Third Intermediate Period, 21st–22nd dynasties (1069–715 BCE) Cartonnage of Djedkhonsouioufankh plastered, painted and gilded linen Collection Musée du Louvre Photograph © Georges Poncet, Musée du Louvre, Paris Principal Sponsor

A US T R A LI A E XHIB T ION S A R T

ew i v n o art

ALIA R AUST OF Y R ALLE g NATIONAL 2006 g in pr s No.47 ISSUE

o.47 spring 2006 spring o.47 N ISSUE artonview • Object Crafted The Rev oluti naryrussians SIGHTS MICHAELRILEY UNSEEN

14 July – 16 October 2006 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Imants Tillers installing Terra incognita 2005 at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2005 nga.gov.au Michael Riley Wiradjuri/Kamileroi peoples Untitled from the series cloud [cow] 2000 printed 2005 chromogenic pigment photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Michael Riley, Licensed by VISCOPY The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government agency. contents artonview

Publisher 2 Director’s foreword National Gallery of Australia nga.gov.au 4 Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre Editor Eve Sullivan 8 Revolutionary Russians: Commemorating the centenary Designer of Shostakovich Sarah Robinson

Photography 16 The crafted object 1960s–80s Eleni Kypridis Barry Le Lievre Brenton McGeachie 24 The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art Steve Nebauer John Tassie 28 New acquisitions Designed and produced in Australia by the 42 James Turrell changes the shape of the sky National Gallery of Australia Printed in Australia by Pirion Pty Limited, Canberra 45 Travelling exhibitions

artonview i s s n 1323-4552 46 Abracadabra: the magic in conservation Published quarterly: Issue no. 47, Spring 2006 50 Tribute: Gela Nga-Mirraitja Fordham c. 1935–2006 © National Gallery of Australia

Print Post Approved 52 Tribute: Micky Garrawurra 1940–2006 pp255003/00078

All rights reserved. Reproduction without 54 Development office permission is strictly prohibited. The opinions expressed in artonview are not necessarily those of the editor or 55 Access services: Making a difference publisher.

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front cover: Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh, India Lakshmi Narayana 10th–11th century sandstone National Gallery of Australia, Canberra director’s foreword

The Gallery is beginning to look different. And we will see more Behind the scenes, we are working on the reconfiguration changes over the next six months. Last month we finished the of the main level gallery spaces opening in late October as a first complete cleaning of the building’s outside walls. Ugly chronological survey of late nineteenth-century and twentieth- stains have been removed and the building looks immaculate. century international art focusing on the School of Paris, Dada Inside, we have commenced a relighting program that will and Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism eventually show all of our display galleries literally in a new light. and Conceptual Art. These movements are of course crucial Old, unsightly and inconsistent fittings will be replaced under to the careers of many noted Australian artists whose work the supervision of George Sexton, the world’s leading museum will be presented in context here for the first time. The new lighting expert. international displays present a broad range of media – paintings, On display in the Australian Galleries are two major new sculpture, prints, drawings, illustrated books, photography and additions. One is Australia’s first Symbolist painting, Charles the decorative arts, including our Ballet Russe costumes. It is Conder’s intriguing Hot wind 1889, an important painting hoped that these displays will generate a new interest in, and thought to be lost. We are grateful to the Sarah and Baillieu understanding, of our collection strengths. Myer Family Foundation for helping us purchase the work. Meanwhile, our temporary exhibitions program continues The other is Sydney Long’s Flamingoes c. 1906, a decorative unabated, with the extraordinary contemporary survey exhibitions art nouveau painting acquired with the generous assistance of of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley (on display until 16 October). donors through the Masterpieces for the Nation fund. The exhibitions are supported by the new National Gallery of We are now seeing the beginning of the reconfigured displays Australia Council Exhibition Fund, led by the enthusiastic and of the permanent collection – the Indian Gallery opened late last tireless advocate Rupert Myer, Chair of the Gallery Council. We month and the Southeast Asian Gallery opens in September. also thank the Michael Riley Foundation for assisting with the While highlights from the Indian subcontinent include newly research and organisation of the Michael Riley exhibition and acquired second-century Gandharan work from Pakistan and publication, and the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative for Afghanistan, and sculptures from Nepal and Bangladesh, most assistance with research and loans. of the art on display is from present-day India, with spectacular Michael Riley: sights unseen and Imants Tillers: one Buddhist, Jain, Hindu and Islamic works. More than half of the world many visions present two very complementary points sculptures and architectural elements have been acquired in the of view. Acclaimed Indigenous photographer and film-maker past eighteen months and some have not been shown before. Michael Riley’s searingly poetic images present an alternative The collection of Indian sculptures and architectural structures, to conventional icons of Christianity, reflecting what he has textiles and paintings is the largest and most important in our described as the ‘sacrifices Aboriginal people made to be region outside India. This display includes a marvellous sixteenth- Christian’. In contrast, Imants Tillers, a second-generation century Deccan canopy from the facade of a building (its purchase Australian artist of Latvian descent, perhaps more than any generously assisted by Margaret Olley AC) and the Lakshmi other Australian artist living today, demonstrates the cultural Narayana featured on the cover of this issue, an excellent example legacy and condition in which locality fails to entirely address of the kind of figure imagery that adorned medieval temples in what constitutes our cultural identity. central India. Narayana (which means ‘universal abode’) is one of This issue of artonview launches The crafted object the many emanations of Vishnu, the ‘preserver’ and maintainer of 1960s–80s and the dynamic Revolutionary Russians, featuring cosmic order, an appropriate icon for these unsteady times. works from the collection across a broad range of media, The new Southeast Asian Gallery emphasises our strengths and also previews our major summer blockbuster exhibition, in sculpture and textiles from Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Asian neighbours. It also features afterlife. The coming months will be very exciting for the new major acquisitions, particularly early ancestral animist works. Gallery as we redirect attention to the exceptional strengths of On show in our old downstairs Asian Gallery is the rare and the National Collection and our ongoing program of changing wonderfully preserved early sixteenth-century Japanese painted major exhibitions. folding screen from the Muromachi period, a recent gift of Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett and the National Gallery of Australia Foundation. As outlined in my Vision for the National Gallery of Australia (available at nga.gov.au/Vision), while the arts of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent are the main focus of

the national Asian collection, we are also committed to developing Ron Radford a small but high quality North Asian collection. Director

2 national gallery of australia credit lines

Donations Grants David Healey Kenneth Taylor AM and James Andrew Australia Council for the Arts Elisabeth Heard MH Taylor Roslynne Bracher Visions of Australia Shirley Hemmings in memory Sue Telford Charles Curran AC of Anthony Reis Noel Tovey Masterpieces Ashley Dawson-Damer Janet Hine HN Truscott AM David Adams Penelope Evatt-Seidler Keith Hooper Morna Vellacott Ross Adamson Richard and Maryan Godson Claudia Hyles Elizabeth Ward Antoinette Albert Andrew Gwinnett Father Jack Joy Warren OAM Robert O Albert AO Lee Liberman Susan Jardine Gough Whitlam AC QC Robert Allmark Myer Foundation Christopher Johnson and Margaret Whitlam AO William Anderson Brian O’Keeffe AO and Judith Johnson Stephen Wild Susan Armitage Bridget O’Keeffe AM Pamela Kenny Yvonne Wildash Stuart Babbage The Sarah and Baillieu Peter Kenny I Wilkey Peter and Dorothy Barclay Myer Family Foundation Richard Kingsland AO CBE DFC Muriel Wilkinson Peter Boxall Margaret Hannah Olley and Lady Kingsland Lady Wilson Robert Brennan Art Trust Judy Laver Robine Wilson in memory Christine Burgess Roslyn Packer Paul and Beryl Legge-Wilkinson of Donald Edward Wilson Esther Constable Maxine Rochester Bernard Leser Donna Woodhill Lyn Conybeare and Andrew Rogers W and H Lussick Christopher Conybeare AO Sponsors Catherine Rossi Harris AO Judith MacIntyre Ann Cork Boomalli Aboriginal Rotary Belconnen Jenny Manton Greg Cornwell Artists Co-operative John Schaeffer AO Margaret Mashford Elizabeth Coupland Casella Wines Raphy Star Patricia McCormick Debby Cramer Research Forrest Inn and Apartments Patricia Stephenson Simon McGill Services Harvey Norman Jean McKenzie James Cruthers Westfield Woden Gifts Paul McKeown Lyn Cummings in memory Michael Riley Foundation American Friends of the John Middleton QC of Clement G Cummings Saville Park Suites National Gallery of Australia Eveline Milne David and Laurie Curtis Avril Burn Kathleen Montgomery Joan Daley OAM Eduardo Campaner Nance Atkinson Trust Kathy Davis Chris Canning Susan Neumann Winifred Davson MBE Tony Coleing W Newbigin Barbara Dickens in memory Robyn Daw Angus Paltridge of Mairie Pender Barrie Dexter John Parker Peter Eddington Blair Gardner Lee-Anne Patten Jacqueline Elliott Jonathan Hope SV Plowman Pauline Everson James and Joan Kerr Lady Praznovszky Florence Fane Darani Lewers Susan Rogers Joyce Fildes OAM in memory Klaus Moje Alan Rose AO and Helen Rose of Eleanor Fildes Robert McDougall K Saxby Brian Fitzpatrick Donald Moffatt Gisella Scheinberg OAM Jane Flecknoe Ron Radford AM S Schonberg R and A Fleming Dorothy Reid Heather Shakespeare Friends of Cowra Art Gallery Jill Richards Dick Smith AO and Pip Smith Neilma Gantner Patricia Sabine Elizabeth Smith Pauline Griffin AM Carmen Scott Wendy Smith in memory Joyce Grimsley Stills Gallery and the Freedman of Robert Bruce Smith June P Gordon Foundation in memory of Ann Somers William Hamilton Linda Slutzkin Lady Synnot Vi Harding John Thompson Elizabeth Tanner Alathea Vavasour

artonview spring 2006 3 Ptolemaic Period, 32nd forthcoming Dynasty (332–30 BCE) Funerary chest of Hetepimen plastered and painted wood Collection Musée du Louvre, Paris Photograph © Georges Poncet, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the afterlife 17 November 2006 – 25 February 2007

This summer in Canberra the Australian public will have the opportunity to see an extraordinary collection of art and artefacts from one of history’s most enduring civilisations. Over two hundred objects will go on show in an exhibition of Egyptian antiquities from the Musée du Louvre in Paris. This momentous event is the first exhibition the Louvre has sent to Australia in nearly two decades. Many of the works are drawn from the permanent display of Egyptian antiquities at the Louvre, while others have never been on public display. The ancient Egyptians saw life as a continuous process, in which mortal existence was only preparatory to the transformation brought by death, a mere shadow of the delightful world to come. A life lived morally and in accordance with the Egyptian commandments would allow a soul to pass through the final gate from the Underworld to the paradise of the Field of Reeds after judgment by the god Osiris. The journey between death and the Hall of Judgement was, however, lengthy and fraught with danger. The deceased had to set out equipped with amulets, magical spells and blessings from the gods. The exhibition draws its narrative from the Book of the Dead, or what the Egyptians called the Book of Coming Forth by Day, a compilation of spells and incantations to secure protection against the perils of the journey. The manuscripts were often illustrated with scenes of the stages of the journey, or the rewards awaiting those who completed it successfully and gained entry to the Field of Reeds. Visitors will have the pleasure of seeing a number of these painted papyrus manuscripts in the exhibition. Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the afterlife will include a broad range of subjects and themes in a variety of media, showcasing the incredible skill and virtuosity of ancient Egyptian artists and

4 national gallery of australia New Kingdom, late 18th – early 19th dynasties (1323–1295 BCE) Fragment of an Osiris pillar limestone Collection Musée du Louvre, Paris Photograph © Georges Poncet, Musée du Louvre, Paris artonview spring 2006 5 Third Intermediate craftspeople. We will see major sculptural works in stone Period, 21st–22nd dynasties (1069–715 BCE) and bronze, illustrated manuscripts, painted chests and Cartonnage of mummy cases, low reliefs, jewellery, ceramics, and fine Djedkhonsouioufankh plastered, painted and gilded wood carving. linen Collection Musée du Louvre Photograph © The smallest objects in the exhibition are amulets and Georges Poncet, Musée du jewels for adorning and protecting mummies, made from Louvre, Paris ceramic, carnelian, and other semi-precious stones. An army of over two hundred faience ushabti figures stand to attention, ready to act as deputies for the deceased in the afterlife, performing on his or her behalf any duties required. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on illustrated stele invoke the gods to grant favours and safe passage to donors on their travels through the afterlife to the Hall of Judgement. Painted scenes on canopic chests and mummy cases show vignettes from the journey of the dead, as they travel beyond the mortal realm towards eternal life with the gods. Lifelike sculptures and mummy portraits ensure the survival of the physical form, the eyes of the deceased gazing at us across the millennia. Throughout, the sublime, impassive faces of the gods watch over the progress of souls through the rigours of life and the Underworld’s dangers. Although ancient Egyptian art is often perceived to be about death and the tomb, the exhibition shows that the elaborate funerary preparations and mummification rituals were actually only the first step on the path to eternal life. The Field of Reeds was a paradise imagined by a simple, agricultural society: tilling fertile fields, tending fat livestock, hunting in a countryside teeming with birdlife and game, dancing and listening to heavenly music, and fishing in swollen streams. It was a life like that along the Nile, but brighter, more beautiful, and more restful, where magical servants carried out the more tiresome tasks, and everyone was comfortable and happy. This was not only a paradise for the upper classes, but also one to which every Egyptian aspired. Some of the works depict the world to come; others serve as reminders of it, such as a blue glazed bowl decorated with the water lilies that symbolise rebirth and the fecund splendour of the afterlife. Among the most spectacular objects in the exhibition are the sarcophagi, coffins and cartonnages – mummy cases made of linen or papyrus strips held together and hardened with plaster and resin then covered in painted decorations. To enter the Field of Reeds, it was not just necessary for the soul to pass the final Judgement of the god Osiris. The body must remain intact for the soul to be reunited with it and these coffins protected the mummified remains from physical damage. Together with the accompanying wall paintings, low reliefs and portrait sculptures inscribed with the names of the deceased, they also allowed the soul to find and recognise its body more easily and substituted for it in the case of loss or damage. One of the most exquisite examples of painting to be seen in the exhibition is the Cartonnage of

6 national gallery of australia Djedkhonsouioufankh, which combines a portrait of the reignite in anyone who has a memory of a school project New Kingdom, 18th–20th dynasties (1550-1069 BCE) deceased with a scene in the Hall of Judgment, a variety on the pyramids, or a first encounter with a mummy on a Funerary pectoral: Isis and of talismanic motifs, and symbols of the afterlife and the museum visit. The exquisite workmanship of the objects Nephthys protecting Khepri gilded wood inlaid with journey of the soul. in the exhibition grants the ancient Egyptians their longed- lapis-lazuli, glass and faience Collection Musée du Louvre, Pharaonic culture lasted in ancient Egypt for well over for immortality, bridging the intervening millennia and Paris Photograph © Christian three thousand years, gradually evolving over this time allowing visitors to accompany them on their journey Décamps, Musée du Louvre, Paris as the kingdom was conquered, divided, reunited, and through the Underworld. transformed. The exhibition imparts an understanding The National Gallery of Australia is proud to be the of how these changes affected religious belief and art first venue to host this outstanding exhibition from one of production over the millennia, from the Old Kingdom, when the foremost collections of Egyptian art and antiquities in the pyramids were built to Cleopatra, last of the pharaohs, the world. a and the Roman conquest two thousand years ago. Bronwyn Campbell This exhibition of Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre Co-ordinating curator, Egyptian antiquities from the is unlike any exhibition of ancient Egyptian art and culture Louvre ever seen in Australia. Visitors will gain an appreciation of Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the Egyptian artistic traditions and the enormous skill of the afterlife is organised by Art Exhibitions Australia and the ancient hands that fashioned the works on display, and an Musée du Louvre, Paris, in association with the National understanding of their functional context. Ancient Egypt Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Further information holds a perennial fascination, one that this exhibition will at nga.gov.au/Egypt

artonview spring 2006 7 Orde Poynton Gallery

Revolutionary Russians: Commemorating the centenary of Shostakovich 23 September 2006 – 28 January 2007

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky 1992. Political and economic dislocation was mirrored by October idyll, from Zhupel cultural and artistic advances and retreats, breakthroughs [Bugbear] no. 1 1905, reprinted in Pulemet and stagnation. [Machine-gun] no.1 1905 In the visual arts, the twentieth century was colour lithograph National Gallery of Australia, distinguished by the adoption of new, modernist visual Canberra languages, especially the multiple images of printing, Unknown artist photography and film. These are all media where the aura The responsible editor swallows the amnesty in of one original work is replaced by numerous identical Maski [Masks] no. 9, versions. In Russia the idea of cheap and plentiful art 10 April 1906 colour lineblock objects mirrored the ideal of creating a new society, in National Gallery of Australia, Canberra fact a new human being: Homo sovieticus. The utopian idealism of the project lasted only a few years, but the form continued into the 1970s. In 1905 the first Russian revolts of the twentieth century began as the Tsarist regime’s imperial adventure, the attack on Japan in 1904, began to fail. The shock of European defeat by an Asian nation was complete: Russia’s ambitions for a Pacific empire and a warm water port were crushed, along with its navy, at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. In contrast to the aristocracy’s leisured, luxurious life, peasants and workers suffered under appalling conditions, and were joined by the intelligentsia in opposing the autocratic and incompetent regime. On 9 January a peaceful demonstration at the Tsar’s Winter 2006 marks the centenary of the birth of the great Palace in St Petersburg turned into the massacre of Bloody composer Dmitri Shostakovich. He was born in Sunday when troops fired into the crowd, killing and St Petersburg on 25 September 1906 into a Russia wounding more than a thousand people. racked by revolutionary ferment. In the hundred years In the tradition of the lubok, the coloured folk that followed, Russia endured continual upheavals and at woodcut print, and the unauthorised pamphlet, hundreds least four revolutions. The first began in 1905 and lasted of savagely critical illustrated newspapers were published until 1907, while the year 1917 saw two in February and in the temporary relaxation of censorship when the October. As well as the Civil War of 1918 to 1921, the government floundered between 1905 and 1907. The new Soviet Union saw Stalin’s Great Terror of the 1930s, National Gallery of Australia’s collection of 167 issues then invasion by Nazi Germany in the Second World War. includes some harrowing images of the poor, victims of This was followed by the turmoil of the Cold War from the Tsar and his three agents (the nobility, the military and 1945, until a largely peaceful revolution saw the end the church). Bloody Sunday altered the view of the Tsar of the Soviet Union and its empire between 1989 and as protector, the Little Father of the people: Nicholas II

8 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 9 Natalya Goncharova was now seen as an oppressor like the others. Radical, An upsurge of patriotism which greeted the First Vertogradari nad lozami [Gardeners over the vines] broad, and excoriating in their depiction of the forces of World War produced some extraordinary visual creations, by Sergei Bobrov 1913 repression, most surprising perhaps is the hatred the such as Goncharova’s portfolio War: Mystical images of colour lithograph Gift of Orde Poynton Esq. artists and illustrators expressed towards priests. One war 1914. Symbols of nation states – the white eagle CMG 1993 National Gallery of Australia, extraordinary image shows a naked woman crucified of Russia and the English lion for example – co-exist Canberra – unusual in a prudish culture where nudity was banned with images of death and destruction: the pale horse;

Olga Rozanova Zaumnaya apart from a few high art representations, and where the doomed city; a common grave. Angels hover but gniga [Transrational book] the Orthodox Church controlled religious discourse. cannot protect the Russian army. Malevich used the lubok by Aleksei Kruchënykh and Alyagrov 1915 But a bare-breasted female Jesus? Even now it appears woodcut style in his jocular, bloodthirsty posters exhorting collage, colour linocut confronting. the defence of the Motherland, with verse captions by National Gallery of Australia, Canberra In the years before the outbreak of war in August the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Despite the initial support, 1914, Europe was convulsed by modernism in the arts. carnage on the front and incompetent military command Russia was industrialising rapidly, producing a large and led to the liberal February Revolution of 1917. The liberal middle class as well as some enlightened patrons. Kerensky government’s inability to end the war sparked The painters Kazimir Malevich, Natalya Goncharova and the Bolshevik Revolution in October, the victory of Lenin’s Mikhail Larionov all produced original lithographic book Communist Party and the eventual establishment of the illustrations in the style of Russian Futurism. In Gardeners Soviet Union. over the vines 1913, for example, Goncharova develops In the first heady days of the Revolution many artists the idea of Rayism, where bolts of lines and divided enthusiastically joined the struggle, especially after forms dissect images of the natural world. Radical Western Powers, including Britain, France, the United verse and writing were accompanied by abstracted States and Canada, intervened in the Civil War to support compositions, which could be produced in large, cheap the White Army. The movement of Constructivism grew editions to broadly disseminate radical artistic ideas. out of the attempt to bring education and modern art to After the Bolshevik Revolution this became state policy, the masses, through the famous Agitprop trains (agitation which would lead to criticism and then suppression of and propaganda travelling in rail carriages), publications, individual creation. clothing design, architecture, films and radio. Aleksandr

10 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 11 Kazimir Malevich Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Vladimir Tatlin and Gustav Artists, including Wassily Kandinsky, decorated plates, cup Poster: Nu i tresk-zhe, nu i grom-zhe! [What Klucis led attempts to modernise Russia though radical and saucers and teapots in various styles to fit the times. a boom, what a blast!] aesthetics, under the auspices of Narkompros [the People’s Sergei Chekhonin’s teapot, My work is my truth 1921, 1915 colour lithograph National Gallery of Australia, Commissariat for Enlightening] as the Education and combines an elegant and animated crimson ribbon with Canberra Culture Ministry was called. the flower motifs of folk art, encircled by the emblazoned Inventive women artists and designers, notable in their slogan. Even under the new order, work of this quality numbers and predominance even before the start of the was too expensive for ordinary people, and such porcelain First World War, continued to figure prominently until the remained a luxury for the well-connected or was exported 1940s. Olga Rozanova, in her Transrational book 1915, to sympathisers and collectors in the West. plays with the conventions of the medium itself: the cover El Lissitsky was originally a disciple of Marc Chagall has a button attached to a cut-out red paper heart; inside, at Vitebsk in the revival of Jewish culture in Russia, made Aleksandr Kruchënykh’s transrational verse is rubber- possible after the Revolutionary government lifted a stamped at random across the text pages, accompanied by Tsarist ban on printing Hebrew letters. He then became colour linocuts based on playing cards. Valentina Kulagina’s a convert to the pure rationality of Malevich’s abstract striking poster for the Art exhibition of the Soviet Union cause, and contributed his considerable talents as a book 1931 shown in Switzerland presents as metaphor for the and exhibition designer to the service of the Revolution. building of the new society and pin-up of modern design, Lissitsky went to Germany in 1921 as a surrogate a cylindrical orange-red construction worker. diplomatic representative of the Soviet Union, which was An odd continuation of Tsarist tradition occurred not recognised by the Western powers. They imposed through the use of porcelain blanks from the Imperial economic, political, military and cultural blockades Porcelain Factory, founded in St Petersburg in 1744. against the new Russia after their unsuccessful military

12 national gallery of australia intervention in the Civil War from 1918 to 1920. Lissitsky The Communist Party saw culture as an important tool Sergei Chekhonin Teapot: My work is my truth found artistic confrères in Germany at the Bauhaus, as in the transformation of society, and controlled it through 1921 porcelain well as in The Netherlands, especially Theo van Doesburg state associations such as the Union of Artists and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and other Neo-Plasticists. His playful use of red and black Union of Composers. By the end of the 1920s, as Stalin typographic symbols to construct Mayakovsky’s poems in tightened his grip on power, modernism was seen as For the voice 1923 underlines Lissitsky’s combination of counter-revolutionary and bourgeois, and Socialist Realism intuition and expertise. became the only acceptable artistic style. Rodchenko also The tall figure and bald head of Mayakovsky haunt worked with Stepanova, his wife, designing books and 1920s modernism in Russian art and literature. Rodchenko journals such as USSR in construction, an ironical title used him as a subject in the always enjoyable cover during this time of great famine, stemming from the failed illustrations to Mayakovsky’s poetry pamphlets, his large collectivisation of agriculture and ideologically-based mass head adorning the back covers, his brain with aeroplanes murders in the Soviet Union from 1930 onwards. It may be circling it standing in for the world. They collaborated this contradiction, and the betrayal of the original ideals on the radical art journal LEF, which stood for Left Front of the Revolution, which led many artists to withdraw for the Arts, and its successor, Novy LEF or New LEF. from the public realm. Rodchenko’s tender, contemplative Rodchenko used the face of Mayakovsky’s muse, Lilya Portrait of my daughter 1935, while still using radical Brik, for the cover of Pro eto [About this] 1923. It was angles and unusual juxtapositions, could hardly claim any the first book ever to be illustrated using photomontage, political territory or any Soviet identity. and the artist increasingly demonstrated his grasp of the Musicians, like many visual artists and writers, fell dynamic and abstract qualities inherent in the medium of foul of Communist Party edicts commanding Marxist photography. optimism and clarity while banning bourgeois decadence.

artonview spring 2006 13

Modernism was seen as incomprehensible to the masses, Kozintsev, with whom he spanned his film career from Dmitri Baltermans Attack! 1941 gelatin silver and counter-revolutionary in its visual sophistication and New Babylon in 1929 to King Lear in 1970. Their finest photograph National Gallery complexity. Film and photography escaped the harshest collaboration was Hamlet 1964, perhaps the best screen of Australia, Canberra strictures, as they could be defended as inherently version of a Shakespeare play ever made. It is only rivalled, Aleksandr Rodchenko Back cover of Sergeiu Eseninu narrative and naturalist, if not distorted too far by such visually and for its psychological insight, by their King Lear [To Sergei Esenin] by Vladimir techniques as superimposition and collage. Dmitri 1970, with its outstanding acting, photography, direction Mayakovsky 1926 colour photolithograph National Baltermans’ brilliant snapshot of soldiers in action, Attack! and score. Shostakovich supported his family in the early Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1941, counterposes the blurred figures of fighters in twenties by playing the piano to accompany silent films. motion with focused, static shooters. As well as his many original film scores, his music has As well as its great literary culture, Russia had a been orchestrated later for the soundtrack of silent film glorious tradition in the performing arts: drama, opera, masterpieces such as Battleship Potemkin 1925, directed ballet, classical music. The latter produced two of the by Sergei Eisenstein, and Man with a movie camera 1928– greatest composers of the twentieth century, Shostakovich 29, directed by Dziga Vertov. and Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky emigrated to Switzerland Shostakovich died in Moscow on 9 August 1975, in 1914, returning for a single visit in 1962, while as the Soviet Union he had known for almost all his life Shostakovich composed his joyous, serious, frivolous faltered into its last, corrupt, decades. The Revolution and profound oeuvre in Russia. As well as his fifteen was soon to fail and dissolve. Its main legacy was terrible symphonies, substantial chamber music such as the loss and destruction, yet some of the original optimism of profound string quartets, operas and ballets, Shostakovich trying to build a new society remains in the creations of composed more than thirty-five film scores. It is his aural revolutionary Russian artists. a contribution to the Gesamtkunstwerk of Soviet cinema Christine Dixon which is celebrated in this exhibition. Senior Curator, International Painting and Sculpture From the beginning of sound in cinema, Shostakovich worked with many Soviet directors, especially Grigori Further information at nga.gov.au/RevolutionaryRussians

artonview spring 2006 15 Project Gallery

The crafted object 1960s–80s 26 August – 10 December 2006

Alan Peascod Jar The crafted object 1960s–80s brings together a arts and design industries. It was an area of practice 1986 glazed stoneware National Gallery of Australia, wide range of Australian craft works from the national increasingly promoted and nurtured by the national Canberra collection, many of which were acquired early in the craft organisation, the Crafts Council of Australia (later, Gallery’s history and have not been displayed for over a Craft Australia) and its affiliated crafts councils in each decade. This exhibition focuses on the period from the Australian state, and supported with the funding and mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, when a revival of studio advocacy of the Australia Council through its Crafts craft practices opened up new possibilities for expression Board, which was established in 1973. This Board in the visual arts in Australia. represented the Australian government’s first formal The international revival of studio craft grew from a recognition of the crafts and operated a number of number of influences and traditions which had survived programs to support the professional development of into the postwar period of the 1950s and 1960s. These this nascent industry. It developed its own contemporary centred on the celebration of the handmade and the craft collection and mounted exhibitions of this work. It unique object in the face of dwindling craft training and also assisted artists through the purchase of their work the increased availability of higher-quality manufactured and encouraged and supported state and regional art goods; the successful integration of designers and crafts galleries to acquire and exhibit Australian craft. The practitioners with the industrial process of applied arts Board’s programs were a positive response to the large manufacture in Scandinavia; a closer connection between number of exhibitions of contemporary craft coming the work of sculptors and designers in the expression of into Australia from overseas in the early 1970s, allowing organic modernism; and the exposure of craft practice Australian audiences to make connections with new as a lifestyle choice through popular and professional Australian work. architecture and design journals promoted through craft As a result of the Crafts Board’s activities during organisations and societies and museum and commercial the 1970s this substantial collection of contemporary art gallery exhibitions. A major influence in ceramics Australian craft in all media was acquired for inclusion was the philosophy and practice of the British potter in nine travelling exhibitions of ceramics, jewellery and Bernard Leach who, with Japanese potter Shoji Hamada, textiles (mounted in the period 1975–83 within Australia promoted the appreciation of an Anglo–Japanese and overseas) that were a central part of its program vernacular approach to form and technique. to expose and promote Australian craft overseas. The A younger generation of Australian artists, craft works in these exhibitions were selected by a number of practitioners and designers began to engage with institutional and independent curators and experienced these streams from the late 1950s, establishing craft craft practitioners, resulting in collections of objects that organisations that would shape agendas for the demonstrated a rich and representative cross-section of integration of craft training, scholarship, marketing contemporary Australian practice. and innovation with the mainstream of the visual

16 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 17 Elizabeth Olah In 1980 the Crafts Board of the Australia Council this search for a direct expression of material and form Sunrise and shade 1981 sterling silver, 18 carat gold, Collection, by that time comprising 898 works, was given that characterised the craft revival of the early 1960s had porcelain and opal to the National Gallery of Australia, substantially boosting antecedents in the British and American Arts and Crafts Crafts Board of the Australia Council Collection 1980 its nascent decorative arts collection and providing a movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth

Ragnar Hansen Tea service strong foundation for the subsequent acquisition of centuries, its late twentieth century manifestations owed 1982 sterling silver and contemporary Australian craft. The Crafts Board Collection less to a rejection of industry than to the exposure of a ebony National Gallery of Australia, Canberra remains a rich expression of the most significant period in younger generation of designers and makers to myriad the development of Australian craft practice and contains influences on the nature of object-making. Marea Gazzard Kamares VII 1972 glazed stoneware important early work by most of Australia’s now senior With increased opportunities from the mid-1960s for Crafts Board of the Australia craft practitioners. As a collection, it is striking evidence Australians to travel abroad, allowing a maturing, and Council Collection 1980 National Gallery of Australia, of how a group of interconnected art forms flourished design-educated post-second world war generation of Canberra through government support and patronage, giving makers first-hand access to the richness and diversity visibility and authority to practices that had previously of the material cultures of Asia, Europe and the Third been excluded from the lexicon of the fine arts. World, a broadened dimension of expression through The ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery, woodwork, craft media and techniques entered the repertoire of textiles and leatherwork included in this exhibition Australian craft practice. Traditional modes of training, have been drawn extensively from both the Crafts skill development and apprenticeship were encountered Board Collection and the National Gallery of Australia’s and adopted by a number of Australians willing to own early acquisitions from the mid-1960s to the mid subject themselves to such rigours. These experiences 1980s. They are displayed in thematic groupings to gave many makers a foundation for their own studio reflect some of the influences that impacted on the practice and were revealed through hybrid work field during a period of two decades characterised by (particularly in the area of ceramics) that explored and enormous social change, design experimentation and the combined the qualities of both foreign and Australian search for alternative means of visual expression in the materials, techniques and design motifs. The enduring production of functional and sculptural objects. While ceramic traditions of Japan dominated studio ceramics,

18 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 19 allowing Australians to engage with its material culture through locally-produced objects interpreting the complexities and subtleties of traditional Japanese firing and glazing techniques. The intrinsic uniqueness and material qualities of the hand-crafted object existed as a counterpoint to the wider world of art and design from the mid-1960s, from pop and op art and minimalism to the new design forms and use of plastics and other synthetics in furniture, industrial design and fashion. The postmodernist fervour of architecture and object design from the late 1970s also encouraged a new appreciation of other design and craft traditions, such as eighteenth- and nineteenth-century porcelain, Venetian and Bohemian glass, Victorian jewellery, art nouveau and art deco design, and those more broadly determined examples of kitsch and popular culture. Such traditional modes of expression found new proponents among Australian craft practitioners who would expand the stylistic and technical vocabulary of the crafts through work that offered witty, intellectually engaging and technically accomplished interpretations of these styles. These influences ran parallel to that of Scandinavian design, which reached its peak of marketing exposure in Australia during this time. Offering models of rational production and astute marketing through eloquent expressions of natural and indigenous materials, the Scandinavian approach to design (which combined craft and functionalist traditions with modernist ideals) provided models for the curricula of Australia’s newly- developing tertiary craft and design courses. From these programs emerged a new generation of craft artists and designers with a thorough understanding of materials and techniques, allied with a confident approach to design and the expression of narrative and content in their work. For instance, the abundance of native woods in Australia provided a challenge to designers and woodworkers to exploit their particular qualities while addressing the rising concern for the preservation of natural resources. Similarly, much work in ceramics and textiles addressed environmental issues. Such discipline encouraged experimentation with materials and processes not usually associated with crafts. The increased availability of refractory metals, high-performance ceramic and glass materials, synthetic fibres and composites, allied with the skilled use of high-tech equipment (including the early use of computers in the design process), gave makers the

Helmut Lueckenhausen confidence to explore new approaches to form, colour Teraph I 1985 mahogany, and texture. This was seen particularly in the fields of Huon pine and synthetic polymer paint National jewellery and metalwork, where the use of industrial Gallery of Australia, Canberra materials led to not only new forms and materials for Mona Hessing Scoop 1972 personal adornment but also a rejection of the values woven wool construction National Gallery of Australia, of the traditional world of commercial jewellery, with Canberra

20 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 21 Frank Bauer Neckpiece its emphasis on prestige and the value of precious what qualities characterised Australian craft and design. 1977 18 carat gold and stainless steel materials. Instead, the body became a site for design For the first time, through direct experience of works Crafts Board of the Australia experimentation and a focus for discourse on the nature in exhibitions and their publication in specialist and Council Collection 1980 National Gallery of Australia, of personal adornment and expression. established art and design journals, Australian crafts Canberra Engaging with these modes of practice brought began to be seen and evaluated in an international Klaus Moje Uriarra 1985 many Australian designers and makers into contact with context by audiences with few preconceptions of an fused and kiln-formed glass Purchased from Gallery overseas institutions and colleagues, building professional Australian style. admission charges 1988 relationships that resulted in visits to Australia from well- The twenty years from 1965 to 1985 were National Gallery of Australia, Canberra known and experienced artists to undertake residencies characterised by radicalism, social upheaval and change, and workshops, hold exhibitions and participate in generational conflict, the exploration and politicisation conferences. Some stayed, or came specifically to take of gender issues, war and global concerns for the state up teaching positions, injecting new approaches to of the environment, all fuelled by increased access to training while developing their own work to reflect their information and the accelerating availability of new experience of Australia. In turn, Australians began to find technologies. While the revival of the slower and opportunities to travel and work overseas, undertaking more introspective modes of craft practice may have research and developing their skills for extended periods seemed escapist in the face of such global urgencies, on grants from the Crafts Board of the Australia Council. its intimate and individual nature allowed a number The travelling exhibition programs of Craft Australia of artists to use it as a form of protest, satire and and the Crafts Board offered numerous opportunities subversion. Feminism, for instance, opened up modes for Australian participants to travel with exhibitions and of critical inquiry into what had been categorised and represent their fields of practice, while organisational marginalised as women’s craft, politicising materials, affiliations with international craft organisations such techniques and approaches to production. In Australia, as the World Crafts Council facilitated dialogues for the Vietnam war, Indigenous rights, the rise and fall of Australian delegates on broader issues in the field. the Labor government (under which the Australia Council Such expanded horizons helped Australians to frame a had developed its programs of support for the crafts), view of their own contribution and to begin to define ecological concerns and environmental activism, gay

22 national gallery of australia politics and outright larrikin humour were all subjects for Australian experience. That role has broadened since Stephen Benwell Sculptural piece 1979 craft practitioners to investigate and enjoy through work the mid-1980s, much of it through the later and current glazed stoneware, underglaze that was unconventional, sometimes impractical and work of many of the artists whose work is shown in painted decoration Crafts Board of the Australia often deliberately garish and grotesque. Pride in popular this exhibition, as well as the work of their younger Council Collection 1980 culture, allied with a revival of interest in the vernacular contemporaries. Their contribution to defining the most National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (from traditional trades, bush crafts and handicrafts to important period of craft and design innovation in the overt expressions of Australiana subjects and motifs in history of Australian decorative arts is beginning to be Margaret Dodd Holden with lipstick the decorative and applied arts) broadened the historical more widely understood and opens stimulating avenues surfboards 1977 glazed earthenware frame of reference for craft practitioners. of inquiry for researchers and collectors alike. a National Gallery of Australia, The experimental and adventurous atmosphere that Canberra Robert Bell surrounded the crafts during this twenty-year period Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design opened new pathways of inquiry to many practitioners, encouraging many to forge unique expressions that Further information at nga.gov.au/CraftedObject. would find their way into public collections and, as a result, into the wider world of the visual arts. The National Gallery of Australia, along with most state and several regional art galleries, developed important collections of craft from this period, providing a greater public access to the new work being produced across the country. A new generation has matured since most of the works in this survey were produced, yet there is little understanding of the critical role that these works and their makers played in redefining Australian decorative arts and design. This exhibition offers a reassessment of the work of the period and encourages a generation born since the 1980s to engage with ideas that redefined notions of the role of craft in the interpretation of the

artonview spring 2006 23 collection focus

The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art

Tanimbar islands, south including works most recently seen in the exhibitions Moluccas, Indonesia Ceremonial pendant and Sari to Sarong and Crescent Moon. Through objects in a clan heirloom [masa] 19th wide range of materials – wood, textile, bronze, gold and century gold alloy, cinnabar; beaten metal, repousse paper – enduring themes important to Southeast Asia’s National Gallery of Australia, Canberra art, culture and traditions are explored in the context of active engagement at a crossroad of culture, trade and Khmer people, Cambodia or Thailand Buddha exchange. The national collection is particularly strong in Shakyamuni under the sculpture and textiles from the region. serpent’s hoods late Angkor period (12–13th century) Buddhist and, to a lesser extent, Hindu sculpture stone from Cambodia, Thailand and Burma has long been National Gallery of Australia, Canberra at the heart of the Gallery’s Southeast Asian sculpture collection. The enlightenment of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni has remained a popular theme in Southeast Asian Buddhist art. The Gallery holds a number of sculptures of the Buddha seated with his right hand reaching down to touch the ground, capturing the instant when Shakyamuni calls on the Earth to witness his victory over the temptations of Mara. Related images depict the The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art introduces the Enlightened Buddha, protected from a fierce storm by richness of the region’s art practice in all significant the serpent king as he meditates. These key events in the media over more than a millennium. From its roots in the life of the historical Buddha are among those succinctly veneration of ancestors and the spirits of nature, through narrated in the temple hangings and canopies from the great classical Hindu Buddhist epochs and the far- Cambodia and Burma. Aniconic imagery of the Buddha reaching influences of Islam and Christianity, Southeast includes the huge recently acquired seventeenth-century Asian art in the national collection reveals the vibrancy Burmese stone footprint inscribed with 108 symbols and eclecticism of the region’s cultures. relating to the Buddha. Even before the Australian National Gallery opened Hindu images on display in the new Gallery range to the public in 1982, the art of Southeast Asia had from a rare eleventh-century gilded bronze figure of the been a key focus of the Gallery’s collecting strategies, an god Shiva from Angkor-period Cambodia to nineteenth- indication of a developing awareness, post the Second and twentieth-century manuscripts, embroideries and World War, of Australia’s geographic location. Over the silk brocades illustrating narrative scenes from local past three decades, a rich, diverse and unique collection versions of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the has been established. With its relocation to the entrance Mahabharata, from Bali, the only remaining Hindu culture level, following the new installation of the art of the Indian in Southeast Asia. Textiles from the Gallery’s world- subcontinent, the Southeast Asian displays celebrate renowned collection of textiles illuminate the regional exciting new acquisitions and revitalise old favourites, variations in artistic styles, especially across the Indonesian

24 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 25 archipelago where they have survived as heirlooms, Since its arrival through trade with the Arab world, Toba Batak people, Sumatra, Indonesia alongside valuable Indian cloth traded into the region over India and China almost 800 years ago, Islam has been a Priest’s container for magical many centuries. significant force in the art of Indonesia, Malaysia and the potions 19th century water buffalo horn, wood Recent acquisitions, however, have strengthened Philippines, as well as Muslim communities of Thailand, National Gallery of Australia, the representation of ancestral and animist art from the Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam. Arabic calligraphy and Canberra Southeast Asian region. While animist traditions predate the importance of the divine written word for spiritual, Battambang region, talismanic and symbolic purposes in Southeast Asia’s Cambodia Buddhist temple Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, and the hanging or canopy [pidan] Islamic art is not confined to religious texts, such as the powerful influences of trade, particularly with India, China late 19th century Gallery’s Qu’ran from Borneo, but also adorns cloth, silk, natural dyes; weft ikat and Europe, they have continued to coexist with the National Gallery of Australia, stone, wood and metal. The wide-ranging impact of world religions. On display are wooden ancestral figures, Canberra international trade and design evident in the region’s arts architectural elements for clan houses and tombs, objects encompasses Chinese mythical beasts such as the mythical used by village priests in magical rites, and textiles whose qilin unicorn and phoenix, floral chintzes and fairy tales creation and designs can be linked to the ancient beliefs from Europe, and Mughal niches, elephants and tigers related to fertility and renewal. These works range from from India and Central Asia. the rice guardian bulol figures of the Ifugao people of The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art provides a unique the northern Philippines to a funerary spirit figure in the opportunity for visitors to experience the rich and diverse form of a bird from upland Vietnam. The symbolism of artistic achievements of Australia’s northern neighbours. prestigious and mythical composite creatures such as the From the inception of the national collection in the 1960s, buffalo and dragon is similarly associated with protection Southeast Asian art has been central to the Gallery’s and abundance. Also central to Southeast Asian ceremony vision of Asian art. The launch of the new Southeast Asian are elaborate gold ornaments – earrings, headdresses and displays in late September will celebrate and demonstrate pectorals – which serve as markers of rank, as well as clan this long commitment to the great art traditions of heirlooms and items of bride-wealth. In exhibiting metal Southeast Asia. a objects alongside textiles, the displays emphasise the dualism of male and female elements in Southeast Asian Robyn Maxwell, Melanie Eastburn and Hwei-Fen Cheah Asian Art cosmological beliefs, where the hot sharp male arts of smelting and carving are ritually paired with the soft cool textile skills of women.

artonview spring 2006 27 new acquisition Asian Art

A 16th-century Japanese screen Pine trees by the shore

With thanks to the generosity of Andrew and Hiroko The theme is thought to have come to prominence in Gwinnett and the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, the landscape painting of the Heian period (794–1185) an extraordinary pair of Japanese folding screens has and continued to be fashionable in the centuries that recently entered the Gallery’s collection. Painted around followed. It is, however, the Muromachi period, when the 1550, Pine trees by the shore is a rare example of an intact Gallery’s screens were painted, with which hamamatsu pair of screens from such an early date. More often only scenes are most closely associated. The oldest known single screens survive from this period. extant screen showing pine trees by the shore is a single Called byobu, or ‘protection from the wind’, in screen from a fifteenth-century pair in the collection of Japanese, screens are an integral part of Japanese the Tokyo National Museum. Despite being produced at interior space – designed to serve as room dividers a time of war and upheaval, the art of the Muromachi as well as objects of beauty. Painted screens were period was vibrant and innovative. frequently commissioned by wealthy patrons and Pine trees by the shore is a vibrant scene of horses embellished according to their tastes and position, and amongst the pines beside an inlet. The right screen shows whether the screens were intended for public or private horses galloping into the picture, becoming quieter with use. Certain subjects appealed to particular audiences at each panel: by the fourth panel they are reclining. The different times but land and seascapes remained popular exuberant entrance of the horses is balanced on the over the centuries. left screen by a small group of intricately painted boats The subject of pine trees by the shore, known as returning from fishing. Inspection of the boats reveals the hamamatsu, has a long history in Japanese painting. crew of two of the vessels struggling with the full sails, The pine tree [matsu] is a symbol of youth and longevity. while another craft heads to shore. There are two small

28 national gallery of australia Japan, Muromachi period salt-preparing huts on the shore and in the distance, on (1392–1573) Pine trees by the shore c. 1550 pair of six- the other side of the river, two larger buildings appear fold screens; ink, gold amongst a grove of trees. and colour on paper Gift of Andrew and Beneath clouds and undulating mountains, the Hiroko Gwinnett and the flowing water wends across both screens. Painted in blue National Gallery of Australia Foundation, 2006 and white mineral colour accented with mica and gold dust, it appears to sparkle through the twisted pines, some needles of which have been embellished with silver. The rich gilding on these screens has been applied to create particular effects. The sky, for instance, is ornamented with gold leaf glitter and torn pieces of gold leaf while the clouds were constructed using rectangular sheets of gold. Pine trees by the shore is an exceptional work of art and a marvellous addition to the Gallery’s small but treasured collection of Japanese art.

Melanie Eastburn Curator, Asian Art

artonview spring 2006 29 new acquisition Asian Art

Monumental wooden architectural elements from the Deccan region of India

Deccan region, India Many of the most admired aspects of Indian art in of the Deccan were never fully conquered, the wealthy Architectural brackets and lintels 1450–1600 wood museum collections were originally created as elements sultanates of the Deccan plateau had a long history of Purchased with the assistance of temple and palace architecture, although their gallery Islamic contacts and cultural influences, first through of the Margaret Hannah Olley Art Trust 2006 display rarely illuminates that role. The acquisition of trade. The resulting style features complex ornamentation National Gallery of Australia, Canberra a set of large Indian architectural elements, through widely found on the region’s elaborately worked stone the generous support of well-known Australian artist and wooden architecture, of which the Gallery’s wooden Margaret Olley, has prompted the National Gallery brackets and lintels are fine examples. of Australia to recreate some of the glory of Indian Because of the size of the architectural elements, architecture. The bold effect distinguishes the new the Gallery has divided them into two groups of three Asian galleries, both in terms of creating an evocative brackets, with corresponding corbels, and two lintels atmosphere for Canberra visitors to enjoy the art of – one set flagging the entrance to the Asian galleries, India and by contributing to the uniqueness of the Asian while inside another group towers imposingly above the displays, which are quite distinct from those of the sculpture, creating niches within which are displayed small Australian state galleries. Erected in the foyer near the paintings and textiles. The installation of this amazing entrance of the newly relocated Asian galleries, where structure has been a complex and major undertaking for they echo the concrete vaulting of Colin Madigan’s the Gallery. In the original architectural setting, the heavy architecture, this series of massive teak brackets and brackets, smaller interconnecting corbels and the long corbels is over two-and-a-half metres tall, supporting six- lintels resting atop were marvellously stable, held together, metre-long lintels. without nails, by gravity and tongue and groove fittings. From the Deccan region of central India, their In their new permanent home, reinforced walls and steel elaborate wood carving displays the fusion of Hindu and fittings have been added for safety reasons. This, however, Islamic imagery that was to characterise architectural only encourages our admiration for the art of Indian decoration in many areas of the Indian subcontinent traditional architecture. The Gallery is very grateful to the during the rule of the great Mughals. The design of these Margaret Hannah Olley Art Trust for generously assisting brackets evokes the sinuous serpentine form, with vestigial the Gallery with its purchase of this exciting acquisition. eye circles, of the mythical makara widely found in Hindu Robyn Maxwell temple architecture. The intricate layers of geometric detail Senior Curator of Asian Art and foliate pendants and arabesques on the brackets and lintels, however, reveal the strong Islamic character of the arts of the Deccan. The sculptures have been radiocarbon dated to 1450–1600, a period coinciding with the establishment of the Mughal Empire throughout India. (Akbar the Great reigned 1556–1605.) Although parts

30 national gallery of australia

new acquisition Pacific Arts

Solomon Islands Post from ceremonial house

Solomon Islands, The Gallery recently acquired a magnificent sculpture of 1,600. Before their recent conversion to Christianity, Owa-Raha (Santa Ana) Post from ceremonial house from the Solomon Islands, a wooden post from a the people of Owa-Raha centred their religion on the c. 1900 height 128 cm wood ceremonial house. It is carved in the form of a naked bonito (Katsuwonus pelamis), large fish similar to tuna. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra man with earrings and armlets, who stands on the head The scholars Douglas Newton and Hermione Waterfield of a bent and crouching smaller man. The main figure in their 1995 study Tribal sculpture explain that bonito, is topped by the body and tail of a large shark, flanked ‘being the vehicles and manifestations of the gods, were by two bonito. The sculptor retains the original tree sacred; therefore fishing, and everything associated with trunk’s cylindrical form, while establishing a rhythm of it, was sanctified.’ masses up and down the work that also contrasts and Ceremonial houses were used to keep boats and differentiates the front from the back. Earthly and divine also for men’s meetings and initiations. ‘They were creatures are combined to produce a work of great the centers of ancestral reverence: model canoes and mana, the spiritual power desired by humans. large carvings of bonito were kept in these houses as Geographically, the Solomon Islands consist of a shrines for ancestral skulls. They had much the same chain of islands stretching from Bougainville (politically architectural grandeur [as New Guinea houses]; their part of Papua New Guinea) south-east to Vanuatu, roofs were supported on huge posts carved with between the South Pacific Ocean and the Coral Sea. full-length figures of bonito, sharks, and ancestors’, Culturally, the Solomon Islands are divided between according to Newton and Waterfield. The Gallery’s coastal fishing people and inland farmers, with distinct work, recorded in France in the middle of last century, spiritual beliefs. Art was a reflection of the beliefs which originally stood on a pole of two metres or more, under underpinned everyday life, not an activity undertaken the protection of an overhanging roof. for its own sake. Men were the carvers of wood, The house post from the Solomon Islands women the makers of textiles. exemplifies the best art of Melanesia and the Solomon The post was created, probably more than a hundred Islands. It is an extraordinary and powerful sculpture, years ago, on the small volcanic island of Owa-Raha, which will serve to highlight the Gallery’s renewed which lies at the south-eastern tip of San Cristobal, commitment to the prominent place of Pacific art in making it the southernmost island of the Solomon its collection and displays. Islands chain proper. Owa-Raha, also known as Santa Christine Dixon Ana, is 18 square kilometres in area, with a population Senior Curator, International Painting and Sculpture

32 national gallery of australia artonview spring 2006 33 new acquisition Asian Art

Trident with Auspicious Kali

Created in southern India in the 11th century, this bronze sculpture shows the formidable Hindu goddess Auspicious Kali, or Bhadrakali, seated in front of a trident, the sides of which curve inwards to meet the central tine. According to the Kamika Agama, a text of the time, the prongs of the trident represent purity, activity and lethargy. Bhadrakali is one of the many manifestations, both creative and destructive, of the Great Goddess Devi. Wielded by the Great Goddess in cosmic conflict, the trident is also closely associated with the god Shiva who uses the weapon to free the human soul from burden. Shiva has several shaktis, divine female counterparts, including Bhadrakali, Kali, Durga and Parvati, who are also regularly depicted with tridents. Bhadrakali’s connection with Shiva is further indicated by the other attributes she shares with him – the sacred thread that crosses her body, the knotted snake above her breasts and the crescent moon in her flame-like hair. Like the fangs extending from the corners of her mouth, Bhadrakali’s four arms emphasise her supernatural qualities. One hand is raised in a gesture of protection and reassurance while each of the others holds an object associated with the goddess – a noose, a trident (one tine of which is broken) and a bowl made from a human skull. Made using the still widespread lost-wax or cire perdue technique of metal casting, the trident with Bhadrakali was made during the Chola dynasty (9th– 13th centuries), a period of Indian art renowned for extraordinary sculpture in bronze. Fine tridents such as this were produced for use in ritual rather than battle. The base supporting the trident and goddess is hollow, allowing the sculpture to be attached to a pole and carried in temple festival processions. The sculpture’s slightly worn appearance is due to ritual bathing and anointing by Hindu priests and devotees, with substances such as milk, honey and ghee, purification practices which continue to occur in many Indian temples.

Tamil Nadu, India Melanie Eastburn Chola dynasty Curator, Asian Art (9th–13th centuries) Trident with Bhadrakali 11th century bronze National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

34 national gallery of australia new acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Charles Conder Hot wind

The Gallery has recently acquired a major nineteenth- His friend Arthur Streeton was also impressed and Charles Conder Hot wind 1889 oil on board century symbolist painting by Charles Conder, Hot wind delighted by the way that the design broke with tradition. Purchased with the assistance 1889. Painted during the great Victorian drought of The emphasis in the Hot wind is on symbolist of the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Family Foundation 2006 1888–89, the work had been taken by Conder to England evocation: on light and heat, sensual beauty and danger. National Gallery of Australia, in 1890 and had disappeared for many years from The pale, bleached shimmering tonality of the foreground Canberra public view. It was documented in numerous accounts in landscape is also characteristic of some of Conder’s best Conder’s time and subsequently became one of the great works. The cumulative elements of this painting reflect mysteries of Australian art history. The rediscovery of the the artist’s own passions: his love of theatrical expression, Hot wind 1889 in a private collection fills an important his intense imagination, his familiarity with contemporary gap both in our understanding of Conder’s output and in symbolist trends in Europe, his feeling for the Australian the history of Australian art. landscape and his profound awareness (as a result of the This evocative painting caused quite a stir when it death of his brother and personal illness) of our human was first shown. In a letter of 1889 Conder wrote that mortality. it represented the harshness of drought. The femme We are indebted to the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Family fatale breathing smoke from a burning brazier across Foundation for their generous assistance in acquiring the parched desert plains towards a distant town aptly Hot wind, a work that is arguably the most important symbolises the spectre of drought. The eerie effect is of Conder’s group of allegorical paintings and that will heightened by the powerful emptiness of the space greatly strengthen the national collection. and the serpent that moves in towards the mysterious Deborah Hart personification of drought. Conder wrote that he felt Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture this work was one of the best paintings he had done.

artonview spring 2006 35 new acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Fred Williams Saplings

Fred Williams is one of Australia’s greatest landscape painters. He created a highly original way of seeing the Australian countryside based on his experience of the landscape around Mittagong to the Dandenong Ranges, and the southern coast of Australia to the Pilbara region of the north-west. The Gallery’s recent purchase, Saplings c. 1961, is a vibrant, sensuous painting presenting a view of a sapling forest from close quarters. The tall trees are cut off above and below, so they float in the picture plane without sight of earth or sky and almost merge one into another. They are so pared down that they have no leaves or limbs. But despite this – or perhaps because of it – we feel the very physicality of the central blond tree trunk as if we could reach out and touch it. Williams has conveyed the density of a sapling forest, the sense of being engulfed within a mass of trees as an image for meditation, for soaking the self into. In Saplings Williams showed that he was interested in portraying nature in a new way – in merging a contemporary concern with abstraction, flat surfaces and gesture with an ongoing interest in figuration. He demonstrated his fascination with subtleties of tone and colour and with rich painterly textures – from nuances of dusky greens and blues to the daring addition of a velvety black with a wedge of vibrant red. Williams painted this work in 1961, at a time when he was working with extraordinary concentration and energy. At this time he also produced a large number of etchings Fred Williams Saplings c. 1961 oil on board and gouaches in which he focused on the trunks of closely National Gallery of Australia, grouped trees, reducing his images to semi-abstract Canberra vertical lines. In these works, as in Saplings, Williams did not just create an impression of a particular place, the surface appearance; he also conveyed something about the character of the bush that is absolute and enduring.

Anne Gray Assistant Director, Australian art

36 national gallery of australia new acquisition Australian Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books

Arthur Boyd Senior Gathering seaweed before the storm, Sandringham Beach

Curators are often asked to view works of art from private Arthur and Minnie Boyd were drawn to the seaside Arthur Boyd Senior Gathering seaweed before collections, which sometimes bring unexpected surprises. suburbs of Melbourne’s Port Philip Bay, where they the storm, Sandringham It was just such a chance encounter that enabled the lived. Boyd’s love of the sea inspired many of his oil and Beach 1900 watercolour on paper Gallery to acquire its first work of art by Arthur Merric watercolour paintings and, in his later watercolours in National Gallery of Australia, Boyd: a watercolour, Gathering seaweed before the storm, particular, he sought to capture the effects of light on Canberra Sandringham Beach 1900, which comes to us in its original water. Gathering seaweed before the storm, Sandringham gold mount and frame. Beach is filled with transparency and light, giving the Grandfather of Arthur Boyd, Boyd Senior was an scene a quiet energy. On a seaweed-strewn beach a important artist of the Federation period and he and small figure coerces his struggling horses to hasten their his wife, Emma Minnie Boyd, also an accomplished pace. The forces of the gathering storm overshadow watercolourist, were to found one of Australia’s most their efforts as the rain-drenched clouds roll in and a famous artistic dynasties. Boyd had an early introduction lightning flash illuminates the late afternoon sky. A flock to plein-air painting through his school teacher, the British of birds are caught in a gust of wind and tea-trees bend artist Thomas Wright, a founding member of the Victorian in compliance to the approaching storm. Boyd’s fondness Academy of the Arts. At the National Gallery School, Boyd for the landscape and his respect for the labours of the was introduced to Louis Buvelot’s tonal impressionism worker struggling against the forces of nature are the and the French Barbizon School. He exhibited with the overwhelming elements of this wonderful watercolour. Heidelberg School of Australian Impressionists at the Anne McDonald Victorian Artists Society and often accompanied Charles Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings Conder on sketching sojourns.

artonview spring 2006 37 new acquisition Australian Photography

Trent Parke Minutes to midnight

Trent Parke Backyard Trent Parke is a self-taught photojournalist who began his son Jem. Parke has written: swingset, Queensland 2003 working for newspapers in the early 1990s after a career from the portfolio Minutes The camera helps me to see. When I was young to midnight 1999–2004 as a professional cricketer. In June 2003 he became the gelatin silver photograph my mother died suddenly of an asthma attack, National Gallery of Australia, first Australian photographer to be accepted into Magnum, from that day on I questioned everything Canberra the renowned photo-agency founded in 1947. Members around me, life, death and our reason for voted to accept Parke as an associate member in 2005 being. Forever searching. with his submission of Minutes to midnight, a portfolio of images drawn largely from a road trip around Australia Poetic and moody, Minutes to midnight offers a dark, in 2003–04 made with partner Narelle Autio (also an even apocryphal, reading of contemporary Australian award-winning photojournalist). For this work Parke was society. The depiction of often small, private moments are also awarded the prestigious W Eugene Smith Grant in emblematic of events of global significance and of how Humanistic Photography. The Minutes to midnight project Parke, representative of his generation, feels about his was sparked by a 2003 newspaper survey that Parke read place in the world. in which it was reported that the majority of those asked Parke’s work is at the forefront of a new approach believed that an era of Australian history was coming to an to photojournalism which allows greater inclusion of end and that the nation had lost its innocence. the subjectivity and aesthetics characteristic of ‘art’ Parke set out on his own journey of discovery and, photography. His work is a reflection of how the genre unlike those who practised conventional photojournalism, has continued to evolve and become a potent force in embraced the personal in the final portfolio with images contemporary photographic practice.

such as Narelle, six months pregnant, swimming in a Anne O’Hehir billabong, curled like a baby in the womb; and the birth of Assistant Curator, Photography

38 national gallery of australia new acquisition International Photography

Dayanita Singh Sybil and Sunanda, Calcutta

Documentary photographers can make specimens of the rich and rally concern for the poor and powerless but often miss seeing their own social milieu as an exciting subject. After spending almost a decade photographing the disadvantaged and disenfranchised – the prostitutes of Bombay, sufferers of HIV/AIDS and so on – internationally known contemporary photographer Dayanita Singh turned instead in the early nineties to photographing Indians from her own social class living in the big cities. The photo- editors in the West to whom Singh first showed these images refused to believe that they were indeed taken in India, a country that they viewed as exotic and other, or as the site of disasters. It was a reaction guaranteed only to steel Singh’s resolve. ‘There are many versions of India’, she has argued, ‘and this is mine’. Drawing upon a wide-ranging knowledge of the history of both portrait painting and photography, Singh’s images are composed with an almost academic precision, but also allow for the unpredictability and uncontrollability of the moment captured on camera. Someone hurries unawares through the back of the shot. One of the women engages with the photo-making process in the expected way, not smiling it is true, but staring into the lens. But what of the younger woman sitting to have her photograph taken? Eyes closed, she has unexpectedly Dayanita Singh Sybil and disappeared into her own private world. The image Sunanda, Calcutta 1997 becomes so much more than the sum of its parts: it gelatin silver photograph NGA Photography Fund: becomes a site for the imagination, a mystery. Farrell Family Foundation Singh explores her own relationship with the sitters: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra their hopes and vulnerabilities in being photographed; the relationships of the sitters to each other – depicted through closely observed body language; and our relationship with the places we inhabit, how our environments become emblematic of who we are.

Anne O’Hehir Assistant Curator, Photography

artonview spring 2006 39 new acquisition International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books

Edgar Degas Mademoiselle Bécat at the Café Ambassadeurs

A major figure in French art, Edgar Degas is renowned for his portrayal of contemporary Parisian life in the latter half of the nineteenth century, reflected in his scenes of the racetrack, the café, the orchestra, the opera ballet, the café concert and brothels. His art also became increasingly intimate, informal and radical in its composition and execution. The lithograph of Mademoiselle Bécat aux Ambassadeurs [Mademoiselle Bécat at the Café Ambassadeurs] 1877–78 is an important example of Degas’ embrace of modernity and his technical virtuosity. Mademoiselle Emélie Bécat was a significant figure in the world of the café concert in Paris. The café-concert evolved in the 1840s, and it was made popular during the Exposition Universelle of 1867. These open air concerts on the Champs-Elysées proved very popular, especially during the summer heat. Cafés, such as the Café Ambassadeurs, Alcazar, Eldorado and Le Bataclanes, were places of pleasure in the centre of Paris. One contemporary wit, Gustave Coquiot, commented that `the repertoire of the café-concert is almost entirely composed of those concerns which arise below the belt’. Mademoiselle Bécat made her debut at the Ambassadeurs in 1875 and she was a sensation. Degas had previously made drawings and monotypes of Mademoiselle Bécat performing. She

Edgar Degas Mademoiselle is shown here singing with gusto, arms raised and in full Bécat aux Ambassadeurs voice, before her adoring public seated in the dark in the [Mademoiselle Bécat at the Café Ambassadeurs] 1877–78 foreground. lithograph Degas was a great collector of art and a particular The Poynton Bequest, 2005 National Gallery of Australia, favourite was the work of Honoré Daumier. For this Canberra lithograph Degas has drawn from the style and technique of the French caricaturist, composing the view from the orchestra pit, lighting the performer from below, scraping back the surface of the inked stone to create the lights, including the spectacular chandelier, and adding lithographic crayon to emphasise form. Degas did not make large editions of his prints: in fact some remained unique. He did, however, produce approximately fifteen impressions of this work, now almost all in public institutions, which suggests the composition was a favourite of his.

Jane Kinsman Senior Curator, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books 40 national gallery of australia new acquisition International Decorative Arts and Design

Bettina Speckner Box

Here is an empty seat in an unknown garden, inviting us to spend time in contemplation. An etched blossom keeps company with precious droplets of moonstone; it could be spring, and yet there remains an unsettling, wintry undertone. The monochromatic soft greys infuse the work with a certain pensiveness, even melancholy, that encourages reminiscences. German artist Bettina Speckner uses unusual juxtapositions of photographic imagery and materials, which she then places within formal settings that refer to historical jewellery and metalwork traditions. The elegant simplicity of this box evokes the Arts and Crafts Movement from the late nineteenth century, yet it frames a recent photographic image taken by the artist. This apparent contradiction of form and content plays on the nature of memory and the preciousness of time. The seemingly capricious placement of the moonstones on the lid disturbs the smooth symmetrical surface of the box, interrupting the underlying mood of nostalgia. The gemstones and the etched flower motif anchor the two-dimensional image within its three-dimensional setting, drawing attention to the very deliberate nature of its construction. Despite her apparent affection for using portraiture and landscape imagery in her work, Speckner avoids presenting a straightforward story. Primacy is given to the object, not the narrative. The use of photographic imagery is a constant preoccupation for Speckner, challenging accepted Bettina Speckner Box notions of preciousness and adornment. In this work, the 2000 silver, photo-etched zinc and moonstones congruence of traditional forms and materials with the National Gallery of Australia, photo-etched image has resulted in an intriguing object Canberra that resonates with history yet remains deeply personal. This work was included in the 2005–06 exhibition Transformations: the language of craft at the National Gallery of Australia.

Sarah Edge Curatorial Assistant, Decorative Arts and Design

artonview spring 2006 41 James Turrell changes the shape of the sky

James Turrell Rise 2002 James Turrell cast a spell on the evening of Saturday began to question light and whether darkness is something Photo courtesy of the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, 11 March 2006. A capacity crowd of artists and museum to be feared. This developed into an awareness of the ability PA, USA Photographer: people, architects and lighting designers, landscape of light and perception to influence human emotion. He Florian Holzherr. This is one of Turrell’s gardeners, astronomers, Quakers, and other fans gathered realised a desire to work with different types and qualities Shallow space constructions. at his public lecture in the Gallery’s James O Fairfax of light, wanting the ‘thingness’ of light to predominate in A rectangular false wall is constructed within the Theatre. The internationally renowned artist, aviator and his work. By way of example the artist illustrated one of his gallery and the combination rancher engrossed the audience for nearly ninety minutes Shallow space constructions in which natural and artificial of artificial light, controlled by a timer, and natural light with stories of his upbringing, his creative output and his light combine to affect the colours perceived and to adapt which changes over the course of the day, means the philosophical grounding. the architectural space occupied by the viewer. The work work is never the same We saw intriguing early works, experiments with natural appears as if floating on a field of light.

James Turrell East portal and artificial light, projections and site-specific installations, During the 1980s and ‘90s Turrell continued to work on in the Roden Crater 2002 as well as a range of collaborative projects. We were projects dealing with the perception of natural light but also Photographer: Florian Holzherr. amused by wry tales of court cases, of human perception, developed environments which expose visitors to complete The Skyspace, approached foibles and follies. And we were captivated by the trials and darkness or isolate an individual within a small, contained by the Alpha Tunnel which extends for more than a tribulations of moving millions of cubic tonnes of earth to space. His indoor installations were further developed to quarter of a kilometre, is build the spaces, chambers and viewing platforms of his feature water, and to dramatically modify internal space. one of a series of chambers within the East Portal. chef d’oeuvre – the Roden Crater on the edge of a Native He also collaborated with architects. His works are Spartan, Viewers are seated on the bench that runs around the American Indian reservation in the Painted Desert, north- quietly elegant and calm. Across the range of his projection perimeter of the space; the west Arizona. work, installation and land art, Turrell makes use of halogen, aperture opens onto the bowl of the crater From an early reminiscence of being captivated by the fluorescent, ultraviolet, tungsten and natural light. All his glow of a childhood night light, Turrell told us how he built environments enhance the senses, causing the viewer

42 national gallery of australia

James Turrell at the Roden to experience light in different ways and to ask questions never been far away. He presented slides of a bulldozer as Crater, September 2001 Photographer: Florian about its source and origins. A Skyspace has the effect of the ultimate artist’s tool and related stories of explaining Holzherr altering what we see with our own eyes. In its simplest form his vision to the team: now, he said, ‘we will shape the sky’. James Turrell Gasworks a Skyspace is a viewing chamber without a roof, an aperture Video footage such as that included in Robert Hughes’ TV 1993 Photo courtesy of the opening out to the atmosphere. Because it relies on light, a series American Visions 1997 effectively shows the impact Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Photographer: Skyspace works best in the morning and evening, times of of the earthworks on a viewer’s perception of the sky and Florian Holzherr transition between day and night. Initially, much of Turrell’s the celestial vault above. Turrell and his team have shaped From the series of Perceptual cells. The viewer is rolled work was temporary, in keeping with its ethereal nature. and reshaped the volcano rim into an ellipse, restoring through a slit of entry into the fibreglass sphere where a Increasingly, due to the artist’s growing reputation and the the topsoil to the upper edge so that the exterior of the series of light patterns flash complexity of the architectural environments conceived by structure retains its pristine form. Within the crater, the to cause an intense Ganzfeld him, permanent installations have been created all around artist’s interventions are more dramatic. The completed the world. work will contain twenty or more viewing rooms with In the period 1977–79 Turrell bought a 1,100 acre site Wedgeworks, Projection pieces, Space division pieces around a bowl-like volcanic cinder cone near Flagstaff, and Skyspaces, all composed with a palette of naturally Arizona, and began to build the Roden Crater. Turrell’s occurring materials such as black volcanic sand and ochres plans, developed since the early 1970s, incorporate a series assembled from the site, richly-polished stone, bronze and of underground chambers, tunnels and portals. As a naked- reinforced concrete. On the north-south axis, moonsets eye conservatory and the ultimate Skyspace, when complete are experienced, camera-obscura projections of the cloud, the Roden Crater will allow visitors to experience the view of moon and stars witnessed, and future eclipses predicted; both the sun and moon, and to see rare celestial alignments. the further one delves into the centre, the rarer the events. The Roden Crater has its origins in pre-historic sites, such Through the aperture of a Skyspace in the East portal the as Stonehenge and Mayan temples, and more recently sky appears as if painted: who knows what would happen if constructed astronomical observatories, such as India’s one stepped onto the bronze stairs, passed up through the Jantar Mantar of 1727–34. Turrell likens the structure to a footlights ... into the infinite? a mastaba – an early Egyptian tomb with a rectangular base, sloping sides and a flat roof – but in its final form the Roden Lucina Ward Curator, International Painting and Sculpture Crater may be closer to the elaborate pyramid complexes constructed by the Pharaohs. The National Gallery of Australia is currently in consultation Despite having committed huge chunks of time and a with James Turrell over a Skyspace project to be incorporated into the plans for the extended Sculpture Garden. Thanks to vast quantity of funds to the project, throughout a long and Haines Gallery, San Francisco, for assistance with sourcing sometimes painful process, Turrrell’s sense of humour has images.

44 national gallery of australia travelling exhibitions spring 2006

Constable: Impressions of land, sea and sky Stage Fright: the art of theatre Developed by the National Gallery of Australia in (Children’s Exhibition) partnership with Museum of New Zealand Te Papa In partnership with the Australian Theatre for Tongarewa. Generously supported by Qantas Freight, Young People. Supported by Visions of Australia, an Network 7 and Indemnity Australia. Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the Constable: Impressions of land, sea and sky development and touring of cultural material across celebrates the art of one of the greatest British Australia. landscape painters. It focuses on John Constable Stage Fright: the art of theatre raises the curtain John Constable as a maker of pictures, and works have been Loudon Sainthill Costume A ploughing scene in Suffolk selected to emphasise his art-making processes. design for the ugly sister from on the world of theatre and dance through (A summerland) c. 1824 (detail) Cinderella 1958 gouache, works of art, interactives and a program of oil on canvas Yale Center for nga.gov.au/Constable pencil and water colour on paper British Art, New Haven Gift of National Gallery of Australia, workshops conducted by educators from the Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon in 1977 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Canberra National Gallery and Australian Theatre for Wellington, New Zealand, Young People. Worlds from mythology, fairy 5 July – 8 August 2006 tales and fantasy characters intended for the ballet, opera and stage are shown in exquisitely Michael Riley: sights unseen rendered finished drawings alongside others Supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian that have been quickly executed, capturing Government program supporting touring exhibitions by the essence of an idea, posture, movement or providing funding assistance for the development and character. nga.gov.au/StageFright touring of cultural material across Australia. Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Swan Hill, Vic., Michael Riley (1960–2004) was one of the most 6 October – 26 November 2006 important contemporary Indigenous visual artists of the past two decades. His contribution to the contemporary Indigenous and broader Australian The Elaine & Jim Wolfensohn Gift Travelling Untitled from the series cloud Exhibitions [cow] 2000 (detail) printed visual arts industry was substantial and his film 2005 chromogenic pigment and video work challenged non-Indigenous The 1888 Melbourne Cup and three suitcases photograph National Gallery of perceptions of Indigenous experience, Sri Lanka Seated Ganesha of works of art: Red case: Myths and rituals Australia, Canberra Courtesy of 9th–10th century (detail) from includes works which reflect the spiritual beliefs the Michael Riley Foundation and particularly among the most disenfranchised Red case: myths and rituals VISCOPY, Australia communities in the eastern region of Australia. National Gallery of Australia, of different cultures; Yellow case: Form, space, Canberra nga.gov.au/Riley design reflects a range of art-making processes; and Blue case: Technology. The suitcases Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, Vic., thematically present a selection of art and design 16 November 2006 – 25 February 2007 objects for the enjoyment of children and adults in regional, remote and metropolitan centres Moist: Australian watercolours that may be borrowed free-of-charge. Moist is a rare glimpse into the National Gallery nga.gov.au/Wolfensohn of Australia’s extraordinary collection of Red case: Myths and rituals and Yellow Australian watercolours. While the title refers case: Form, space and design to the liquid nature of watercolour, the word ‘moist’ elicits images of an atmospheric, physical David Wallace Coffs Harbour City Gallery, Coffs Harbour Stockman and horse 1997 NSW, 10 July – 24 September 2006 or emotional state of being. The watercolours in recycled materials including wire, Moist demonstrate how Australian artists have fabric, plastic, buttons National Gallery of Australia, Burnie Regional Gallery, Burnie, Tas., created visual representations of such states, Canberra Kenneth Macqueen 9 October – 17 December 2006 Summer sky c. 1935 (detail) from the highly figurative to the purely abstract watercolour and pencil on paper and intensely emotional. Blue case: Technology Purchased 1965 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra nga.gov.au/Moist Caloundra Regional Art Gallery Tour, © The Macqueen family Caloundra, Qld., Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 7 August – 17 September 2006 Mornington, Vic., 25 July – 24 September 2006 Children’s Festival, National Gallery Riddoch Gallery, Mount Gambier SA, of Australia, Canberra, ACT, 1 December 2006 – 18 February 2007 25 September – 8 October 2006 Karl Lawrence Millard Mosman Art Gallery and Cultural Centre, An artist abroad: the prints of James Lizard grinder 2000 (detail) brass, bronze, copper, sterling Mosman, NSW, McNeill Whistler silver, money metal, Peugeot 7 November – 3 December 2006 James McNeill Whistler was a key figure in mechanism, stainless steel screws National Gallery of Australia, the European art world of the 19th century. Canberra Influenced by the French Realists, and the Dutch, The 1888 Melbourne Cup Venetian and Japanese masters, Whistler’s prints Warwick Art Gallery Tour, Warwick QLD, are sublime visions of people and the places they 5 – 29 October 2006 inhabit. nga.gov.au/Whistler Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Tour, Ballarat, Vic., 1 Nov 2006 – 31 Jan 2007 James McNeill Whistler University Art Museum, University of Portrait of Whistler 1859 Queensland, St Lucia, Qld., Exhibition venues and dates are subject to (detail) etching and drypoint 5 August – 1 October 2006 National Gallery of Australia, change. Please contact the gallery or venue Canberra Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, NSW, before your visit. For more information please contact (612) 6240 6556 or email: travex@nga. 15 December 2006 – 21 January 2007 The 1888 Melbourne Cup (detail) The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn gov.au. Gift National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

artonview spring 2006 45 children’s gallery

Abracadabra: the magic in conservation 28 July – 26 November 2006

In Abracadabra: the magic in conservation conservators as gradations from light to dark: the greater the density, from the Gallery’s Conservation Department unpack the higher the absorption, resulting in a lighter image. their repertoire of ‘magic tricks’, to present fascinating Metallic elements absorb radiation more than non- techniques that reveal information hidden within the metallic materials. X-radiography provides conservators material structure of works of art. No matter how often with detailed information about the concealed structure such discoveries are made, they remain fresh and exciting of works of art, including changes made to paint layers, and it is this sense of magical revelation that the exhibition armatures inside costumes or other internal supports. aims to convey. The science behind X-rays, infrared The lively and colourful Futurist puppets, Sandwich reflectography, ultraviolet fluorescence and microscopy man [L’Homme sandwich] 1926 and Publicity man can be complex but the hey presto! effects are a constant [L’Homme reclamé] 1926 by the Russian artist Alexandra source of wonder and delight. Exter were X-rayed in the conservation laboratory in 1999. In contrast to such revelations, some aspects of The unique, fully-articulated puppets were originally conservation practice require conservators to put designed for a film and personify different types of as much effort into concealment as into unlocking advertising. Exter was influenced by the Cubist and secrets. Considerable expertise is needed to carry out Futurist movements, working mainly in theatre set and undetectable repairs or to mimic original colour using costume design and on illustrated children’s books. an entirely different medium. Where damage exists on The artist used materials that every child has a relatively large scale, deceptive disguise rather than encountered and often incorporated into their own art. The restoration may be the only option. Conservators therefore skeleton is made of wood and cotton reels and is covered develop and practise various strategies for camouflaging with an outer skin of painted card, collage, fabric, string their work. Abracadabra is based on the dual themes and sequins. The X-rays identify the presence of random of hiding and revealing; stylistically it borrows from metallic nails, screws and eyelets in the arm, leg and head magicians’ showmanship and it is designed around works structures. These images show the location of inherent of art with strong visual appeal to children. weaknesses in the construction of the puppets, revealing X-radiography is an imaging technique adopted that the suspension of the marionettes depends on delicate from the medical profession by conservators. The process string and fabric to carry the full weight of the object. involves passing high energy radiation through objects This information enabled conservators to make minor onto photographic film to form a radiograph. The X- modifications that keep the puppets safe for handling, ray film records differences in material densities. The display and storage. varying absorption rates are displayed in the radiograph

46 national gallery of australia Alexandra Exter Sandwich man [L’homme sandwich] 1926 watercolour and collage on cardboard with wood, cotton, string, book cloth, copper, sequins, steel tacks, bridge nails, steel wire and eyelets National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

(Detail) X-ray of Sandwich man highlighting areas held together with tacks

Ultraviolet light is high energy light that literally Han dynasty, China Saddled horse (206 BCE translates as ‘beyond violet’, violet being the shortest – 220 CE) earthenware wavelength we can see. Ultraviolet illumination exposes Gift of Mr TT Tsui JP through the NGA Foundation, 1994 a secret world of fluorescing patterns not visible in National Gallery of Australia, normal light. Certain materials absorb ultraviolet light and Canberra fluoresce to a lesser or greater degree in a wide range of Ultraviolet image of the Saddled horse, Han dynasty, colours. Conservators can use this information to identify revealing locations of repairs pigments, paint media and varnishes, as well as old and restorations repairs and restorations. Art dealers also use ultraviolet to authenticate collectibles. The Han dynasty Saddled horse from China in the Asian Art collection is fairly representative of the extensive restoration found in similar funerary ceramics from Chinese burial sites. Large areas of ceramic loss have been so skilfully restored that the most experienced eye would find it difficult to differentiate repaired and original areas. Under ultraviolet light the restored areas become apparent immediately because they fluoresce dramatically in contrast to the surrounding areas. An awareness of the location of previous restoration can be crucial for conservators when assessing works of art for treatment, storage, transport or display. Infrared reflectography relies on the capacity of carbon-based materials to absorb energy in the infrared region. Images of pencil or charcoal underdrawing lying beneath layers of paint and varnish can be captured using infrared lamps, photographic filters and computer software. Preparatory sketches can add to curatorial knowledge of an artist’s technique and underdrawing found on paintings by William Strutt and Eric Wilson demonstrate two very different approaches to the construction of a painting.

artonview spring 2006 47 Eric Wilson In Domestic interior 1935, Wilson used a grid system Microscopy is one of the most frequently used Domestic interior 1935 oil on canvas on plywood to methodically transfer a preparatory sketch to his canvas. diagnostic tools in the conservation laboratory. Coupled National Gallery of Australia, The original drawing was probably highly finished and with sophisticated analytical techniques, including Canberra composed to fit a circular format. Wilson’s execution is polarised light, reactive staining, fluorescence and (Detail) Infrared image of Domestic interior showing assured and there is no indication that the artist made any chemical spot-testing, it can be used to comprehensively pencil grid lines in the centre compositional changes during painting. The stillness and identify textiles and paper fibres, paint media and of the painting peace of the domestic circle, presided over by the artist’s pigments. Employed routinely to magnify surface detail mother and confirmed and punctuated by the comfortable on works of art, microscopy provides information about cat in the foreground, imply that this is a close family living material content and structure, artist’s techniques and securely within a well-defined social framework. Everything the condition of component materials. For example, about this painting speaks of planning, method and order; magnification can show how well a flaking pigment is the discovery of the pencilled grid supports this view. adhered to the underlying support or it may reveal an William Strutt, in his companion works from 1889, unexpected intricacy in the structure of a decorative textile Cultivating an acquaintance and A warm response, created thread. Conservation treatments are often carried out two charming paintings that record a flurry of action. His under magnification to assist with detailed work, such as underdrawing is spontaneous and loose. The difficulties the consolidation of friable ochre on a bark painting, or he encountered during the execution of his vignette can repairs to fragile textiles requiring tiny stitches sewn in be seen in the changes he made at the preparatory stages very fine thread. and later as he was laying down the paint. Strutt provided Pair of woman’s slippers worn by members of himself with several pencilled alternatives for the position the Peranakan Chinese community in Malaysia, in of the curious puppy’s tail and he repainted the position Abracadabra, has such delicate and tiny ornamentation of the head several times. In the second painting the artist that microscopic examination was necessary to evaluate rearranged the puppy’s howling jaw in both pencil and the materials and establish the methods of manufacture. paint. Infrared imaging also shows that he completed The base cream-coloured fabric is silk velvet. Satin stitch the lobster claw in the foreground, but subsequently embroidery in very fine silk thread has been laid over remodelled it. padded formwork to create sheen of a high lustre.

48 national gallery of australia William Strutt Cultivating an acquaintance 1889 oil on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

(Detail) Infrared image of Cultivating an acquaintance showing preparatory drawing for the puppy’s tail

The metallic thread was constructed from extremely fine Peranakan Chinese community, Malaysia Pair strips of gold-plated, beaten copper wrapped around a of woman’s slippers (detail) silk core. Very fine copper wire was formed into circles, early 20th century velvet, leather, canvas support, beaten flat and gold-plated to produce tiny sequins which metal nails, silk, metallic thread, laminated paper, are secured to the velvet by coiled, gold-plated copper sequins, beads; embroidery, wire held tight by silk thread. White glass beads, the size appliqué From the Alice Smith collection 1992 of a pinhead, nestle in the embroidery and the toe of the National Gallery of Australia, slipper is edged with woven purple braid. The scale and Canberra finesse of this work is breathtaking. (detail) Photomicrograph of Pair of woman’s Conclusion slippers showing the fine construction of its decorative The focus of Abracadabra is on the visually exciting elements; metallic thread, imagery produced when conservation science meets a sequin, bead and embroidery work of art. It is designed primarily for children from five to twelve years, with several exhibits offering interactive opportunities that use or simulate conservation procedures. We hope the exhibition will intrigue and delight children and adults alike. a

Sheridan Roberts, Jaishree Srinivasan, Fiona Kemp and Stefanie Woodruff Conservation Department

artonview spring 2006 49 tribute

Gela Nga-Mirraitja Fordham c. 1935–2006

time working in Maningrida on the Arnhem coast. There he worked driving a grader, helping establish an outstation at the time of the burgeoning homelands movement, before returning to his birthplace, where he attempted to establish his own outstation. He spent over ten years at Wugularr (Beswick) where he started painting for the marketplace and moved into Katherine around 1990. Fordham would not begin to paint on bark for sale in any big way until the early 1980s and by the late ‘80s was prolific and unparalleled. The Rembarrnga live at a cultural divide between eastern and western Arnhem Land. Due to the country’s relative isolation and inaccessibility, Rembarrnga clans have developed art traditions and styles quite separate from each other and quite distinct from other groups in Arnhem Land. Crosshatching is largely dispensed with in favour of bold, painterly white on black. This characteristic graphic style in Fordham’s art worked well across a number of mediums. His love of drawing is evident in the many and varied works, where one can see the immediacy of crayon on the lithography stone, or the grainy fluid pigment on the organic bark or knotted hollow log where he allowed the materials at hand to determine his mark-making. Fordham was as accomplished making sculptures, carving distinctive representations of Balangjarlngalayn spirit figures and Gela Nga-Mirraitja Inimitable Rembarrnga artist Nga-Mirraitja Fordham mimis from meandering trunks with vigour. Fordham, Rembarrnga people Freshwater Yalk Yalk died in June. He was of the Dhuwa moiety, Gela skin Fordham has been described as a narrative painter, 2003 graphite on Arches name, and Mirraitja clan of southern central Arnhem Land. a natural storyteller. In his art he conveyed the personal paper National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Rembarrnga country is arid, inland stone country and the political, producing numerous images of marked by rocky outcrops, sweeping grassy plains Rembarrnga creation ancestors (water and stone country and sandy stretches as the landscape gives way to the spirits, rainbow serpents) in the ‘old style’ and also sandstone escarpment of western Arnhem Land. The offering, in many of his works, an alternative Indigenous Rembarrnga traditionally inhabited the basin flanking the view of history and current affairs, including those that Wilton River. commented on colonisation, the Second World War, Fordham was born at remote Bamdibu, north of welfare, government and land rights. Bulman, in c. 1935 and grew up living a traditional bush His diversity and skill made his work of great interest life, going through ceremonial teachings under his father’s to collectors and curators. Fordham is represented in tutelage. The war years brought upheaval and regular key Australian and overseas state, national, university movement for Aboriginal people of the area. The young and corporate collections. He was a regular art prize Fordham worked as a stockman on stations to the south entrant and was rewarded with National Aboriginal Art and west of his homelands. In the 1960s and 70s he spent Award prizes on three occasions (in different media),

50 national gallery of australia including the major prize in 1993 for a bark painting. His work was included in numerous exhibitions, including Tyerbarrbowaryaou: I shall never become a white man (I and II) (1992 & 1994) for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and with the National Gallery of Australia, Aratjara (1993), Flash pictures (1991) and Aboriginal art: the continuing tradition (1989). The breadth of approach is indicative of Fordham’s whole output, which was immense, diverse, monumental, spirited. Among the significant outputs of his prolific career was his contribution to The Aboriginal Memorial 1987–88 of twenty-four magnificent hollow logs in the Rembarrnga group of thirty-five logs. Fordham’s logs are distinguished by their tall, meandering, knotted forms with black backgrounds and bold figurative elements in white. The menacing imagery is concerned with the epic encounters and great upheavals of ancestors by which the features of the landscape were created. The country is inhabited by spirits and malevolent beings, particularly rainbow serpents in various guises, and spirit figures. Themes of regurgitation, metamorphosis and renewal are prevalent. Rainbow serpents are a key theme in western Arnhem Land painting and for the Rembarrnga. At times the two approaches in Fordham’s art – the ancestral and the political – converged, making Fordham … This coffin box. Lorrkun we call them Gela Nga-Mirraitja Fordham The Aboriginal Memorial an artist who defied categorisation but who had found a Lorrkun, Dupun or Coffin Box 1987–88 featuring Fordham’s perfect vehicle in art for his message. For the opening of For everyone in Australia contribution of twenty-four hollow logs in the Rembarrnga The Memorial at the Biennale of Sydney in 1988 Fordham group of thirty-five logs sang-in the work with Ramingining artists and gave Another senior Ramingining artist also died in a speech concentrating mostly on the tradition of the June, Tom Djumpurpur (1920–2006) a Djinba man and hollow log. His culminating remarks confirmed that The contributor to The Memorial. a Memorial was a gesture for all Aboriginal people: Susan Jenkins

I’ll explain about this, coffin box. Susan Jenkins is a curator, editor, lecturer, valuer and In Arnhem Land, Northern Territory … writer based in Adelaide. She was a curator in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art, National Gallery of Australia This we singing today 1995–2005. This tribute was written with the assistance of Coast Arnhem Land Chips Mackinolty, a long-time friend of the artist. Top Arnhem Land All this group here, got coffin box …

artonview spring 2006 51 tribute

Micky Garrawurra 1940–2006

Senior ceremonial lawman and artist Micky D passed Garrawurra’s key subject in ceremony and art is the away in June. He is now known as Micky Garrawurra, Djan’kawu at Gariyak. The Djan’kawu are important a connecting reference for clan members not unlike a creation ancestors for Dhuwa moiety clans across surname. He was of the Dhuwa moiety Liya-gawumirr Arnhem Land. Their significance to the Buyu’yukulmirr Buyu’yukulmirr saltwater people, whose country sits in lies in their actions in this country. Travelling west with the Crocodile Islands archipelago off central Arnhem the sun, they crossed from the mainland to Galiwin’ku Land. Garrawurra’s homeland is Gariyak in Hutchison by canoe and then to Langarra and Gariyak where they Strait, south of Langarra (Howard Island). ended their travels by canoe before moving on westward Most records give circa 1940 as Garrawurra’s birth to the lands of other clans. At Gariyak, near the shoreline, date, reflecting the anomaly in records of Aboriginal they made a string of freshwater wells with the plunge people in the area at this time. Bush births, sporadic of their sacred digging sticks. They gave this place to the residence in missions and the Second World War all Buyu’yukulmirr, and its associated songs, dances, sacred contributed to the disruption to administration and local objects and clan patterns. lives. The Buyu’yukulmirr have two main Djan’kawu As a young man, Garrawurra worked as a fisherman designs. The sacred waterholes design – an aerial out of Galiwin’ku (Elcho Island) on Yolngu-owned boats, landscape – incorporating vertical, diagonal and including a boat called the Djirrpadi, netting around horizontal radiating bands suggests the sun’s rays and Milingimbi, Langarra and the Glyde River. In adulthood the traces of their journey between sites. The second he resided intermittently in Darwin, Milingimbi, design, a horizontal structure, is distinctive for the Ramingining, Galiwin’ku, Langarra and Gariyak, living a parallel bands in red, white and yellow and the absence traditional Yolngu way of life, fishing and hunting. Like of cross-hatching. As an emerging painter Garrawurra many of his peers, Garrawurra went through lots of would paint the sacred waterholes design on barks for ceremonies, gaining cultural authority, leading singing sale. While banded designs have roots in ceremony and dancing. This significant background and knowledge (painted on body and objects), Garrawurra translated saw him become an artist as well as a ceremony man. them to the medium of bark painting in the early 1990s,

52 national gallery of australia representing a significant shift in his artistic practice as a His growing facility in the construction of paintings Micky Garrawurra Buyu’yukulmirr/Liya- growing ceremonial and artistic authority. was perhaps a result of painting in different contexts, gawumirr people untitled According to curator Djon Mundine, a former art mediums and scales. Garrawurra continued to produce a 2001 natural pigments on paper Gift of Nigel Lendon, adviser at Ramingining and Milingimbi, ‘Micky … placed range of complex Djan’kawu related works on bark and 2005 National Gallery of this design boldly onto the flat regular surface of a piece paper in his senior years. Australia, Canberra of bark. Its visual effect was stunning … A number of While the Gallery has several Djan’kawu works by works along the same line followed. Though similar, Dhuwa artists, including designs on hollow logs for The each was a fine work – individual, and elaborated in a Aboriginal Memorial, Garrawurra’s late works represent varied manner’. Garrawurra would develop this genre of well his achievements as a painter. In this suite of works painting throughout the next decade. In some instances from 2001 the components of a Mululu [native cherry the minimalism of the paintings helped their appreciation tree] body design are positioned across three paintings, as contemporary art; in others they were rejected for contributing to a whole. The artist seems to have looking too modern. ‘unpacked’ the pictorial elements, continually pushing The banded works became Garrawurra’s signature, the boundaries in painting, while providing proof of and were collected at a time when he was also the ownership and responsibilities of his inheritance contributing to art awards and exhibitions before the – Gariyak in Buyu’yukulmirr country. a key turning point in his painting journey, the exhibition Susan Jenkins Yolngu science: objects and representations from Raminginging, Arnhem Land curated by Mundine for Susan Jenkins is a curator, editor, lecturer, valuer and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, in 2000, for writer based in Adelaide. She was a curator in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art, National Gallery of Australia, which Garrawurra completed a site-specific wall painting 1995–2005. This tribute was prepared in consultation with of the Djirrididi (kingfisher) body design. The alternating Bula’bula Arts, Ramingining. horizontal bands of red, white and yellow that normally graced barks and hollow logs were painted around the walls and columns of the gallery from floor to ceiling to dramatic effect.

artonview spring 2006 53 development office

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2006

(left to right) Jenine We would like to thank all donors who assisted the National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund Westerburg, Peter Barclay, Simon McGill, Ron Radford Gallery in achieving our target to purchase the Sydney The National Gallery of Australia Council initiated the AM, Rosemary Thompson, Long oil painting Flamingoes, c. 1906. The acquisition National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund. Joy Warren OAM, The Hon. Gough Whitlam AC, of this splendid painting was made possible through the This exciting initiative will be used to provide financial Lady Kathleen Kingsland, Sir Richard Kingsland AO, generous contributions of many Gallery and Foundation assistance to selected exhibitions. Michael Riley: sights Dorothy Barclay. Members to our Masterpieces for the Nation 2006 unseen and Imants Tillers: one world many visions are appeal. Flamingoes is an important addition to the the first exhibitions to be supported by the Fund. permanent collection of Australian art. Treasure a Textile A celebration of the launch of Flamingoes was held on Treasure a Textile is a wonderful initiative that supports 1 August, and the Director was delighted to meet new the conservation of the Gallery’s extraordinary collection donors to the Gallery and renew acquaintances with of Southeast Asian textiles. Donors receive information established donors. It was also a wonderful opportunity on how their donation has assisted restoring the fragile for me to meet donors. works in our collection and are invited to visit the Gallery’s The acquisition of Flamingoes is extremely timely conservation area once it has been restored. Donors and will complement the recent acquisition of a major receive acknowledgement for their assistance. There are nineteenth-century symbolist painting by Charles many textiles awaiting a sponsor, so please contact the Conder, Hot wind 1889, which was purchased with the Development Office on 6240 6454 if you would like to generous assistance of the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Family receive a brochure or more information about this initiative. a Foundation. Annalisa Millar Sponsorship and Development Co-ordinator

54 national gallery of australia access services

Making a difference

The National Gallery of Australia has received one of a Touch tours are another wonderful way for blind and Ruth Patterson, Assistant Director Marketing and number of awards given to cultural and other community- vision-impaired visitors to interact with works of art. These Merchandising, accepting the based organisations for their efforts to promote access tours are always planned in conjunction with Conservation Making a Difference Award on behalf of the NGA with for blind and vision-impaired visitors. The Making a and follow stringent guidelines. Suitable artworks are Ashley Wood, Corporate Communications Manager, Difference Award for ‘Supporting people who are blind identified by conservators, nitrile gloves are provided Vision Australia, and Rodney or vision-impaired to be able to access and fully participate and assistance from trained guides and education staff is Stephenson in every part of life they choose’ is an initiative of Vision necessary. As one participant, Adam Doblinger, described Lisa Addison, Preventative Australia, Canberra. Each award winner was introduced his experience, ‘I really enjoyed the touching part of the Conservator, and Margie Enfield, Voluntary Guide, by a member of the blind and vision impaired community. tour. By touching the sculptures I could form a picture in my guiding Adam Doblinger Rodney Stephenson, a one-time volunteer in Conservation head, I could understand better what was being described during a touch tour in Asian Art with a passion for the visual arts, was eloquent in his … I could feel the details before you started talking.’ praise of the Gallery and the importance of access to it as a Tactile Information booklets are always available at sighted and now as a vision-impaired visitor. the front desk for individuals visiting the Gallery. These The Gallery offers a range of Special Access Tours for Braille and tactile map booklets are based on works in the people with disabilities, including Auslan sign-interpreted Sculpture Garden and paintings and sculpture from the tours, descriptive and touch tours for people with vision permanent collection. impairment, and special events for carers (including an art In October the Gallery will mark Art beyond Sight appreciation group). Tours for Carers are among the regular Awareness Month, an initiative from the US to promote events the Gallery provides to meet the needs of particular access to galleries and museums. A touch tour for children special access focus groups. organised by Education and Conservation will be held in the The Gallery has worked with Vision Australia to train Small Theatre on Sunday 22 October during International voluntary guides and education staff to deliver descriptive Children’s Week and a descriptive tour for families will be tours. Descriptive tours require specialised training. To ‘say held on Sunday 29 October. These two events focus on what you see’ is a deceptively complex process. The guide special access for children and families. a needs to ascertain how much sight the participant has, and Adriane Boag how much visual memory. This will affect the descriptive Educator, Youth and Community Programs choices made, especially in relation to colour. In a descriptive tour the guide must be aware of not only how to safely Further information at nga.gov.au/calendar and nga.gov. au/Access or by phoning 6240 6632. and respectfully guide participants through Gallery spaces, but also how to describe works of art to convey size, scale, texture, techniques, composition, content and the spaces in which they are hung. Descriptive tours are conducted with small groups to facilitate discussion.

artonview spring 2006 55 BARTON

Carnival the world on show, Floriade 2006. The Brassey of Canberra has Deluxe Accommodation Packages from

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'ALLERY0ACKAGESSTARTFROM PERNIGHT )NCLUDESOVERNIGHTACCOMMODATION BREAKFASTFORTWOANDTWOTICKETSTOTHE)MANTS4ILERS @/NE7ORLD-ANY6ISIONSAND-ICHAEL2ILEY @3IGHTS5NSEENEXHIBITIONS3PECIAL CAR PARKING RATE OF  PER DAY AND  DISCOUNT OFF FOOD WHEN DINING IN :IPP2ESTAURANTINCONJUNCTIONWITHTHISPACKAGE 3UBJECTTOAVAILABILITYANDCONDITIONSAPPLY6ALIDTO/CTOBER &OR MORE INFORMATION OR TO MAKE A BOOKING CALL    OR VISIT SAVILLEHOTELGROUPCOM the bell gallery presents ‘works on paper’ and the release of ‘a winter in new york’ a folio of nine etchings by peter hickey beginning 10th september EXTRAORDINARYEVERYDAY 1 2

3 4 5

7 6

58 national gallery of australia

8 9 10 11

12 13 14

16

15 faces in view

1 Members’ viewing of Imants Tillers: one world many visions and Michael Riley: sights unseen 2 Ian and Austra Hart at the members’ viewing of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 3 Jennifer Slatyer, Saskia, Isidore and Imants Tillers at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 4 Pamela and Ron Walker in front of Imants Tillers’ Nature speaks 1998–2006 5 Isidore and Saskia Tillers performing at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 6 Imants Tillers, Olivia Sophia, Deborah Hart and Michael Jagamara Nelson at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 7 Leon Paroissien and Gene Sherman at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 8 Wendy Hockley (nee Riley) at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 9 Linda Burney and David Riley at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 10 Bernadette Riley and friend at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 11 Linda Burney and Joyce Abraham Riley at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 12 Wiradjuri Echoes performing for NAIDOC Week 13 Brenda L Croft with Megan Tamati-Quennell and Bernadette Riley at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 14 Yurry Craigie, Michael French and Craig Jamieson at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 15 Wiradjuri Echoes performing for NAIDOC Week 16 Simon Wright, Darrell Sibosada, Stuart Stark, Brenda L Croft and Daniel Browning at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley ngashop the art of shopping

Indigenous arts and craft books and catalogues calendars and diaries prints and posters gifts jewellery fine art cards accessories desirable objects toys jigsaws

Gallery Shop open 7 days 10am–5pm Phone 02 6240 6420 ngashop.com.au Product enquiries 1800 808 337

mobile glass decoration, exclusively designed by Sharon Peters for the Gallery shop, $89.95.

14 – 20 January 2007

Curator, Artist, Public Relations, Designer

Become one of 16 students to participate in the There’s more to a career in the visual arts ... National Gallery of Australia and Sony Foundation Australia Summer Scholarship in 2007.

If you are in Year 11 in 2006, spend a week Come and join the National Gallery of Australia team for a week, discover the collection, find out why works this summer at the NGA of art are acquired, how exhibitions take place, and what happens in a gallery behind the scenes. You will participate in workshops and receive expert tuition from Gallery staff and professional artists.

For more information go to nga.gov.au/Summer Scholarship or call Adriane Boag on 02 6240 6632

Applications close Friday 6 October 2006 SIGHTS MICHAELRILEY UNSEEN

14 July – 16 October 2006 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Imants Tillers installing Terra incognita 2005 at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2005 nga.gov.au Michael Riley Wiradjuri/Kamileroi peoples Untitled from the series cloud [cow] 2000 printed 2005 chromogenic pigment photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Michael Riley, Licensed by VISCOPY The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government agency. Third Intermediate Period, 21st–22nd dynasties (1069–715 BCE) Cartonnage of Djedkhonsouioufankh plastered, painted and gilded linen Collection Musée du Louvre Photograph © Georges Poncet, Musée du Louvre, Paris Principal Sponsor

A US T R A LI A E XHIB T ION S A R T

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ISSUE No.47 No.47 ISSUE g g in pr s R ALLE g NATIONAL 2006 OF Y ALIA R AUST

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artonview • Object Crafted The Rev oluti naryrussians