with the Impressionists, Degas did not set out to admired and collected by and Henri Matisse. capture a fleeting moment or to work en plein air. Despite One particular focus is on Degas’ work after he became the spontaneous appearance of his subjects, the art of an artist of modern life, when his art was increasingly Degas was carefully contrived and composed – the sense exploratory in its composition and its execution. On 15 of liveliness achieved through a thoughtful pastiche. As his April 1874 he was one of a group of young artists who art evolved, it gained a new sense of spatial arrangement, came together as the Société Anonyme des Artistes, moving away from mathematical perspective to a more Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc. with the view to radical, flattened space in some instances. showing their work independent of the official Salon. The The exhibition Degas will explore other relevant themes timing for their first exhibition was crucial. Degas, along such as the influence of French caricature, japonisme, with Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, literature and the theatre. Through modelling wax figures Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and others, chose a date prior of horses, ballet dancers and bathers (later cast in bronze), to the Paris Salon of the that year. In this way it could not Degas constantly searched for ways to depict movement be considered as just another Salon des Refusés – a display and form. The relationship of his sculpture to his paintings of rejects from the official art exhibition of the Académie and drawings will be examined in this exhibition. des Beaux-Arts, which was renowned for its conservatism. Degas was a consummate painter, draughtsman, Though the exhibiting group varied in their art style, all printmaker and sculptor, who in his later years were keen to establish an art that related to their day rather also undertook experiments in the new medium of than dressing up figures in fanciful costumes with fanciful photography. The exhibition Degas will include all these arts themes of the past. What they wanted to do was establish and their interrelationships. a new art for a modern France. The artists arranged for Jane Kinsman the display of their work on the second floor of the large Senior Curator, International Art, and curator of Degas studios (formerly belonging to the photographer and

balloonist Nadar) at 35 Boulevard des Capucines, close to note the new opera house in Paris. In a review of the exhibition 1. Jules-Antoine Castagnary, ‘Exposition du Boulevard des Capucines: les Impressionnistes’, Le Siècle, 29 April 1874, p. 3; translated by in Le Charivari on 25 April 1874, critic Louis Leroy Mark Henshaw.

16 national gallery of australia

display

Gallery of East Asian art

A pair of Tang dynasty Demonstrating the creative skills of East Asian artists, Asian horse introduced into China. In contrast to domestic Chinese Earth spirit guardian figures, pixie and tianlu, in past and present, works of art in the National Gallery of Mongolian ponies, the imported horses were prized for front of Pine trees by the Australia’s reinstallation of the East Asian Gallery range their strength and size. Known as ‘celestial horses’, objects shore, a sixteenth-century Japanese screen given to from Neolithic ceramics to twentieth-century works on such as this became a testament to the rank, wealth and the Gallery by Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett and the paper. The new and expanded permanent display in the social status of the deceased. Like many of the Chinese National Gallery of Australia intimate lower gallery adjacent to the National Australia funerary objects in the Gallery’s collection, this is part of a Foundation. Bank Sculpture Gallery is loosely arranged by regional generous gift from Hong Kong-based businessman and art and cultural themes. Although the national collection of patron T T Tsui. works from China, Japan and Korea is not large, it covers While early ceramics were decorated with painted a diversity of styles, forms and functions, in materials designs, one of the great achievements of the Chinese important to Asian artists. ceramic artisan, glazed decoration, completely transformed Together, the displays illuminate significant forces earthenware surfaces. Perhaps the most striking example is behind the creation of great art in the region. They include a huge pair of protective earth spirits that originally stood early funerary vessels and lively tomb figures, Buddhist guard at the entrance to the tomb of a Chinese ruler. images from traditions as diverse as those of Mongolia and Drawn from real and mythical animals and birds, each Japan, and works that demonstrate the close visual and figure displays an amalgam of ferocious and threatening scholarly connections that informed the art of the literati. features. The glazed head of the lion-shaped, clawed pixie Also explored is the Japanese fascination with theatre and figure sprouts curving antlers and a flame-like mane, while responses to urban modernism, especially through the the man-lion tianlu figure displays cloven hooves, enormous ancient but enduring art of the print. flared ears and a single spiralling horn. Its unglazed head The oldest objects on display – incised, painted and would probably once have been painted. Coated in glazed earthenware – were created to be buried with brilliant amber, green and straw sancai glazes – perfected the dead. Beliefs that the fortunes of states and peoples by the Tang-dynasty potters – the guardian figures crouch depended on the appeasement of ancestral spirits, and expectantly on tall, rocky outcrops. the honouring of those immortals, resulted in elaborate Less imposing but equally superb is the fifth – sixth funerary rituals accompanied by beautiful objects to usher century duck-shaped earthenware vessel from Korea. A gift the deceased into the afterlife. In China, dedication to of a former Korean ambassador to Australia, it was also ancestor worship led to the creation of an enormous range created as a funerary object. Ducks are thought to have of grave goods modelled on the wealth and luxury that been worshipped in the small southern Korean kingdom surrounded a ruler in life. These include representations of of Kaya (42–562), which is noted for its duck-shaped highly prized animals, particularly camels and thoroughbred funerary vessels. Symbolising a plentiful food supply for the horses, which were an important part of the deceased’s deceased in the afterlife, the vessels were naturalistically retinue. Such objects were buried with departed rulers to rendered, especially in the expressive details of the head demonstrate status and fulfil needs in the afterlife. and beak. Ceramics were an integral part of this tradition, initially Buddhism was another important impetus for the as inexpensive substitutes for bronze and jade items, and creation of art in East Asia. Over time, the religion spread later as important objects in their own right. A rich array of from India along the Silk Route to China, Korea and across pottery images, including soldiers, courtiers and animals, the sea to Japan. As Buddhism developed and adapted have been found in tombs from as early as the Western to new cultures and circumstances, different philosophies Han period (206 BCE – 8 CE), although the custom and schools rose to prominence. Although the teachings reached its zenith during the Tang dynasty (618–907). One of the earthly Buddha Shakyamuni formed the basis of unusually large mortuary figure from the Han dynasty, with the traditional sects of Theravada Buddhism, the Southern detachable head and saddle, depicts a breed of central Buddhism still followed in Southeast Asia today, a second

18 national gallery of australia

View of the East Asian Gallery movement, known as Mahayana, emerged in the first being who delays personal enlightenment to assist others. with a vibrant ikat-dyed man’s robe from Uzbekistan in the century. As its influence was mainly felt in Nepal, Tibet, In the Gallery’s Edo-period (1603–1868) image, Jizo is foreground. China, Korea and Japan, it became known as Northern shown as a monk wearing monastic robes and with his Buddhism. head shaved. He holds the six-ringed staff of a mendicant The doctrinal expansion of Mahayana Buddhism was and a sacred jewel, a symbol of spiritual wealth. A mirrored in its art. In a burst of creative energy fed by protector of travellers, samurai and fire fighters, Jizo is most intense mystical and visionary experiences, pantheons widely worshipped as a guardian to mothers and children, of celestial Buddhas, saviours (bodhisattvas), saints and particularly infants who are ill or have died. other divine beings inhabiting heavenly realms became the In China, where Mahayana beliefs were similarly focus of prayer and devotion. Japanese Mahayana deities confronted by Confucian and Daoist philosophies, many were among the most diverse, mixing forms belonging local sects developed and Daoist immortals and Buddhist to Daoism, Confucianism and the native Shinto religion. sages (lohan or arhat) appeared in both religious and folk One of the great Buddhist sculptures in the collection is art. The concept of the lohan spread from India, where the Japanese thirteenth-century gilded lacquer image of there were originally sixteen in number, to China, where Amida (Amitabha in Sanskrit). Regarded as one of the most the group expanded to eighteen, and even to five hundred. compassionate figures in Buddhism, Amida the Buddha Now on display is a set of eighteen lohan from China, the of Infinite Light was a popular figure in the Kamakura most recognisable of which are Rahula, the son of Buddha, period (1185–1392) and is the principal deity of the Pure with a figure of Buddha emerging from his chest, and Land Buddhist sect in Japan. Followers believe that faith in Pindola, with extremely long eyebrows. One side of a very Amida, as well as contemplating his image and chanting large and opulent Satsuma jar, a late nineteenth-century his name, will enable rebirth in the Pure Land, a Buddhist export from Japan to Europe, also depicts three Buddhist paradise in the west. The Gallery’s figure gazes down sages (rakan in Japanese) modelled in high relief, while the benevolently as he welcomes reborn souls. Sometimes lid is topped by a dancing hermit. considered an attendant of Amida is the Buddhist saviour In Tibet, a particular form of Buddhism developed from known in Japan as Jizo Bosatsu. Jizo is a bodhisattva, a both indigenous and Indian tantric doctrines. This form

20 national gallery of australia was absorbed into a number of Chinese Mahayana sects. the Gallery’s sculpture identifies it as Zenzai Doji, a youth A Han dynasty Chinese funerary sculpture of reclining With iconography similar to that found on Tibetan religious who travelled the Buddhist world from one teacher to dog, a gift from T T Tsui, in scrolls, a small Mongolian painting on display in the East another seeking wisdom. front of works of art including an ancient Japanese pot Asian Gallery shows the dakini Dechen Gyalmo. Dakinis Resplendent in the new East Asian display is a rare and an Iranian ceramic male are female, demonic and quasi-divine beings in Hindu and example of a pair of Japanese painted and gold leaf screens figure. Buddhist esoteric art. In tantric belief, voluptuous women from the sixteenth century. The folding screens demonstrate are seen as the vessels of primary creative and spiritual the meeting of function and beauty, an exquisite painting power. This naked dakini is holding ritual symbols – a drum that serves as a utilitarian room divider. The evergreen pine and a chopper – in her hands. She wears fine jewellery, a tree (matsu) is a symbol of youth, longevity and dignity, and garland of flowers and a crown of skulls. The dakini stands the subject of pine trees by the shore is a recurring theme on a lotus pedestal enclosed by a downward-pointed in Japanese art. Possibly a narrative, the scene shows lively triangle, a magic and potent female symbol. horses on the right screen and fast-moving fishing boats on Ascetic schools of Buddhism, such as Zen (Chan in the left, balanced by the tranquillity of the pines twisting Chinese), also had enormous impact on the visual arts. across both screens. Because of conservation requirements, The Gallery is fortunate to own a sculpture by the famous pairs of folding screens from the collection will be rotated Japanese Buddhist monk Enku. He entered a Buddhist on a regular basis. monastery as a youth but during much of his life appears Across Central and East Asia, boldly decorated to have followed an ancient tradition of ascetic practice in costumes and textiles were created for court, ritual and the mountains. Such men were believed to have developed theatre. The sultanates or khanates that arose along the supernatural power and were often sought out to heal or famed Silk Road in the great trading towns of Bukhara, to avert crises. Enku’s religious practice involved producing Khiva, Tashkent and Samarkand displayed their wealth works of art and he is best known for thousands of in handsome apparel and furnishings. Men and women sculptures, carved mainly with an axe, made as offerings, wore robes and coats of various cuts carefully constructed gifts or charms. Most of his sculptures are still located in with imported linings and decorative tablet-woven ribbon Japanese villages and shrines. An inscription on the back of trim. The cut of many flowing garments is similar for both

artonview spring 2008 21 sexes, although men’s garments include bulky outer coats disturbing prints of supernatural stories ranging from A row of Chinese bone sages, lohans, which were a gift worn over thinner robes. Complementing simple tailoring, a homesick palm uprooting itself and walking out of a from Mr Louis Berthet and the colours are rich and luminous and the designs bold garden, to an ailing samurai confronted by his past victims Mrs Suzette Bertolozzi. and abstract. Motifs range from the geometric to ancient in the form of giant skulls. (opposite above) stylised tree and floral imagery also found on other art While social structures and hierarchies changed in View of the East Asian Gallery featuring a Han dynasty forms from Central Asia, such as jewellery and carpets. twentieth-century East Asia, many ancient sources of Chinese watchtower, a gift from Andrew and Hiroko In Japan, the theatre inspired artistic innovation and imagery continued to inspire modern artists. Munakata Gwinnett, beside the gilded was a source of wonderful imagery. Woven from silk and Shiko (1903–1975) combined spontaneity and a sense of Japanese screens Pine trees by the shore. gold foil paper, an ornate brocade outer-robe for a male joyous discovery with stories and images familiar from the actor in a Noh drama performance demonstrates the links canons of Japanese Buddhism and Chinese Daoism. The (opposite below) View of the calligraphy on the between palace and theatre. Literally meaning ‘hunting woodcuts in his 1939–40 series Life of Prince Shotoku back of a Japanese sculpture by Enku, shown between cloak’, the awase kariginu robe developed from the took figures from the legendary story of Prince Shotoku a Japanese Noh robe and a informal jacket worn by Japanese male courtiers. During (574–622) who dedicated himself to public service and series of actor portraits by Natori Shunsen. The prints the Edo period, however, the awase kariginu became the Buddhist teachings. Shotoku is remembered as the were a gift from Jennifer most important outer garment for certain male characters founding father of the Japanese state and as an ideal Gordon. in the Noh drama, and the costume worn by strong gods, Buddhist king. In complete contrast, a late twentieth- ministers and the bird-like tengu demons. Those made for century print by Masami Teraoka (b. 1936) acknowledges the stage are larger than the original form used for daily both American Pop art and Japanese ukiyo-e woodblocks. apparel, and additional padding and the small masks used In Catfish envy 1993, the artist humorously sets subject in Noh theatre create an effect of size and bulk. matter typical of Edo-period prints in an American beach The theatre continued to be popular in modern Japan scenario to comment on current morals and attitudes in with many visual artists and their actor contemporaries Japan and the West. creating bold images for a broader urban middle-class Together the vibrant and enormously varied displays audience. In the East Asian Gallery, the ukiyo-e prints of in the refurbished gallery provide visitors with illuminating Natori Shunsen (1886–1960) portray prominent actors insights into the arts and histories of the diverse East in iconic roles drawn from popular new forms of kabuki Asian region. theatre which dramatised well-known events and folk Robyn Maxwell legends. Another consummate printmaker, Tsukioka Senior Curator, Asian Art Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), created extraordinary and often

artonview spring 2008 23 children’s exhibition

Home at last

13 September – 1 February 2009 Children’s Gallery

Elaine Russell For young children, the home is the centre of their world For many it is the relationships within the household Little orphans 2004 synthetic polymer paint on and the focus of family life and, as they grow, they that make a house a home. The prints, paintings and paper 97.0 x 78.0 cm branch out into the wider world from this home base. The photographs in the exhibition explore every day moments National Gallery of Australia, Canberra exhibition Home at last provides a child’s eye view of the of home and family life, including extended family, friends Purchased 2004 Australian home across time, place and culture. It features a and much loved pets. Through the familiar process of range of new and familiar media, techniques and objects by photography, Robert McFarlane portrays a warm family Australian artists in the National Gallery of Australia’s collection. gathering in Grandmother Lily McFarlane (nee Gelsthorpe The home is a popular subject for artists, particularly Brimage) at a dinner for her 77th birthday at our family their own home, which is easily accessible, relevant, known home at Downing Street, Brighton, Adelaide 1964. and loved. Grace Cossington Smith’s Interior with veranda Atmospheric light captures the faces of family watching doors 1954 captures the intimate, memory-filled spaces and waiting in anticipation as the candles are lit. of her family home. One of the artist’s sketchbooks (an Some artists comment on the place of the home in intimate, portable and affordable format for drawing in and Australian society. Howard Arkley’s painting Floral exterior around the home) is included in the exhibition. 1996 explores the Australian dream of the suburban home.

24 national gallery of australia Inspired by advertising and magazines, Arkley imposes interior decoration on the exterior of the house. The stencil process is also used by Adrian Doyle, who presents a nostalgic Australian childhood memory in Boy on a clothes line 2003. Another Australian icon is introduced to the children in Margaret Dodd’s Holden with lipstick surfboards 1977 – a famous Australian family car with a twist. Objects reveal the times and experiences of their maker. Art is often made at home and for the home. Furniture and toys in the exhibition reveal the resourcefulness of artists who ‘make do’ and ‘make a bob’ by creating art from recycled materials in hard economic times. Chest of drawers c. 1920 from the Australian folk art collection is a delightful piece creatively assembled from kerosene tins and packing cases by an unknown South Australian artist. The Indigenous Australian works of art in the exhibition show the artists’ close connections to home through their choice of materials and techniques and the function of their work. Golbordok (traditional bush honey collecting bag) 1989 is closely woven from pandanus fibre and embedded with wax to ingeniously prevent leakage. The bag was woven by Margaret Rinybuma and decorated with ochres by her husband Michael Gadjawala from Maningrida in Central Arnhem Land. Elaine Russell’s painting Little orphans 2004 illustrates an episode from her childhood at Murrin Bridge Mission on the Lachlan River in central in the 1940s and 1950s. In this scene she depicts herself being followed home from a swim in the pond by a family of ducklings. The image alludes to a childhood spent growing up in a loving family, living in difficult circumstances. The painting is displayed alongside a work from the Frances Derham collection of child art, Mt Margaret Mission, Western homes. Visitors can attempt to identify secret sounds and Howard Arkley Floral exterior 1996 Australia 1939 by thirteen-year-old Boongie Nindarngar. the works of art that match them, and can try to guess synthetic polymer paint on The annotated drawing includes a photograph of the artist the functions of mystery objects. Many of the works evoke canvas 174.5 x 134.5 cm National Gallery of Australia, and is a map of his mission home, defining his world. sensory associations and memories of the sights, sounds, Canberra Leaving home and starting again in an unfamiliar place smells, tastes and feel of the home environment. Take a Purchased 2001 is an experience common to many Australians throughout journey through the exhibition with someone of a different history. Abraham Solomon’s painting Second class – the age to yourself and talk about your diverse and shared parting: thus part we rich in sorrow parting poor 1854 experiences. and David Moore’s photograph Migrants arriving in Sydney Joanna Krabman 1966 introduce children to the migration experience. Educator, Family and School Programs, and curator of Home at last They reveal the mixed feelings associated with leaving the To coincide with the opening of the exhibition Home at last, familiar and encountering the new. the website Picture my world will go online. Relating to the Inside the homelike exhibition space, preschool and concept of home, the website will feature local school projects primary children are encouraged to take a fresh look at the and children’s responses to works of art in the exhibition. People can add their own responses and more on the website. familiar and imagine the experience of others by engaging nga.gov.au/PictureMyWorld with art. Children have the opportunity to make a creative response to the exhibition by drawing and building small

artonview spring 2008 25 conservation

Painted by the sun: early Asia–Pacific photography

Picture paradise: Asia–Pacific photography 1840s–1940s 11 July – 9 November 2008 Exhibition Galleries

Bernard O Holtermann, The National Gallery of Australia’s exhibition Picture in the tower of Holtermann’s Lavender Bay house, Bayliss commissioner Charles Bayliss, paradise surveys the first hundred years of photography used large-format cameras to photograph the harbour. photographer in the Asia–Pacific region and features a rollcall of The Holtermann panorama comprises a mammoth plate Panorama of Sydney Harbour and suburbs from the north technical processes – from rare, early, delicate salted format (52.5 x 42.8 cm), with twenty-three albumen print shore 1875 (detail) paper photographs printed in sunlight and jewel-like panels on a single cotton backing. It is acknowledged as 23 albumen silver photographs 52.5 x 985.0 daguerreotypes formed over a noxious vat of hot mercury being the finest surviving example of its kind. Although cm (overall) National Gallery of Australia, to more recent gelatin silver and pigment process prints. some of the images have faded edges – typical damage Canberra The exhibition includes an unusual range of photographic related to this process – the main concern for conservation Purchased 1982 formats other than the ubiquitous single framed print: was the work’s inherent structural weakness. While records ornately bound travel albums, elegantly cased images and indicate that Holtermann routinely transported selections spectacular panoramas such as the impressive ten-metre- of panoramic works on a single rolled canvas (1.5 x 24 long Holtermann panorama, Panorama of Sydney Harbour metres) for ease of viewing and display, this panorama was and suburbs from the north shore 1875. The images in bound in a concertina format which folded flat. Evidence Picture paradise predate the widespread application of suggests that the unusual concertinaed format may be a commercial colour photographic processes. Visitors will later intervention, implying that the marbled paper and see meticulously applied hand-colouring achieved with bookcloth may be additions. watercolour pigments, inks and early synthetic dyestuffs. The final three panels, while attached to the Sydney The exhibition celebrates the diversity of photographic panorama, are not part of it, but form a separate ingenuity in its first century of development. In true panorama depicting a gun placement at Middle Head in entrepreneurial style, Bernhardt Otto Holtermann Sydney. The Middle Head images were originally attributed (1838–1885), a photographer and politician, began his to Holtermann, but have since been reassigned to Bayliss. life in Australia as a prospector. In 1875 he collaborated While the panels in the Holtermann panorama are correctly with Charles Bayliss (1850–1897) to produce the largest bound in the portrait orientation, the panels in the second photographs the world had seen. In a purpose-built room panorama form the complete image only when placed

26 national gallery of australia in the landscape orientation and could not, therefore, A dramatic decision was taken jointly by the curator be viewed as a complete image in the current format. In and Conservation to separate the panels. These were order to display the Holtermann panorama in its entirety, not joined directly to each other, but linked only with the the second panorama needed to be folded behind and cotton lining, making this choice easier. This alleviated concealed in the mounting system. This complication, much of the handling damage and immediately created together with the extreme length and the inherent more options for safe display. An added bonus was that fragilities, posed the most serious problems for display. the second panorama could be displayed, for the first In previous exhibitions, the panorama had only been time, with the images united in the correct orientation. partially displayed due to the size limitations of available Once separated, it was necessary to carry out some surface showcases. On one occasion it had been supported on cleaning recto and verso, to stabilise torn and creased an angle in a custom-made frame – again, only partially edges and to infill and retouch areas of loss. The original displayed. For Picture paradise, however, the curator, Gael paper lining and fabric were left intact. The final step in Newton, requested the entire panorama be displayed the treatment was to develop a safe system for display. The vertically. In the concertinaed format, this form of display display strategy was based on edge lining each panel onto was problematic to achieve as, due to the nature of the a separate rigid support to minimise handling, particularly mounting, damage was caused each time the panorama during installation. Wide strips of Japanese paper were was unfolded or re-folded. adhered to the cotton lining on the verso of each image The edges of many panels were creased and abraded using a synthetic adhesive to avoid introducing moisture. from wear associated with repeated folding and unfolding Once each image was adhered to a rigid panel it was of the binding. This action was complicated by the easily attached to the wall using Velcro. When the entire advanced deterioration of the cloth hinges, which had split panorama had been installed on the wall, a large window in a number of areas, and further contributed to abrasion mount and modular frame was constructed around it. The of the photographic emulsion surface. Gallery’s Conservation and Exhibition Design staff liased and planned extensively to address the many complications

artonview spring 2008 27 Paper conservators James Ward of the project. The final frame comprised two long metal using watercolours unified and enhanced the image. The and Fiona Kemp unfold and examine the ten-metre-long struts above and below the panorama to support the four original frames were also restored and provide appropriate Holtermann panorama. two-metre-long acrylic glazing panels that slid into the historical context. (opposite above) struts from one side. A decorative, gold-painted wooden A variety of travel albums also feature in the exhibition. Installing the Holtermann panorama for the exhibition frame was placed over the top to complete the structure, Albums were compiled by early tourists to the Asia–Pacific Picture paradise at the which had been predrilled to avoid creating debris. region and by local commercial photographic studios. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Another photographer working with oversized formats, The photographs in these albums were often annotated, J W Lindt, is represented by two characteristically imposing providing insight into a particular photograph’s subject (opposite below) Paper conservator Andrea Wise carbon prints depicting life in New Guinea, Mourners matter. Many albums are surprisingly large and heavy and carefully patching a section of and dead house at Kalo, New Guinea 1885 and Moto have gilt cloth bindings appropriate to the period. More the Holtermann panorama. water carrier, Port Moresby 1885. Carbon prints are not unusual are those that use different binding materials, silver-based images but pigmented gelatin. The nature of such as Stafhell and Kleingrothe’s album Sumatra, which the process allows the photographer latitude to develop has an intricate cover finished in lacquer-ware inlaid richness and variety in the colour and topography of the with mother of pearl and ivory. During treatment by gelatin layers. As both of these works were exposed to the Gallery’s conservation team, the albums in Picture poor environmental conditions prior to being acquired by paradise necessitated a cross-disciplinary approach, with the Gallery, their substantial gelatin layers had become book conservators addressing structural problems, objects swollen, sticking to the interior of the glazing in their conservators integrating missing areas of inlay and paper frames. Unfortunately, the glazing had been removed, conservators undertaking minor treatments and providing taking with it some areas of image emulsion. Treatment appropriate display mechanisms. involved ‘rescuing’ the detached emulsion and re-adhering Cased images such as daguerreotypes and ambrotypes it. Cleaning the surface of the print and final retouching require darkened spaces and precise lighting with

28 national gallery of australia

minimal reflection. These works epitomise the magical Acceptance of photography as a branch of the arts Fiona Kemp retouching J W Lindt’s Moto water nature of early photography. Captured on either a metal took longer. During the twentieth century, photographs carriers, Port Morseby. (daguerreotype) or glass support (ambrotypes), they are as objects, and photographic technique as a form of (opposite) small, highly detailed, often intimate portraits – and, legitimate artistic expression, have made only gradual J W Lindt Moto water carrier, Port occasionally, landscapes. Daguerreotypes, in particular, ingress into museum and gallery art collections. Moresby 1885 remain vulnerable to physical and chemical damage, so Similarly, the impact of photographic treatment carbon print 70.9 x 60.8 cm traditionally the photographic plate would be sealed and and display in conservation has been one of continuing National Gallery of Australia, housed in a shallow, hinged case that opened like a book. absorption and adaptation. Early photographers were Canberra After treatment by the Paper Commonly, cases were fabricated from leather-covered endlessly inventive, constantly exploiting materials and Conservation. wood, papier-mâché or alternatively, moulded from an techniques to suit the circumstances in which they found early type of thermoplastic (sawdust and shellac) and themselves. The extraordinary range of works in Picture lined with silk or velvet. A metal mount, glass glazing and paradise reminds the audience that an idiosyncratic decorative, imitation-gold pinchbeck edging provided these approach was commonplace. Conservators of photographic works with extra protection against scratching and damage images need to be equally creative and resourceful. The from pollutants. As each of the materials in this composite preparatory period for Picture paradise brought both object have very different vulnerabilities and parameters satisfaction and delight as we rose to the challenges set by for exhibition, cased photographic images require special some of the world’s first photographic artists. consideration. Historically they were viewed in subdued Andrea Wise, Fiona Kemp and James Ward light by the atmospherically appropriate light from a single Paper Conservation candle. Conservation worked closely with the exhibition The exhibition is presented in conjunction with Vivid, Australia’s designers to create new modular showcases for these inaugural National Photography Festival, which celebrates works, incorporating fibre-optic lighting to allow for their photography’s vital role in Australian life and history. full appreciation. A book published in conjunction with the exhibition Picture paradise ‘Photography, like electricity, was one of the miraculous is available from the Gallery Shop. For further information, scientific discoveries of the 19th century. Its impact was telephone (02) 6240 6420 or send an email to [email protected]. 1 immediate and profound.’ Originally developed and used note by scientists, photography was rapidly adopted by people in 1. Shar Jones, J W Lindt: master photographer, Currey O’Neil Ross, South Yarra, 1985, p. 1. every strata of society, as a sublime documentary tool.

artonview spring 2008 31 collection focus

Costumes of the Ballets Russes

The National Gallery of Australia has a renowned collection of costumes from the Ballets Russes (the Russian Ballet), which was founded by the flamboyant Russian arts producer Serge Diaghilev (1872–1929). By integrating design, music and dance, and encouraging the artistic experimentation and collaboration of painters, choreographers and composers, Diaghilev created the new art of modern ballet. From 1909 to 1929, his company Les Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev performed in Paris, throughout Europe (although never in Russia) and in North and South America. Based in Paris from 1909, Diaghilev created opera and dance productions that brought the exoticism of Russian culture to a wider Western audience, and with it the work of Russian artists and designers such as Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov; choreographers Michel Fokine and Léonide Massine; composers Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Nicholas Tcherepnin; and dancers such as Tamara Karsavina, Anna Pavlova, Adolph Bolm, Serge Lifar and Vaslav Nijinsky. Through the work of these artistic collaborators and performers Diaghilev was able to orchestrate and bring to life a new vision of the Slavic, oriental, baroque, romantic and later constructivist elements of Russian culture. Diaghilev’s association with the wider world of the arts led to him commissioning artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Georges Braque, José Maria Sert and Giorgio de Chirico to design costumes and scenery for a number of his productions. The costumes reveal aspects of these artists’ work as designers and provide insights into the nature of collaboration between the performing and visual arts. Valuable works such as Léon Bakst’s The blue god costume worn by Nijinsky in Le dieu bleu in 1912, Henri Matisse’s Léon Bakst, designer design for Costume for a mourner in the 1920 production Les Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev, producer of Le chant du rossignol and Giorgio de Chirico’s Costume Costume for The blue god in the for a male guest in the 1929 production of Le bal are some Ballets Russes production of Le dieu bleu [The blue god] c. 1912 of the many highlights of the collection. silk, metal, gelatin The costumes designed and worn by Diaghilev’s tunic length: 76.6 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra designers and dancers from 1909 to 1929 form the Purchased 1987 main part of the Gallery’s Ballets Russes collection, and complementing these are costumes from some of the

32 national gallery of australia productions of his successor Colonel Wassily de Basil, whose companies revived much of Diaghilev’s repertoire from 1932 to the late 1940s. With Diaghilev’s untimely death in Venice in 1929, the Ballets Russes disbanded, and a diaspora of its dancers and choreographers formed new and influential dance companies in North America and Europe. In 1932 de Basil and René Blum formed a new company, Les Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, which de Basil took over as sole director in 1935. This company (under various names and business arrangements) toured to Australia in 1936, 1938–39 and 1939–40, creating a sensation with its repertoire of Diaghilev and newer productions and its integration of avant-garde design with innovative performance and music. The legacy of the Ballets Russes is its role in the introduction of modern dance in Australia, led by a number of the company’s dancers and choreographers who remained in Australia or returned to work here. This legacy is currently being examined during a four-year collaborative research project between the National Library of Australia, The Australian Ballet and the University of Adelaide, which will provide a further Australian dimension to the National Gallery of Australia’s collection. Following the demise of de Basil’s company in 1951, its rich remaining stock of Diaghilev’s original costumes and those from de Basil’s earlier companies, maintained in Paris long after their arduous life on the stage, eventually found their way into several major museum collections during the 1960s and 1970s, including that of the then fledgling Australian National Gallery (now the National Gallery of Australia), which acquired a large group of Ballets Russes costumes in 1973 and again in 1976.1 The Gallery’s collection of Ballets Russes costumes is one of its major assets and is one of the world’s largest collections of this material. The last exhibition of these costumes, From Russia with love, was staged by the National Gallery of Australia in 1999. Selections from the collection, focusing on individual have been used, while repairing and replacing elements of Henri Matisse, designer productions of the Ballets Russes, are regularly displayed in Les Ballets Russes de Serge their fabric that have been lost or damaged by insects or Diaghilev, producer the International Art galleries to show their relationship to, extended exposure to light. Costume for a mourner in the and influence on other design and decorative arts of the Ballets Russes production of Le chant du rossignol c. 1920 Robert Bell early twentieth century. cotton and wool felt, cotton Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design Many of these costumes have been restored during and silk velvet tunic length: 166.5 cm the past twenty years by the Gallery’s textile conservators. This renowned collection of Ballets Russes costumes will be National Gallery of Australia, shown in a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia Canberra Their painstaking work continues on a group of costumes from 14 December 2009 to 14 March 2010. This exhibition will Purchased 1973 not previously exhibited due to their degraded condition. celebrate the centenary of the first Paris performances of the The conservators’ long experience with the particular Ballets Russes by Diaghilev, and the work of the many artists with whom he collaborated over a twenty-year period at the characteristics of the Ballets Russes designers’ materials beginning of the twentieth century. and construction methods allows for the complex and note sometimes seemingly impossible reconstruction of 1. For accounts of the National Gallery of Australia’s collection of Ballets costumes that have had little care since they were last Russes costumes see: Roger Leong, From Russia with love: costumes for the Ballets Russes 1909–1933, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of donned for performance. The conservators’ brief is to Australia, Canberra, 1998; and Christine Dixon, ‘Museum pieces? The maintain the working and visual condition of costumes that Russian Ballet collection’, in Pauline Green (ed.), Building the collection, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2003, pp. 176–89.

artonview spring 2008 33 acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Frederick McCubbin Violet and gold

Frederick McCubbin The National Gallery of Australia’s recent acquisition Violet Violet and gold is an example of how, during the Violet and gold 1911 oil on canvas 87.0 x 144.5 cm and gold 1911 is a brilliant light-filled work. We can see early years of the twentieth century, McCubbin changed National Gallery of Australia, here how the artist focussed on light and colour rather his approach and began to paint pure images, focussing Canberra Purchased with the generous than subject. In 2001, Ron Radford, then director of the Art on nature, on light, the time of day and the season. He assistance of the Hon. Ashley Gallery of South Australia, wrote about this work as being painted flickering light, hazed light, dazzling light – light Dawson-Damer and John Wylie, AM, and Myriam Wylie 2008 ‘One of McCubbin’s most beautiful Macedon paintings’, in all its manifestations. As McCubbin wrote of Turner, he 1 Frederick McCubbin remarking that ‘there is no narrative, only poetry’. ‘realized the quality of light … no theatrical effect but mist Violet and gold 1911 (detail) Does this surprise you? Do you think of Frederick and cloud and sea and land drenched in light … They glow McCubbin as one of the great Australian Impressionists, with a tender brilliancy’.5 alongside Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles McCubbin also began to depict modern life and Conder? Do you consider him to be an artist who had his modern times: wharfs, factories and city streets. He started heyday in the 1890s, painting images of the bush extolling to portray his subjects using pure colour applied with a the life of pioneers and the sadness of lost children? Do palette knife. And, he used paint in a most advanced and you regard him as playing a major role in the development abstracted fashion, creating painterly surfaces. If you stand of the Australian landscape, painting works that are part of closely to Violet and gold (or look at the detail opposite), the fabric of Australian culture? All of this is certainly true. you will see what I mean. You will find portions of the But do you also believe that his best days were over picture in which McCubbin has almost splattered his paint by the twentieth century, and that he carried on as the over the coarse canvas. He animated the surface of the ‘good old Proff’, philosophising and teaching others? If so, painting with flecks of colour. His free handling of paint and you need to think again. Of course McCubbin was one of his layering of pure colours are remarkable. the great Australian Impressionists. However, as Australia McCubbin gave Violet and gold an abstract, poetic became a federation and began to move into modern title – possibly a result of having looked at and admired times, McCubbin just got better and better. While Roberts, James McNeill Whistler’s work in London in 1907.6 The title Streeton and Conder did their best works in the 1880s may have come from a line in a poem by the American and 1890s, McCubbin came into his own in the twentieth poet Stephen Crane: ‘In little songs of carmine, violet, century, particularly after his first and only trip to Europe green and gold. A chorus of colors came over the water’. in 1907, when he spent five months abroad. During this But in giving it the abstract title of ‘Violet and gold’ he was, visit he was inspired by the works of J M W Turner and more importantly, suggesting that it was a painting about Claude Monet, especially the late paintings of Turner, which colour and paint and light rather than about cows. While were being shown for the first time at the Tate Gallery he named other works ‘The coming of Spring’, ‘Afterglow’ in London.2 McCubbin observed, ‘as Monet says, “Light (both National Gallery of Australia), ‘Winter’s morning’ is the chief sitter everywhere”.’3 Violet and gold amply and ‘Autumn morning’ (both National Gallery of Victoria, demonstrates this. Melbourne), emphasising the time of year or time of day, In this work, McCubbin created an image of cattle this is one of only a few works to which he gave a colour title. drinking at a pool surrounded by tall trees; but, more than Violet and gold was painted about one kilometre that, he depicted a beam of light reaching through the from McCubbin’s country retreat Fontainebleau at Mount trees and onto the cattle. Light glows through the trees. Macedon, on the nearby property of Ard Chielle. McCubbin As Radford has observed: ‘Rays of dappled light flickering found this area inspirational and painted many images through the dark trees animate the surface of the painting there that capture his interest in atmospheric effects. They with flecks of colour’.4 Indeed, the way he captured the derive from his deep knowledge and love of the place and light radiating through the trees and across the ground is his lived experience. Violet and gold is one of the most miraculous. painterly and evocative of these works – full of pastoral charm and end-of-day ease.

34 national gallery of australia

Frederick McCubbin The area below Mount Macedon where McCubbin fence, Mount Macedon 1910, which McCubbin painted Hauling rails for a fence, Mount Macedon 1910 painted Violet and gold was low-lying and swampy and one year before Violet and gold, and Afterglow 1912, oil on canvas 71.5 x 101.5 cm full of tall gum trees. McCubbin was fascinated by the painted one year afterwards. In comparing these works National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Australian eucalypt, and suggested that other Australian we can see that Violet and gold is the more daring and Purchased 1964 artists did not appreciate its qualities. He wrote: adventurous work. Whereas Violet and gold is a long,

The subtle way in which it responds to varying effects narrow canvas, the other two works are more rectangular. of light and shadow was lost on them … the varieties in And where in Violet and gold McCubbin focused on a shades and colours, the Gum tree presented, from the thicket of trees, emphasising the denseness of the bush and violet grey tints of the stringy bark to the transparent hardly showing any sky, in both Hauling rails for a fence sheen of the White Gum, upon which colours disport and Afterglow he adopted a more traditional composition, and change in a hundred subtle ways as they would placing a clump of trees on one side and open sky on the upon a mirror. Yet our trees and our faded flora are such other. In Violet and gold McCubbin used the reflections component parts of our Australian landscape.7 in the pool to add to the internality of the work – with Some of McCubbin’s late works are among Australia’s the reflections an illusionist echo of the trees. In all three finest Federation landscapes. ‘They glow with a tender paintings he created dynamic compositions by contrasting brilliancy’ (as McCubbin described the work of Turner).8 the strong verticals of the tree trunks with diagonals: in The shimmering, dazzling light in Violet and gold shows Hauling rails for a fence and Afterglow, the diagonals are how much McCubbin learnt from Turner. It has a rich essentially those of the hillside, but in Violet and gold he painterly surface – which reflects the subtle harmonies of used a more complex composition with the diagonal fall of the Australian bush. And, as Turner often did, McCubbin the shaft of light coming down across the picture towards makes the small shining orb of the sun the central, the right, contrasted with the dark shape of a jagged dominating force of the composition. branch rising diagonally from the left. Among McCubbin’s late works are two other Macedon The three paintings also show McCubbin’s interest in paintings in the Gallery’s collection, Hauling rails for a different times of day: Violet and gold capturing a low sun

36 national gallery of australia shining through an early morning mist, Hauling rails for The National Gallery of Australia will be holding an exhibition Frederick McCubbin Afterglow 1912 a fence portraying the middle of the day and Afterglow from 2 August to 27 November 2009 of Frederick McCubbin’s later paintings. Anne Gray would welcome being contacted by oil on canvas 91.5 x 117.0 cm depicting the rosy afterglow of the setting sun. McCubbin National Gallery of Australia, owners of works by McCubbin painted after 1907. Canberra did not just vary his compositions in painting these three Purchased 1970 email: [email protected] subjects, but also his range of colours and his brush (or palette tel: +61 (0) 2 6240 6405 knife) strokes – each used to create a different atmospheric effect. McCubbin played with the use of figures in each of the paintings, from the workers in Hauling rails for a notes 1. Ron Radford, Our country: Australian Federation landscapes fence to the animals in Violet and gold and to the classical 1900–1914, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of South Australia, nudes of Afterglow. However, the figures are not there to Adelaide, 2001, p. 84. 2. McCubbin did know of Turner’s work before visiting Europe. Indeed, create a story so much as to give a sense of space to the he wrote to Tom Roberts on 8 January 1906, commenting that ‘I am composition. Although Violet and gold becomes flatter painting a Turnerian gem …’; in Andrew McKenzie, Frederick McCubbin 1855–1917: ‘The Proff’ and his art, Mannagum Press, Lilydale, 1990, if we were to take out the cattle, it also becomes more p. 243. 3. Frederick McCubbin, in James MacDonald, The art of Frederick obviously an adventurous paint-laden picture surface, McCubbin, Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, 1986, p. 84. showing nature experienced from within. 4. Radford, p. 84. 5. Frederick McCubbin, letter to Annie McCubbin, 19 July 1907, in The generous support of Ashley Dawson-Damer and McKenzie, p. 259. John Wylie and Myriam Wylie has made possible this major 6. Whistler was a leading proponent of the credo ‘art for art’s sake’. He famously titled many of his works ‘harmonies’ and ‘arrangements’, purchase of Violet and gold for the Gallery’s twenty-fifth such as Arrangement in grey and black: the artist’s mother (Musée du Louvre, Paris). anniversary year. They have helped us represent more 7. McCubbin, in MacDonald, p. 84. strongly one of Australia’s most important artists at the 8. McCubbin, in McKenzie, p. 259. turn of the century and, in doing so, have provided a great service to the Australian public.

Anne Gray Head of Australian Art

artonview spring 2008 37 acquisition Australian Prints and Drawings

A magnificent gift of Albert Namatjira watercolours

Albert Namatjira The Finke River begins its 600-kilometre journey amid a trees to the translucent mauve of the distant ranges – Redbank Gorge, MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia stand of tea trees and river gums at Ormiston Gorge in as an Indigenous artist, he was aware of the physical 1936–37 Central Australia and continues as a string of waterholes presence of ancestral beings embodied in the giant ghost watercolour on paper 27.5 x 25.0 cm that stretch towards the edge of the Simpson Desert. The gums and in the forms of surrounding mountains and gorges. National Gallery of Australia, riverbed carves its way through the MacDonnell Ranges at It is this numinous quality that entranced Gordon and Canberra Gift of Gordon and Marilyn Glen Helen, curves around the whitewashed buildings of Marilyn Darling who, over the last twenty years, have Darling, celebrating the National Gallery of Australia’s 25th the Lutheran mission clustered at the base of Mount formed an extraordinary collection of watercolours by anniversary, 2008 Hermannsburg, before heading southwards through the Namatjira, from his early paintings of fleeing kangaroos to sandstone gullies of Palm Valley. This is the traditional the mature landscapes of the 1950s. They are generously territory of Western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira, who gifting the first fifteen of twenty-five paintings to the translated the ancient beauty of his country through his tin National Gallery of Australia to be displayed in The Gordon box of watercolour paints. As an artist, he saw the desert and Marilyn Darling Gallery of Hermannsburg Painting, landscape as filled with light and colour – from sap-stained which promises to be one of the highlights of the new

38 national gallery of australia Indigenous galleries that form part of the Stage One building expansion. These works were previously lent to the National Gallery of Australia for the 2002 retrospective, Seeing the centre: the art of Albert Namatjira 1902–1959, curated by Alison French whose research was supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation. This landmark travelling exhibition brought together works from state galleries and private collections to provide a long overdue opportunity for the critical reappraisal of Namatjira’s works on paper. Early interest in the art of the Central Desert area was centred on a group of artists based at the Lutheran Mission Station at Hermannsburg, or Ntaria, who came to be called The Hermannsburg School. At the forefront of this attention was Albert Namatjira, who was the first to become interested in the medium of watercolour after seeing several exhibitions by Rex Battarbee and John A Gardner, who regularly visited the mission during painting trips through South Australia and Central Australia. In 1936, Albert arranged to work as Battarbee’s cameleer on two month-long excursions to Palm Valley and the MacDonnell Ranges in exchange for painting lessons. During these trips he quickly picked up the rudiments of perspective and technique, having shown himself to be a natural draftsman in his early pokerwork drawings of local plants and animals on mulga wood plaques, boomerangs and woomeras for the mission’s small craft industry. Battarbee was so impressed with his instinct for composition and colour that he chose three watercolours to display alongside his own at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Gallery in 1937. The following year he organised a solo exhibition at the Fine Arts Society Gallery in Melbourne, for which Albert added his father’s tribal name, Namatjira, to his signature. His paintings sold out within three days, establishing a pattern of commercial patronage that continued throughout his exhibiting career. This success and further painting expeditions by Namatjira and Battarbee inspired others at the mission to follow in his footsteps including the Pareroultja and For Albert Namatjira and his kinsfolk, this connection Albert Namatjira Raberaba brothers, Walter Ebatarinja and Adolf Inkamala. Ghost gum 1945–53 to the land was manifested through representational watercolour over pencil on These camps could last for weeks, which allowed Namatjira watercolours. After Namatjira’s death in 1959, the paper 42.0 x 32.2 cm to paint the ever-changing light over the course of a day National Gallery of Australia, Hermannsburg School was largely overlooked, particularly Canberra or across the seasons. He journeyed by foot, camel and following the emergence of the symbolic acrylic paintings Gift of Gordon and Marilyn car to sites all around the MacDonnell Ranges and outside Darling, celebrating the National of the Papunya Tula collective during the 1970s. It was Gallery of Australia’s 25th Western Arrernte country as far as Haast’s Bluff, Uluru and anniversary, 2008 not until the first retrospective of Namatjira’s painting was Mount Connor. When he had found a suitable vantage held in 1984 at the Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs point, he would sit cross-legged with a sheet of paper that his vision of country was accepted and both realistic tacked to a wooden board and a billy can of water and and symbolic approaches have now been recognised as begin with a wash of sky. This combination of Namatjira’s different ways of depicting the creation stories embodied direct experience of the land and his unerring eye for in the landscape. This has encouraged other Indigenous colour gives the viewer the full fierce blaze of ochre rock, artists to tell their story through watercolour painting, the thirsty expanse of scrub-mottled plains and the purple and Namatjira’s artistic heritage continues through his shadows that spread like bruises in the folds of the ranges. descendents and those that he inspired. For many Indigenous artists, their sense of self is bound to the ancestral country that holds their Dreaming story. Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings

artonview spring 2008 39 acquisition Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Owen Yalandja Yawk yawks

Owen Yalandja The Kuninjku people in the Maningrida region of Central I love making these sculptures and I have invented a way Yawkyawks 2007 natural earth pigments and Arnhem Land believe that yawk yawks are mermaid-like to represent the fish scales on her body. The colours I use PVA fixative on Kurrajong manifestations of young female ancestors. They have have particular meanings [which are not public]. I make (Brachychiton diversifolius) them either red or black. I am now teaching my kids to (l–r) 280.0 x 16.7 cm (diam); slender undulating bodies, fine scales, forked tails, pointed 225.0 x 14.3 cm (diam); carve, just like my father did for us. 240.0 x 15.8 cm (diam) breasts and long, almost featureless faces. If disturbed National Gallery of Australia, or frightened, the shadowy figures of these magnificent Canberra I make it [yawk yawk] according to my individual ideas … Gift of Janet and John Calvert- water creatures can be seen fleeing into the depths of My father used to decorate them with dots. A long time Jones, 2008 Mirrayar billabong, an important yawk yawk site and sacred ago, he showed me how to do this. But this style is my Yirritja moiety place. The Dangkorlo clan are custodians of own; no one else does them like this.2 this billabong. Yalandja uses only kurrajong (Brachychiton diversifolius) Owen Yalandja, a Kuninjku (eastern Kunwinjku) artist wood, the same wood his father used, and natural earth and a senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, is a renowned pigments with PVA (polyvinyl acetate) fixatives to create the sculptor and is well known for his carving and singing at stunning designs on his figures. He selects unusual trunks yawk yawk ceremonies. He was born in 1962 and is the son that are thin and curvilinear, giving his figures a sinewy of Kuninjku ceremonial leader, painter and carver Crusoe appearance and creating the impression of movement Kuningbal (1922–1984) and brother to Crusoe Kurddal (b. in the body and tail. The natural fork in the tree often 1961). It wasn’t until the death of their father that Yalandja provides the fork of the yawk yawk’s tail. and Kurddal began carving mimih spirits. Their sculptures Yalandja is now passing on his knowledge by teaching were similar to those of their father, but they produced the his son Dustin Bonson to carve mimih spirits. figures at a larger scale to better represent the size and These three exquisite yawk yawk figures, along with form of mimih – tall, slender spirits that live in the rocky three others, were first featured in the exhibition Culture environment of the Arnhem Land plateau. Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial, which is My father … taught me and my brother … how to carve. currently on tour around Australia and will open and He only did mimih spirit figures and when I first started the Art Gallery of Western Australia, its second touring as an artist I used to make mimih figures as well. Then, I venue, on 20 September 2008. They were kindly gifted decided to change and to start representing yawk yawk by Janet and John Calvert-Jones and are fine additions to spirit figures.1 the National Gallery of Australia’s collection of six other Yalandja began experimenting with the painted designs stunning yawk yawks. and use of colour and, while Kurddal continued carving Tina Baum mimih, Yalandja began carving yawk yawk. He would carve Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art their bodies like those of the mimih – tall, very slender and note often with intricate detail over their sometimes twisted 1. Owen Yalandja, interview with Apolline Kohen, Cadell Outstation, Northern Territory, 4 February 2007. bodies. Today, however, his yawk yawk sculptures are more 2. Yalandja. distinct and refined from his mimih figures.

Yawk yawk is a bit the equivalent of a mermaid in balanda [white] culture. Yawk yawk is my Dreaming and she lives in the water at Barrihdjowkkeng near where I have set up my outstation. She has always been there. I often visit this place.

40 national gallery of australia

acquisition Australian Photography

Deborah Paauwe From the waist down

Deborah Paauwe When she was recently asked which art work of any ever rupture she experienced coming to a new country at the From the waist down 1998 Type C colour photograph made she would most like to live with, Deborah Paauwe age of thirteen, her desire to recreate a perfect upbringing 75.0 x 75.0 cm chose the image Vale Street 1975 by the Australian is not surprising: she has said that she felt that her National Gallery of Australia, 1 2 Canberra photographer Carol Jerrems. On the face of it, an childhood had been taken away from her. Gift of Paul Greenaway, OAM, unexpected choice. With its defiantly bare-breasted female The photographs of Deborah Paauwe are concerned 2008 figure and her attendant satyr-like teenage boys, it has with exploring identity and how it is formed, particularly at come to be regarded by many as a stridently feminist that time in a girl’s life when she makes the transition from iconic image – somehow a more forthright and unromantic the world of childhood to adolescence – themes that have work than I would have expected. And yet Vale Street been more overtly explored as her oeuvre has developed. also has a pervading mystery, a sense of a story unfolding Traditional feminine preoccupations are frequently that remains unresolved and unknowable. It also has an explored. She revels, for instance, in the inclusion of her intriguing atmosphere of vulnerability underneath the own collection of vintage clothes and fabrics. Her images assertiveness: a suggestion that violence and brutality lie frequently re-present rituals of play and dressing up, which behind beautiful surfaces. This mixture is found in much of are perhaps innocent to the girls themselves but not always Paauwe’s imagery. From the waist down 1998, dating from to the eyes of others. early in her career, is particularly powerful in its subtlety, Paauwe may talk of the ingenuous nature of childhood ambiguity and inscrutability. play but she knows that is not how the images will Of Dutch and Chinese heritage, Paauwe was born in necessarily be received; she knows that contemporary Pennsylvania in the United States of America and came to depictions of beautiful and sensual images of childhood Adelaide in 1985 after an unusual childhood spent mostly are always fraught. That Paauwe, a woman, makes these travelling and living in South-east Asia with her Bible- images radically affects our reaction to the works, a Presbyterian missionary parents and two older brothers. It strategy that other contemporary photo-media artists – is to her childhood in the 1970s that Paauwe most often most famously perhaps Sally Mann, Francesca Woodman, turns for inspiration. Not a literal retelling so much, but Nan Goldin and Cindy Sherman – have also played with to more so her ability to access the feelings experienced at effective and, at times, controversial outcomes. that time and to reconstruct that psychic landscape in her The sexual ambiguity in Paauwe’s work is calculated imagery. The body here is seen from the perspective of and subversive and one that engages with contemporary a child and the skirt blocks out what is behind. It is too theoretical writing on the body. As writer Anne Marsh close to the camera, crowding in on the viewer, the colour has said about her work: ‘Paauwe is teasing the gaze, simplified and overblown. It is this ability to reconstruct underlining the voyeurism of the spectator, and thus memory with an emotive and dreamlike intensity that often planting trouble through the image’.3 Through isolating gives her work its allure. parts, the body is depersonalised and objectified. Much of From the waist down is an image Paauwe recreated Paauwe’s work operates in an arena of disjunction and loss: from looking through family photograph albums, tapping a beautiful world of nostalgia and longing in which danger into that rich and fascinating area of photography and the unknown lurk beneath the surface. concerned with questions of history and memory, both Anne O’Hehir personal and cultural. In making the series Blue room, Curator, Photography from which this image comes, Paauwe looked back to notes her own childhood and was also inspired by her mother’s 1. Deborah Paauwe, interview with Maria Zagala, ‘New work: Deborah Paauwe’, Art World, no. 2, April 2008, p. 110. adolescence in the 1950s, a time that seems to speak 2. Wendy Walker, Deborah Paauwe: beautiful games, Wakefield Press, to Paauwe of a simpler and happier existence. Paauwe Adelaide, 2004, p. 8. 3. Anne Marsh, ‘Through a veil brightly: recent works by Deborah conjures up the 1950s through fashion references and Paauwe’, Double Dutch, exhibition catalogue, Greenaway Art Gallery, by using a palette of bright, saturated colour. Given the April 2002, n.p.

42 national gallery of australia

acquisition Asian Art

Bahau people Funerary figure

Bahau people Kalimantan, This striking wooden hampatong sculpture is the newest Conversely, village guardians and funerary sculptures Indonesia Funerary figure [hampatong] 1300–68 addition to the National Gallery of Australia’s growing are designed to ward off powerful evil spirits and are wood 114.0 x 18.0 x 18.0 cm collection of fine animist art from Southeast Asia. Although therefore more stylised, with aggressive facial expressions National Gallery of Australia, Canberra textiles from the animist cultures of the region are a and imposing proportions. While anthropomorphic figures, Purchased 2008 renowned strength of the Asian art collection, the Gallery animals, demonic beings and birds may be represented, holds only a few outstanding examples of sculpture from they display common iconographic devices used to peoples who have continued to follow ancient beliefs in the represent hostility. Most notable of these are protruding power of nature spirits and ancestors. tongues, sharp fangs and prominent, staring eyes. Images The term ‘hampatong’ refers to a wide range of of this type are closely related to funerary sculptures figurative sculptures created by the various indigenous created by various animist groups across Southeast Asia. groups of Borneo collectively known as Dayak peoples. Funerary rites are of central importance in the Rather than one homogeneous society, Borneo is home to cultures of Borneo, and the hampatong sculptures play numerous communities with differing customs, languages an important role as spiritually charged objects providing and distinct art traditions. These include the Bahau of protection and are a means of communicating with the central Borneo, whose stylised figurative sculpture is among realm of the ancestors. Textiles, jewellery and ritual utensils the most powerful in Dayak art. In traditional communities are also essential tools in the precisely orchestrated funeral such as the Bahau, many people still hold strong beliefs ceremonies. Secondary burials, where bones are exhumed in benevolent and malevolent supernatural forces, usually after a period of time to be ritually purified, are considered embodied by spirits of nature, natural phenomenon (such to be of particular cultural significance. These mortuary as disease) and the souls of deceased ancestors. Festivals rituals traditionally include codified mourning practices, and rituals, and the art associated with such activities, are offerings and animal sacrifices. Their main purpose is to strongly focussed on ensuring that these forces remain in honour the dead, allowing the soul to journey safely to the balance to protect communities and encourage prosperity. afterlife, thus guaranteeing that it does not become an evil The form and function of hampatong vary between and bothersome spirit. different Dayak groups, but they are generally carved Recent radiocarbon testing reveals that the Gallery’s from hardwood and include amulets and small figures for hampatong was created in the early to mid fourteenth domestic use and large sculptures that are sometimes over century. Remarkably well preserved for its age, especially two metres in height. The latter are placed near houses and considering the typical effects of a tropical environment, village entrances, around agricultural fields and at funerary it is likely to have been situated in a burial cave or under sites. Hampatong of all sizes are considered to have a large shrine structure for centuries. A rare and elegant magical powers and may be used to predict future events animist sculpture, the Gallery’s hampatong is over a metre and provide spiritual defence. Sculptures placed in fields in height, and has an angular, stylised body. The large, usually remain in position until harvest time to strengthen round eyes, sunken cheeks and open mouth with bared the crop. Domestic images and hampatong placed close to teeth suggest that it originally served as a protective village communal houses often depict recently deceased ancestors guardian or a grave-marker. The frightening geometric and may have individualised human features in detailed facial imagery is characteristic of sculpture created by the carving. These sculptures provide a temporary home for Bahau people of east Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo. the souls of the dead and are a personal expression of Lucie Folan remembrance for deceased individuals. The ornate ancestor Assistant Curator, Asian Art carvings also serve a protective spiritual function – they are a primary means of preventing disease from entering homes.

44 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2008 45 acquisition Australian Decorative Arts and Design

Larsen and Lewers Silver bowl

Helge Larsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1929, and trained in the Danish silversmithing apprenticeship system and at the College of Art and Design in Copenhagen from 1949 to 1955. He furthered his work and studies at the University of Colorado in Denver in the United States of America from 1955 to 1957. He then returned to Copenhagen to establish his own jewellery business, Sølvform, where he employed Australian jeweller Darani Lewers from 1959 to 1960. In 1961 he migrated to Australia, married Lewers and set up a workshop partnership with her in Sydney. He was appointed as the founding Head of Jewellery and Silversmithing at the Sydney College of the Arts in 1977, becoming an Associate Professor and its Head of School from 1991 until his retirement to full-time private studio practice in 1994. In recognition of his work in craft education, he received an Australia Council Emeritus Award in 1999. Darani Lewers, the daughter of artists Gerald and Helge Larsen and The fluid and austere form of this large bowl shows the Darani Lewers Margo Lewers, was born in 1936. She trained at East continuing influence in Australia of the sculptural organic Bowl 2008 Sydney Technical College and in the studio of Estonian sterling silver 12.2 x 39.0 x design that characterised the form of Scandinavian 28.0 cm jeweller Niina Ratsep in 1958 before moving to Denmark Purchased 2008 with funds from jewellery and metalwork from the 1950s. Helge Larsen, to work with Helge Larsen from 1959 to 1960. She was the Meredith Hinchliffe Fund Danish-born and trained in this tradition, was instrumental awarded an Order of Australia in 1982 for her contribution in the establishment of these principles in Australia to the Australian contemporary crafts movement. and, with Darani Lewers, has developed jewellery and Larsen and Lewers have worked in partnership on major metalwork that expresses a highly individual interpretation commissions, metalwork and jewellery since 1961, of the built and natural Australian environment. mounting thirty-nine solo exhibitions in Australia and nine The genesis of the design of this bowl can be seen in in Europe, and contributing to twenty-one international Larsen and Lewers’s silver objects from the early 1980s jewellery and metalwork exhibitions. in the National Gallery of Australia’s collection, many of This new work from two of Australia’s most senior which draw from the study of the details and materials silversmiths celebrates their fiftieth year of practice. It of Australian vernacular design and architecture. The joins other silver hollowware works in the collection from sweeping form of this bowl, the largest work made by established Australian silversmiths, adding strength to the these artists, is a technical tour de force that has been Gallery’s holdings of Australian metalwork, both historical achieved by raising (hammering, planishing and polishing) and contemporary. Its acquisition was funded from the the shape from a single sheet of sterling silver. Its apparent Meredith Hinchliffe Fund, which focuses on contemporary weightlessness and asymmetrical folded form suggest the Australian craft, and it is a major new Australian lightness and effortlessness of origami and the directness contemporary decorative arts and design acquisition in the of functional tinware, yet its weight, solidity and surface Gallery’s silver anniversary year. colour link it to the functional and technical traditions and visual language of silver hollowware. The artists have Robert Bell Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design paid particular attention to the way that reflected light emphasises the undulating and attenuated form of the object, leading the eye from its inner to its outer surfaces.

46 national gallery of australia Travelling exhibitions spring 2008

Exhibition venues and dates may be subject to change. Please contact the Gallery or venue before your visit. For more information on travelling exhibitions, telephone (02) 6240 6525 or send an email to [email protected].

Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial Grace Crowley: being modern Proudly supported by BHP Billiton; the Australia Council for One of the leading figures in the development of modernism the Arts through its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Australia, Grace Crowley’s life and art intersected with some Art Board, Visual Art Board and Community Partnerships of the major movements of twentieth-century art. This is the and Market Development (International) Board; the first exhibition of Grace Crowley’s work since 1975 and includes Contemporary Touring Initiative through Visions of Australia, important works from public and private collections. Spanning the an Australian Government program; and the Visual Arts and 1920s through to the 1960s, the exhibition traces her remarkable Maringka Baker Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government and Grace Crowley artistic journey from painter of atmospheric Australian landscapes Kuru Ala 2007 (detail) Abstract painting 1947 (detail) synthetic polymer paint on state and territory governments; the Queensland Government oil on cardboard 60.7 x 83.3 cm to her extraordinary late abstracts. nga.gov.au/Crowley canvas 153.5 x 200.0 cm through the Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and National Gallery of Australia Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 14 June – National Gallery of Australia Export Agency; and Australian air Express © Maringka Baker 21 September 2008 Culture Warriors, the inaugural National Indigenous Art Triennial, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tas., presents the highly original and accomplished work of thirty 2 October – 23 November 2008 Indigenous Australian artists from every state and territory. Featuring outstanding works in a variety of media, Culture Warriors draws inspiration from the fortieth anniversary of the 1967 Referendum (Aboriginals) and demonstrates the breadth and calibre War: the prints of Otto Dix of contemporary Indigenous art practice in Australia. Otto Dix’s Der Krieg cycle, a collection of 51 etchings, is regarded as nga.gov.au/NIAT07 one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth century. Modelled Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 20 September – on Goya’s equally famous and equally devastating Los Desastres de 23 November 2008 la guerra [The disasters of war], the portfolio captures Dix’s horror of and fascination with the experience of war. nga.gov.au/Dix Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 22 August – Otto Dix Ration carriers near Pilkem 26 October 2008 Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape painting 1850–1950 1924 (detail) plate 43 from the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Qld, 7 November 2008 – portfolio War 1 February 2009 The National Gallery of Australia’s 25th Anniversary etching, aquatint 24.8 x 29.8 cm Travelling Exhibition National Gallery of Australia The Poynton Bequest 2003 Supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government © Otto Dix. Licensed by Program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding VISCOPY, Australia, 2008 assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia. The exhibition is also proudly sponsored by R.M.Williams The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift The Bush Outfitter and the National Gallery of Australia Travelling Exhibitions Arthur Streeton Council Exhibitions Fund The selector’s hut (Whelan on Three suitcases of works of art: Red case: myths and rituals includes the log) 1890 (detail) To mark the 25th anniversary of the National Gallery of Australia, oil on canvas 76.7 x 51.2 cm works that reflect the spiritual beliefs of different cultures; Yellow Director Ron Radford, AM, curated this national touring exhibition National Gallery of Australia case: form, space, design reflects a range of art making processes; of treasured works from the national collection. Every Australian and Blue case: technology. These suitcases thematically present a state and territory is represented through the works of iconic artists selection of art and design objects that may be borrowed free-of- such as Clarice Beckett, Arthur Boyd, Grace Cossington Smith, charge for the enjoyment of children and adults in regional, remote Russell Drysdale, Hans Heysen, Max Meldrum, Sidney Nolan, Tom Seated Ganesha Sri Lanka and metropolitan centres. nga.gov.au/Wolfensohn Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Eugene von Guérard. 9th–10th century (detail) nga.gov.au/OceantoOutback bronze 10.0 x 6.8 x 4.4 cm For further details and bookings telephone (02) 6240 6589 or email in Red case: myths and rituals [email protected]. Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT, 9 August – 19 October 2008 The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW, 8 November 2008 – 1 February 2009

Red case: myths and rituals and Yellow case: form, space and design Colin McCahon Inverell Shire Library, Inverell, NSW, 1–26 September 2008 A National Gallery of Australia Focus Exhibition Gympie Regional Gallery, Gympie, Qld, 1–28 October 2008 Young District Arts Council, Young, NSW, 3 November – This exhibition showcases the National Gallery of Australia’s 16 December 2008 holdings of one of the Australasian region’s most renowned and respected artists – Colin McCahon. It includes paintings and works Blue case: technology on paper spanning the period from the 1950s to early 1980s. South West Arts, Hay, NSW, 4 August – 22 September 2008 Karl Millard The exhibition’s tour of Australia and New Zealand is significant Lizard grinder 2000 (detail) Coomoora Primary School, Coomoora, Vic., 6 October – as it coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of the New Zealand brass, bronze, copper, sterling 3 November 2008 Colin McCahon Government’s gift to Australia in 1978 of the iconic work Victory silver, money metal, Peugeot Crucifixion: the apple branch mechanism, stainless steel screws The 1888 Melbourne Cup 1950 (detail) over death 2 1970, which has become a destination work for the 10.0 x 8.0 x 23.5 cm oil on canvas 89.0 x 117.0 cm Gallery. in Blue case: technology The Western Australian Museum, Kalgoorlie, WA, 1 September – The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift Purchased with funds from the nga.gov.au/McCahon 10 October 2008 Sir Otto and Lady Margaret The Western Australian Museum, Perth, WA, 20 October – Frankel Bequest 2004 Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand, 26 November 2008 5 July – 19 October 2008

The National Gallery of Australia Travelling Exhibitions Program is generously supported by Australian airExpress.

artonview spring 2008 47 1 2 3

4 5

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48 national gallery of australia

8 9 faces in view

1. Children participating in the Gallery’s Character clues workshop.

2. Janet Meanie and Lyn Gascoigne at the opening celebrations for Picture paradise. 10 11

3. A child hold up her mask at Character clues workshop.

4. Laila Shouha and her mother Luiza Urbanik at the opening celebrations for Richard Larter.

5. Rhys Muldoon, Belinda Cotton and Hugh Jackman at the 2020 Summit Dinner at the National Gallery of Australia.

6. Chantelle Woods, Assistant Curator, with Visiting Indigenous curators from Canada: (l–r) Steven Loft, Ryan Rice, Bonnie Devine, Jim Logan, David Garneau, Michelle LaVallee, Ramses Calderon.

7. Peter Boreham, Sarah Bryan and Penny 12 Boyer at the opening celebrations for Picture paradise.

8. Richard Nipperess, Ong Niennatfrakul, LinLin Kearney, Selena Kearney and Chris Lilley at the special Members’ opening for Richard Larter.

9. Bill Henson opening the Gallery’s exhibition Picture paradise.

10. The Siam Thai Dance Troupe performing at the opening of Picture paradise. 13 14 11/ Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu 12. performing in the James O Fairfax Theatre at the National Gallery of Australia during NAIDOC Week.

13. David Foxwell, Ruth Foxwell and David Patterson at the opening celebrations for Picture paradise.

14. Stefan Fuchs, Alexander Chapman, Mark Huck and Frances Corkhill, Sponsorship and Development Officer, at the opening celebrations for Richard Larter.

15. Helen Eager, Richard Larter, Christopher Hodges and exhibition curator Deborah Hart at the opening celebrations for Richard Larter. artonview spring 2008 49

15 clockwise from top left

JEFFREY SMART Sunbathers at Construction Site SOLD NOVEMBER 2007 $600,000

COLIN MCCAHON Clouds 5 SOLD NOVEMBER 2007 $360,000

JOHN BRACK Up in the Air (Small Version) SOLD NOVEMBER 2007 $288,000

ROSALIE GASCOIGNE News Break SOLD AUGUST 2007 $300,000

Emily Kame Kngwarreye Kame Emily Utopia The genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye experience t expertise t integrity t results Her name is spoken in the same breath as Modigliani and Monet, yet she never saw their work.

Her work is seen in major galleries around important fine art auction the world, yet she never left Australia.

Direct from Tokyo, the National Museum’s highly sydney t november 2008 acclaimed international exhibition of paintings by one of Australia’s greatest contemporary artists is on show at one Australian venue only.

22 August – 12 October 2008 call for entries for obligation-free appraisals, please call Tickets at www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions Sydney Melbourne Damian Hackett Chris Deutscher Untitled 1993 (detail) Merryn Schriever Tony Preston ©Emily Kame Kngwarreye Collection of Phillip and Jenny Lawrence 02 9287 0600 03 9865 6333 Licensed by Viscopy 08

Exhibition costs apply. Open 9 am – 5 pm daily (closed Christmas Day) JOGP!EFVUTDIFSBOEIBDLFUUDPNtwww.deutscherandhackett.com Lawson Crescent Acton Peninsula Canberra ACT 2600 50 national gallery of australia Freecall 1800 026 132 www.nma.gov.au The National Museum of Australia is an Australian Government Agency

.!4?X?!/6?&!INDDååå åååå0- clockwise from top left

JEFFREY SMART Sunbathers at Construction Site SOLD NOVEMBER 2007 $600,000

COLIN MCCAHON Clouds 5 SOLD NOVEMBER 2007 $360,000

JOHN BRACK Up in the Air (Small Version) SOLD NOVEMBER 2007 $288,000

ROSALIE GASCOIGNE News Break SOLD AUGUST 2007 $300,000

experience t expertise t integrity t results important fine art auction sydney t november 2008 call for entries for obligation-free appraisals, please call Sydney Melbourne Damian Hackett Chris Deutscher Merryn Schriever Tony Preston 02 9287 0600 03 9865 6333

JOGP!EFVUTDIFSBOEIBDLFUUDPNtwww.deutscherandhackett.com artonview spring 2008 51 MENZIES ART BRANDS

JEFFREY SMART let us steer you First Study for The Directors 1977 oil on canvas on board 19.0 x 45.5 cm in the right direction SOLD DM June 2006 $84,000 (including buyer’s premium) At Menzies Art Brands we help you make the right decision. Our expert specialists happily provide assistance in buying, selling and collecting. Menzies Art Brands are the leading Australian Art Auctioneers. Upcoming Sydney auctions are Deutscher~Menzies 17 September & Lawson~Menzies 18 September, followed by our December auctions.

SYDNEY 02 8344 5404 MELBOURNE 03 9822 1911 GOLD COAST 07 5591 7134 WWW.MENZIESARTBRANDS.COM FRESH, APPROACHABLE AND EASY TO PICK UP. [ yellow tail ] is a proud supporter of the National Gallery of Australia

play by your rules Ma^:kmh_K^eZqZmbhgZmFZgmkZ

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Richard Larter Printed Culture Warriors Deborah Hart images by Australian artists 1885–1955 National Indigenous Art Triennial 184 pp., illustrated in colour, softcover Roger Butler Brenda Croft (ed.) 290 x 240 mm 315 pp., illustrated in colour, hardover, 218 pp., illustrated in colour, softcover, RRP $44.95 290 x 240 mm 298 x 245mm Special NGA venue price $34.95 RRP $89.00 RRP $55.95

Australian artists books Picture paradise Collection highlights Alex Selenitsch Asia–Pacific photography 1840s–1940s National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 128 pp., illustrated in colour, softcover, Gael Newton Ron Radford (ed.) 225 x 225 mm 88 pp., illustrated in colour, softcover 272 pp., illustrated in colour, softcover RRP $39.95 270 x 220 mm 250 x 176 mm RRP $29.95 RRP $24.95 Special NGA venue price $24.95

ngashop publications

open 7 days 10 am – 5 pm • Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2601 • ngashop.com.au free call 1800 808 337 • (02) 6240 6420 • [email protected]

54 national gallery of australia ngashop

Indigenous arts books and catalogues calendars and diaries prints and posters jewellery fine art cards

open 7 days 10 am – 5 pm Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2601 free call 1800 808 337 (02) 6240 6420 [email protected] ngashop.com.au

Where are you staying? Less like a hotel

more like ... Arthur Streeton 1867-1943, Golden summer,home. Eaglemont 1889, oil on canvas 81.3 x 152.6 cm.

Conveniently close to both Manuka and Kingston shopping villages. Only three km from the National Gallery of Australia

Proud supporters of the

KINGSTON /CEANTO/UTBACK Australian Landscape painting 1850 - 1950 The National Gallery of Australia 25th Anniversary travelling exhibition 16 Eyre St Kingston [email protected] !5342!,)!s.%7:%!,!.$s5.)4%$+).'$/-s5.)4%$34!4%3/&!-%2)#! Call 1800 655 754 www.kingstonterrace.com.au www.rmwilliams.com.au C•A•N•B•E•R•R•A

BARTON

The Brassey of Canberra National Gallery of Australia Package $199.00 twin/double. per room, per night. Includes Heritage room, full buffet breakfast for 2 adults, free parking, daily newspaper, two tickets to the Degas exhibition and tickets to Old Parliament House.

Belmore Gardens and Macquarie Street, Barton ACT 2600 Telephone: 02 6273 3766 Facsimile: 02 6273 2791 Toll Free Telephone: Email: [email protected] http: //www.brassey.net.au

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Brassey Artonview Degas 233x267.1 1 1/7/08 11:59:44 AM