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Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh’s bedroom at Arles 1889 (detail), Musée d’Orsay, Paris, © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency

PRESENTING PARTNERS PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

TICKETS: NGA.GOV.AUHOTEL PACKAGES: VISITCANBERRA.COM.AU/PARIS 1300 889 024

CANBERRA ONLY4 DECEMBER 2009 – 5 APRIL 2010

MASTERPIECES FROM PARISVan Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne & beyond

POST-IMPRESSIONISM FROM THE MUSÉE D’ORSAY

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VAN GOGH, GAUGUIN, CEZANNE AND BEYOND CULTURE WARRIORS IN WASHINGTON

Issue 60, summer 2009–10

2 Director’s foreword6 Foundation8 Sponsorship and Developmentexhibitions and displays

10 Culture Warriors storm Washington Bronwyn Campbell

14 Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond Christine Dixon

collection focus/conservation

22 Celebrating two outstanding sculptors: Bert Flugelman and Inge King Deborah Hart

26 Kenneth Tyler Collection online Gwen Horsfield

acquisitions

30 J Miller Marshall Fossicking for gold Miriam Kelly

32 John Skinner Prout Break of Day Plains and The River Barwon, Victoria Emma Colton

36 Mawalan Marika The Milky Way Chantelle Woods

34 Devare & Co Prince Yeshwant Rao Holkar and his sister Manorama Raje Gael Newton

34 Erich Heckel White horses Jacklyn Babington

36 Walter Burley Griffin Desk chair for Newman College Robert Bell

40 Travelling exhibitions42 Faces in view

published quarterly by

National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 nga.gov.au

ISSN 1323-4552

Print Post Approved pp255003/00078

© National Gallery of Australia 2009

Copyright for reproductions of artworks is held by the artists or their estates. Apart from uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of artonview may be reproduced, transmitted or copied without the prior permission of the National Gallery of Australia. Enquires about permissions should be made in writing to the Rights and Permissions Officer.

The opinions expressed in artonview are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

editors Eric Meredith

designer Kristin Thomas

photography Eleni Kypridis, Barry Le Lievre, Brenton McGeachie, Steve Nebauer, David Pang, John Tassie

rights and permissions Nick Nicholson

advertising Erica Seccombe

printed in Australia by Blue Star Print, Melbourne

enquiries

The editor, artonview National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 [email protected]

advertising

Tel: (02) 6240 6557 Fax: (02) 6240 6427 [email protected]

RRP $9.95 includes GST Free to members of the National Gallery of Australia

For further information on National Gallery of Australia Membership:

Membership Coordinator GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 6240 6504 [email protected]

(cover) Paul Gauguin Tahitian women (Femmes de Tahiti) 1891 (detail) oil on canvas 69 x 91.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris gift of Countess Vitali in memory of her brother Viscount Guy de Cholet, 1923 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski


2 national gallery of australia

Director’s foreword

Our exhibition Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh,

Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond, Post-Impressionism

from the Musée d’Orsay is arguably the most important

exhibition to come to the National Gallery of Australia

in Canberra. Never before have so many famous works

of art been brought together for one exhibition in this

country. It is important for Australia because Australian

collections are not rich in Post-Impressionist pictures

and unfortunately never will be. We are delighted to

be co-curating this exhibition with the Musée d’Orsay

in Paris, which holds the most significant collection of

Post-Impressionist art in the world. The works in this

exhibition rarely leave the Musée d’Orsay, even singly,

and never before in these numbers.

Visitors to the exhibition will encounter Vincent van

Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles 1889, his intense yet simple

rendition of coloured surfaces influenced by Japanese

aesthetics. Van Gogh’s Starry night 1888 is of course iconic.

Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian women 1891 (see the cover of this

issue) is both monumental and decorative. Paul Cézanne

is the master of still-life, and Kitchen table (Still-life with

basket) 1888–90 fulfils his own prophecy: ‘I shall astonish

Paris with an apple!’ Cézanne’s beloved Mount Saint-

Victoire c 1890 is a classic image for the development

of the modern landscape. The exhibition examines the

evolution of Post-Impressionism, announcing the break

from Impressionism. The masterpieces in this exhibition

mark the arrival of modern art—diverse in style, colourful,

experimental and committed to the new.

The Gallery has published a beautifully designed

and illustrated book to mark this important occasion. It

includes essays by Guy Cogeval, President of the Musée

d’Orsay, Stéphane Guégan and Sylvie Patry, curators from

the Musée d’Orsay, and the National Gallery of Australia’s

Christine Dixon. There are entries on each work written by

National Gallery of Australia curatorial staff.

Félix Vallotton The ball or Corner of the park with child (Le ballon

au Coin de parc avec enfant) 1899

oil on card, laid on wood panel

48 x 61 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

bequest of Carle Dreyfus 1953 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) /

Hervé Lewandowski

artonview summer 2009–10 3

It has been three months since the Hon Peter Garrett AM,

Minister for the Arts in Australia, launched Culture Warriors

at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington. The exhibition

has received critical acclaim in the United States: The

Washington Post said, ‘Australian Indigenous Art

Triennial: Culture Warriors is one of the most revolutionary

exhibitions of its ilk. Though the show acts as the most

civil of diplomats, it also subverts expectations …’.

The showing of the exhibition in Washington is a triumph

for Australia, Aboriginal people and Aboriginal art, as well

as for the National Gallery of Australia. Culture Warriors is

the largest contemporary Indigenous art exhibition ever to

leave Australian shores and is part of the Australia Presents

cultural initiative to promote Australia in America.

It has been an outstanding year for acquisitions of

major works of art in all collection areas, both in numbers

of works purchased and in numbers and value of works

given. Many gaps have been strategically filled. In

Australian art, our growing collection of early colonial art

was recently enhanced by the acquisition of a fascinating

pre-gold rush John Skinner Prout watercolour of the

Barwon River near Geelong in 1847; it is one of his few

Victorian works and our earliest landscape from that state.

Another even more brilliant and lively watercolour sketch

by Prout, Break of Day Plains, Tasmania c 1845, was also

acquired. Together, these works are fine representations

of the artist’s Australian period. We continue to raise

funds for the Turneresque masterpiece in watercolour by

Conrad Martens, Campbell’s Wharf 1857, through the

new Members Acquisition Fund, which we highlighted

in the last issue of artonview. The painting, which is in

immaculate condition, came directly from a Scottish

branch of the Campbell family. With the assistance of

Gallery members it will be our finest work by this, the

most eminent New South Wales colonial artist. Thanks

go to those members who have already responded to the

invitation to play a direct role in acquiring an important

work for the National Collection. It is still possible to

contribute and we hope members will consider giving $100

towards this exceptional and rare work now on display in

the colonial gallery.

We also recently acquired Fossicking for gold 1893

by English-born Australian artist J Miller Marshall.

The painting was donated by Jenny, David and Melissa

Manton in memory of Jenny’s late husband Jack Manton,

a distinguished collector of small Australian Impressionist

works. For a short time only, this oil painting of a mining

scene is on display with two companion pieces depicting

the same subject—one owned by the Gallery is by Walter

Withers and another attributed to Percy Lindsay is on loan

from the Castlemaine Art Gallery. This is a rare

opportunity to see side-by-side these three interesting

works painted together at the same moment in Creswick,

Victoria, in 1893.

One of the most remarkable nineteenth-century

Australian paintings recently acquired was Tom Roberts’s

oil sketch of breathtaking brevity, Shearing shed, Newstead

1893–94, an iconic depiction of a sunlit landscape and

one of the artist’s finest works left in private hands. It

was largely funded by a successful national appeal, the

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund, and the Gallery is very

grateful to those who generously donated to the fund.

From the early twentieth century, the Gallery acquired

a desk chair that Walter Burley Griffin designed as part

of his 1915 concept for the University of Melbourne’s

Newman College, his second largest project in Australia

after his designs for the national capital in 1913.

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection

grew substantially during the year, in the lead-up to the

opening of the new Indigenous galleries later in 2010.

Among the very recent works acquired is a large early bark

painting by Mawalan Marika. Marika was an important

leader in Yirrkala in the Northern Territory and a key figure

in the development of the distinctive style of bark painting

from Arnhem Land.

From India, the Gallery acquired an interesting group

of hand-coloured photographs from the nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries. Among them is a stunning

1918 photographic portrait of the young Prince Yeshwant

and his younger sister Manorama Raje of Indore. The

photograph is exquisitely hand-coloured and retains its

original gilded frame. The work not only enriches our Asian

photography collection but also has a special connection to

our two Brancusi Bird in space sculptures, which Yeshwant

commissioned at the beginning of the 1930s for his palace

outside Indore. These works, among the Gallery’s greatest

treasures, were acquired in 1973.

The Gallery acquired White horses (Weisse Pferde) 1912

by Erick Heckel for our international prints collection. This

landscape is markedly different to the figurative work that

underpinned the early German Expressionist movement

of 1905–20. It joins our important collection of German

Expressionist prints and sets itself apart from Heckel’s more

tormented psychological portraits in the collection, the

most famous of which is, of course, his postwar woodcut

print Portrait of a man (Männerbildnis) 1919.

In October, the Gallery officially launched the website

for the Kenneth Tyler Collection. The collection includes


over 7000 works by 77 artists—more than 3000 of which

have been digitised for the website. The dynamic features

of the Kenneth Tyler Collection website allow our online

visitors to take a journey through the decades-long creative

collaboration behind some of the most famous images of

American art from the second half of the twentieth century.

The collection was compiled over decades by Ken and

Marabeth Tyler and gifted exclusively to the National Gallery

of Australia in 2002. The online content includes hundreds

of behind-the-scenes photographs of artists at work as

well as rare film footage and audio from these years. This

website demonstrates the role of the internet in preserving

and publishing archival material and in providing electronic

access to an important part of the national collection.

In late November, we opened a new purpose-built

gallery for our popular Sidney Nolan Ned Kelly series 1946.

This new gallery, off the main foyer in the space formerly

occupied by the Gallery Shop, has been specially designed

to enhance visitor experience of these famous and

much-loved Australian works. Their previous home in

the main Australian galleries on the first floor is now a

dedicated space for our remarkable collection of Australian

Surrealism, including, of course, the recently given

Agapitos/Wilson collection. Other newly opened display

areas near the Ned Kelly gallery include showcases for

Asian and international costumes and fashion, a large

showcase for our stunning jewellery collection, and a

dedicated space for changing displays of photography—

the first display is of John Gollings’s colourful New Guinea

suite 1973–74. Until now, the Gallery has never had a

permanent exclusive place for its jewellery, costume and

photography collections. We have also just opened our

new Polynesian gallery in the space previously occupied by

the Childrens Gallery. Immediately above it upstairs, the

former Pacific arts gallery is now devoted to Melanesian art.

The Childrens Gallery reopens in mid February 2010, near

the Gallery’s Small Theatre.

A new art loading dock and a goods loading dock,

a new staff entrance and vitally needed spaces for

registration, exhibition preparation, packing, quarantine

and mount-cutting have been completed as part of

Stage 1 early this year. These crucial back-of-house spaces

are of the international standard now expected of a major

art museum.

Gallery 3, which until recently housed The Aboriginal

memorial poles, has been restored and refurbished and has

had new lighting installed for international art. All these

changes complete the planned extensive refurbishment

of the current Gallery building and its displays, which has

been going on for several years. The current Gallery display

spaces have been redesignated, all extensively refurbished

and redisplayed. We can now look forward to the opening

of your new Gallery building later in 2010.

Ron Radford AM

Henri-Edmond Cross Hair (La chevelure) c 1892

oil on canvas 61 x 46 cm

Musée d’Orsay, Paris purchased 1969

© RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski


credit lines

Grants

Masterpieces from Paris has been indemnified by the

Commonwealth through the Australian Government’s

Art Indemnity Australia program, administered by the

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and

the Arts.

The Australia Council for the Arts through its Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander Art Board’s Showcasing the

Best International Strategy

The Gordon Darling Foundation

Australian Government:

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services

and Indigenous Affairs (FHCSIA)

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the

Australian International Cultural Council

Department of Health and Ageing‘s Dementia

Community Grants Program

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and

the Arts through Visions of Australia, an Australian

Government program supporting touring exhibitions

by providing funding assistance for the development

and touring of Australian cultural material across

Australia, and through the Visual Arts and Craft

Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government,

and state and territory governments

The Queensland Government (Australia) through the

Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export

Agency (QIAMEA) Arts Partnership Program

Sponsorship

ABC Radio

Accor Hotels

ACT Government (through Australian Capital Tourism)

ActewAGL

apARTments

Brassey Hotel of Canberra

BHP Billiton

Canberra Times

Casella Wines

Champagne Pol Roger

Diamant Hotel

Eckersley’s Art & Craft

Forrest Hotel and Apartments

JCDecaux

Mantra on Northbourne

National Australia Bank

NewActon

Nine Network Australia

Qantas

R.M.Williams, The Bush Outfitter

WIN Television

Wesfarmers Limited

Yalumba Wines

ZOO

Donations

Jason L Brown

John Calvert-Jones AM and Janet Calvert-Jones AO

The Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer

Warwick Hemsley

Merrill Lynch

Perin Family Foundation

Jason Prowd

Peter G Webster

The Yulgilbar Foundation

Founding Donor 2010

Antoinette L Albert

Luca Belgiorno-Nettis AM

Tony Berg AM and Carol Berg

Catherine Harris AO and David Harris

Neil Hobbs and Karina Harris

Terry Peabody and Mary Peabody

Julien Playoust and Michelle Playoust

Prescott Family Foundation

Penelope Seidler AM and the late Harry Seidler AC, OBE

Village Roadshow Limited

Ray Wilson OAM and the late James Agapitos OAM

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund

Joan Adler

Sarah Brasch

Cheryl Bridge

Ann and Dr Miles Burgess

Dr Stuart Cairns

Deborah and Jim Carroll

Paula Davidson

Anne H De Salis

Anthony Eastaway

Neilma Gantner

Wendy Gray

Aileen Hall

Annette Hearne

Elizabeth Hilton

Rev Bill Huff-Johnston and Rosemary Huff-Johnston

Elspeth Humphries

Dr J Vaughan Johnson CSC, AAM, and Madeleine Johnson

Brian Jones

Dr Dominic H Katter


Carolyn Kay and Simon Swaney

Thomas Kennedy

Dr Peter Kenny

Pamela V Kenny

James Semple Kerr

Sabra Lane

Simon McGill

Anne Moten and John Moten

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC, DBE

Donald W Nairn

Suzannah Plowman

Michael Ian Proud

Dr Lyn Riddett

Alan Rose AO and Helen Rose

Ann Somers

Helene Stead

Alan Taylor

Dr Caroline Turner AM and Glen Barclay

Joy D Warren OAM

Gabrielle Watt

The Hon E Gough Whitlam AC, QC,

and Margaret Whitlam AO

Dr IS Wilkey and H Wilkey

Gifts

Geoff Brash

Ian Brown

Peter Cheah

Brenda L Croft

The Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer

James Erksine and Jacqui Erksine

Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund

Dr Anna Gray

Richard Horvath

Lesley Kehoe

Inge King

John Loane

Matisse Mitelman

Mike Parr

Jocelyn Plate and Cassi Plate

Anne Sanders

Lyn Williams AM and the late Fred Williams OBE

The National Gallery or Australia extends thanks to the

many anonymous donors who provided support during

this period.


Foundation

McCubbin opening

McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17 exemplifies how

philanthropy can greatly assist the Gallery to present

exhibitions of the highest quality. Council member and

Foundation director the Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer

generously donated towards the cost of the exhibition, as

did R.M.Williams, The Bush Outfitter.

Several works of art included in McCubbin were

acquired through the benefaction of Foundation members.

Ashley Dawson-Damer, John Wylie AM and Myriam Wylie

donated towards a key work painted in McCubbin’s final

years, Violet and gold 1911. An earlier work, At the falling

of the year 1886, which is also included in the exhibition,

was acquired through the generous donation of Terry

Campbell AO and Christine Campbell.

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2009

On 29 September 2009, Gallery Director Ron Radford

AM hosted an event to celebrate the acquisition of Tom

Roberts’s Shearing shed, Newstead 1893–94. All donors

to the Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2009 were

invited to view the work that they helped acquire for

the Australian art collection. The Director spoke about

the importance of the artist’s work for the national art

collection and how he was delighted and grateful that

so many donors had contributed.

Founding Donors 2010

The Founding Donors 2010 program, which is an

opportunity to become involved in the history of the

Gallery, is progressing very well. With the completion of the

Stage 1 South Entrance and Indigenous Galleries building

project less than a year away, the funds raised through the

Founding Donors 2010 program will be used to acquire

works of art for the new galleries. Stage 1 is the most

extensive building program since the Gallery opened in

1982, when the initial Founding Donors program provided

most valuable support to the Gallery.

The Founding Donors 2010 program aims to raise

$1 million through 100 donors contributing $10 000 over

two years. All donors will be recognised in perpetuity

through the inclusion of their name on the donor board

being placed in the Gallery foyer.

If you are interested in becoming a Founding Donor 2010,

please contact Annalisa Millar, Executive Director of

the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, on

(02) 6240 6691. Your support would be most welcome.

Membership Acquisition Fund

The Membership Acquisition Fund, under which members

have been invited to support the Gallery, has proved

very popular with many donations received towards the

acquisition of Conrad Martens’s spectacular watercolour

Campbell’s Wharf 1857. For more information about this

program, or to make your tax-deductible donation today,

please contact the Membership Office on 1800 020 068.

Gala dinner and weekend 2010

The next annual fundraising weekend will be held on

20 and 21 March 2010 and will include behind-the-scenes

tours, a private viewing of Masterpieces from Paris:

Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond, and an

exquisite gala dinner at the Gallery on the Saturday evening.

Funds raised from the weekend will assist the Gallery

to acquire a work of art for the national art collection.

For further information, please contact Annalisa Millar

on (02) 6240 6691 or [email protected].

Foundation AGM and board meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the National Gallery of

Australia Foundation was held on 28 October 2009 and

was attended by Foundation directors and a number

of members of the Foundation. Chairman of the

Foundation, Charles Curran AC, provided an outline of

the achievements for the Foundation for this financial year

and the Gallery’s Director Ron Radford AM spoke about

Christine Simpson and Kerry Stokes AC with McCubbin’s Oliver’s Hill, Frankston (Summer idyll) 1910 from the Kerry Stokes collecton, on display in McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17 at the National Gallery of Australia.


recent developments, including an update on the building

program. The Director also spoke about the forthcoming

major international exhibition Masterpieces from Paris: Van

Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond. Thanks to everyone

who has supported the National Gallery of Australia through

the Foundation. The board expressed their gratitude to Jennifer

Prescott, who has resigned after nine years as a board member.

The Foundation also welcomed two new board members:

Zeke Solomon and Julian Beaumont.

National Gallery of Australia Bequest Circle

The National Gallery of Australia Bequest Circle was

launched in November 2008 as a way of recognising the

important role that bequest benefactors play in the life of

the Gallery. Ray Wilson OAM spoke at the launch of the

program. He has been a generous benefactor and recently

left a bequest as a way of reinforcing his commitment to

the National Gallery of Australia.

The Bequest Circle was introduced to increase

awareness of the Gallery as a potential bequest choice.

The program provides existing and potential bequest

donors the opportunity to enjoy a closer relationship

with the Gallery. It also enables the Gallery to formally

acknowledge and honour bequest donors during

their lifetime.

Members of the Bequest Circle are invited to an

exclusive annual event as well as other Gallery events and

programs. They are formally acknowledged in the

National Gallery of Australia Foundation Annual Report

and in artonview.

A bequest to the National Gallery of Australia is a

significant and lasting contribution to the future of the

national collection. If you have ever felt captivated, excited,

challenged or inspired by a work of art, please consider

making a bequest to the National Gallery of Australia.

Further information on this exciting new program is

available on the Gallery’s website nga.gov.au/aboutus/

development/bequests.cfm, where you can also download

the Bequest Circle brochure.

If you would like to join the National Gallery of Australia

Bequest Circle or would like more information, please

contact Liz Wilson, Development Officer, on (02) 6240 6781.

Ron Radford AM, Director, Rupert Myer

AM, Chairman, Dr Anna Gray, Head of Australian Art, Ken

Cowley AO, Chairman of R.M.Williams, The Bush Outfitter, The Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer,

Exhibition Benefactor, and Her Excellency Quentin

Bryce AC, Governor-General of Australia, at

the McCubbin opening on 13 August 2009


Sponsorship and Development

Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne & beyond Post-Impressionism from the Musée d’Orsay

Australian Capital Tourism through the ACT Government (Presenting Partner)

We extend our great appreciation to the ACT Government

through ACT Tourism for partnering with the Gallery

to present to the people of Australia the iconic, rare

and extremely important Post-Impressionist works from

the Musée d’Orsay. The Gallery is thrilled that the ACT

Government chose to support Masterpieces from Paris.

Through this partnership, the ACT Government has

proven that they value the tremendous benefits that major

exhibitions bring to the local economy.

Our great appreciation is extended to the staff at

Australian Capital Tourism for their integrated and

collaborative approach to this important partnership.

Australian Government: Art Indemnity Australia (Presenting Partner)

The assistance of Art Indemnity Australia—the Australian

Government’s art indemnity scheme through which loans

to Masterpieces from Paris have been indemnified—has

been invaluable. Without this support, this exhibition could

not have taken place. Since 1979, the Commonwealth has

indemnified approximately $15.4 billion worth of cultural

objects in 103 exhibitions (including this one), with a

combined audience total of more than 22 million visitors.

The scheme was established to provide greater access for

the people of Australia to significant cultural exhibitions.

We are grateful to Art Indemnity Australia for

supporting the Gallery in bringing this unique exhibition

to Australia. Art Indemnity Australia is an Australian

Government program managed by the Department of the

Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

National Australia Bank (Principal Partner)

We are delighted to announce a long-term strategic

partnership between the National Australia Bank (NAB) and

the Gallery, where the NAB has become the Gallery’s Art

Education and Access Partner. As part of this partnership,

the NAB is also a Principal Partner of Masterpieces from

Paris. The visionary and generous support of NAB has

reinforced their reputation as a leader in corporate

philanthropy with a profound and tangible commitment to

advancement and enrichment of the Australian community.

NAB is also the naming rights sponsor of the Gallery’s

Sculpture Gallery, which opened in 2007. We extend our

thanks to the team at NAB for their continued support.

Nine Network Australia (Principal Partner)

We are very grateful to Channel Nine for their generous

support of Masterpieces from Paris. As the major media

partner, Nine is partnering with the Gallery to present

this remarkable exhibition to Australians through a

national advertising and media campaign. Thank you to

the team at Nine.

JCDecaux (Principal Partner)

We welcome JCDecaux as Principal Partner of

Masterpieces from Paris and thank them for choosing to

support this important exhibition of European masters.

Through their significant contribution as media partners,

JCDecaux have created a prominent street promotion

campaign, ensuring high visibility of this important

exhibition in all major metropolitan areas of Australia.

We extend our gratitude to the team at JCDecaux.

Qantas (Major Sponsor)

Our thanks go to Qantas for their generous and continued

support of the Gallery. We are grateful to Qantas Freight

for assisting with the transport of these valuable works

from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris to the National Gallery

of Australia in Canberra. We extend this appreciation to

Qantas Holidays, for partnering with the Gallery to create

packages and promotions that drive tourism and visitation

to Canberra.

Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jr, Dennis Richardson AO, Ambassador to the United States, and Mavis Ngallametta at the official opening of the Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC, USA. Photograph © Greg Chesman


The Yulgilbar Foundation (Major Sponsor)

The Gallery thanks the Trustees of The Yulgilbar Foundation.

The Foundation’s generosity and vision has ensured that the

Family Activity Room and childrens program for Masterpieces

from Paris will be developed and presented for the enjoyment

of children and families. The support from The Yulgilbar

Foundation and its Trustees is highly valued and deeply

appreciated by the Gallery.

The Canberra Times (Major Sponsor)

We are pleased to announce The Canberra Times as a

major sponsor of Masterpieces from Paris and thank

them for their further commitment to promote and support

other exhibitions and activities throughout 2009–10.

We are very grateful to the team at The Canberra Times

for their energy and collaborative work with the Gallery.

National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund

We are grateful to the Gallery’s Council for their active role

in the life of the Gallery and for their support of exhibitions,

including Masterpieces from Paris, through the National

Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund.

ABC Radio

We are grateful to ABC Radio as Media Partner of

Masterpieces from Paris, and thank them for their ongoing

support of the Gallery’s major exhibitions through radio

coverage and promotions around Australia.

WIN Television

We extend our gratitude to WIN Television for supporting

Masterpieces from Paris. In addition, we would like to

thank WIN Television for their commitment towards the

Gallery’s exhibition and programs throughout 2009–10.

Novotel (Accor Hotels)

We welcome Accor Hotel Group as partner of the Gallery

and Masterpieces from Paris, and thank them for being

the Accommodation Partner for this iconic exhibition.

Champagne Pol Roger

We are delighted to announce that Champagne Pol Roger

will once again be supporting a major exhibition at the

National Gallery of Australia. Pol Roger will be the official

supplier of French Champagne for all VIP events held in

conjunction with the exhibition. Pol Roger’s philosophy

of ‘style and elegance’ along with their company values

of ‘excellence and independence’ align perfectly with this

amazing blockbuster exhibition.

Yalumba Wines

We welcome the iconic family-owned Yalumba Wines back

to the Gallery, and thank them for supporting another

blockbuster exhibition. Yalumba, along with Champagne

Pol Roger, have sponsored Turner to Monet, Degas and

now Masterpieces from Paris.

McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17

Our appreciation is extended to R.M.Williams, The Bush

Outfitter who are generously partnering with the Gallery

for McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17. This exhibition

closed at the Gallery on 1 November 2009, to travel

to Perth, where it will displayed at the Art Gallery of

Western Australia from 12 December 2009 to 28 March

2010, before travelling to the final venue, the Bendigo

Art Gallery, where it will be on display from 24 April

to 25 July 2010. We thank the R.M.Williams team

for their energy and commitment to the project and

the much-valued partnership between our organisations.

We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to

long-term supporter of the Gallery, the Hon Mrs Ashley

Dawson-Damer for being the Exhibition Benefactor.

Australian Government Visions of Australia

We acknowledge and thank the Department of the

Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, through

Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program

supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding

assistance for the development and touring of Australian

cultural material across Australia, and through the Visual

Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian

Government and state and territory governments.

Visions of Australia has funded the National Gallery

of Australia’s Travelling Exhibition Program’s 2010 New

Releases: In the Japanese manner: Australian prints

1900–1940, Robert Dowling: Tasmanian son of Empire

and Australian street stencils.

Council Circle

We welcome the following companies into the Council

Circle: Channel NINE, JCDecaux, Qantas, The Yulgilbar

Foundation, Accor Hotel Group (Novotel Canberra)

and Champagne Pol Roger. We would also like to

thank the following Council Circle Members for their

continued support: National Australia Bank, Wesfarmers,

The Canberra Times, WIN Television, The Mantra on

Northbourne and The Brassey Hotel of Canberra.

Corporate Members Program

We would like to welcome Yalumba Wines and Casella

Wines into the Corporate Members Program for 2009–10.

Thank you to Eckersley’s Art & Craft, as a sponsor of the

Gallery’s annual family day event The Big Draw, which was

held at the Gallery on Sunday 20 September.

National Australia Bank Art Education

and Access Partnership

We thank and acknowledge the vision and leadership

shown by the NAB in entering this partnership with the

National Gallery of Australia, which is one of the most

significant partnerships of its kind today.


As an organisation, the NAB is renowned for its

commitment to supporting Australian communities and

helping people reach their creative potential. Its focus

aligns itself closely with the Gallery’s own mandate,

which is to inspire and enhance all Australians’ lives

through the promotion of, and provision of access to,

the national collection and the visual arts. This partnership

will see NAB’s programs further developed at the Gallery,

and its outreach activities increased around the country.

The partnership will improve access to high-quality

and inspiring teacher and student resources for schools

and communities around Australia and will provide

programs that will reach remote and disadvantaged

schools and students. It will also support the activities

of over 3000 school groups (80 000 school children

per annum) that visit the National Gallery of Australia in

Canberra each year.

The NAB’s partnership with the Gallery will also provide

the opportunity to build and strengthen current access and

community programs such as Art and Alzheimers, Carers’

Art Appreciation and Viewings, Auslan sign-interpreted

tours, descriptive and disability tours and art tours for

refugees for whom a visit to a gallery or museum is often a

transformative experience.

We are deeply grateful to the NAB for its generous

support, and look forward to the far-reaching outcomes

that the partnership will deliver.

Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship

We thank Cox Inall Ridgeway for the energy and

professionalism they are investing in the Consultation

Program for the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Fellowship.

Consultation workshops have been conducted around

the country in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Broome, Cairns,

Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

They have drawn together many people working across

different sectors—visual arts, education and government,

Indigenous and non-Indigenous—and encouraged

vigorous and insightful discussion, analysis and input.

A full report from the consultation process will be

completed and launched in the first half of 2010.

Wesfarmers Arts continues to support and contribute

to the project with tremendous generosity and energy.

We also thank them particularly for providing a location

and forum for the Perth consultation workshop.

American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia

The opening week celebrations of the Australian

Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors incorporated a

lunch on Thursday 10 September 2009, held in honour

of the American Friends of the National Gallery of

Australia, Inc at the Australian Ambassador’s residence in

Washington, DC. The work of its directors, Advisory Council

and Board, both past and present, was acknowledged and

highlighted by Rupert Myer AM, Chairman of the National

Gallery of Australia, Mr Dennis Richardson AO, Ambassador

to the United States, and the Hon Peter Garrett AM, MP,

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.

The American Friends of the National Gallery of

Australia, Inc welcomed its new Chairman, Philip Colbran,

and Vice President, Ian Phillips, to its Board of Directors,

which includes Dr Lee MacCormick Edwards, Dr Helen

Ibbotson Jessup, Kate Flynn, Judith Ogden Thomson and

Susan Talbot at its 2009 Annual General Meeting.

We acknowledge and thank the outgoing Chairman,

Philip Jessup Jr, and Director, Diane Ackerman, for their

leadership and longstanding contribution to the work of

the American Friends during their time on its Board of

Directors. We look forward to their continuing association

as members of the American Friends Advisory Board.

We would like to thank all our partners and corporate

members. If you would like more information about

Sponsorship at the National Gallery of Australia, please

contact Frances Corkhill on + 61 2 6240 6740 or

[email protected]. For information about

Development at the National Gallery of Australia,

please contact Belinda Cotton on + 61 2 6240 6556 or

[email protected].

Exhibition Benefactor the Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer, Ken Cowley AO, Chairman of R.M.Williams, The Bush Outfitter, and Maureen Cowley at the opening of McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17 on 13 August 2009.


Culture Warriors storm Washington

travelling exhibition

After a highly successful Australian tour, during which it

was seen by over a quarter of a million people, Australian

Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors opened at the

American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center,

Washington, DC. Travelling overseas, the exhibition forms

part of the Embassy of Australia in Washington’s Australia

Presents program, which was developed to celebrate the

talent and creative excellence of Australian performing and

visual artists.

Culture Warriors first opened at the National Gallery of

Australia in October 2007 to commemorate the Gallery’s

25th anniversary. Those who viewed the exhibition will

recall a vivid and diverse survey of contemporary Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander art practice, with a variety of

media ranging from weaving, bark painting and sculpture

to painting, video and installation by 30 Indigenous

Australian artists hailing from every state and territory,

living and working in remote, rural and urban areas.

Culture Warriors pays specific tribute to a core

group of senior artists: Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Phillip

Gudthaykudthay, John Mawurndjul, Wamud Namok AO

and Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jr. The work of these

artists is firmly grounded in custom and culture and—in

spite of the many innovations of material, form and style

that they have generated—is regarded as ‘traditional’ by

many viewers. Apuatimi and Pambegan Jr travelled from

their ancestral homelands to be among the eight exhibition

artists who were present in Washington to celebrate the

opening of Culture Warriors. At the other end of the

spectrum of artists that went to Washington, Christian

Bumbarra Thompson, a young member of the Bidjara

people of Queensland and now resident in Amsterdam,

(from left to right) Dr Brenda L Croft,

exhibition curator, Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jr, Mavis Ngallametta, the Hon Peter Garrett AM,

MP, Minister for the Environment, Heritage

and the Arts, Ricky Maynard, Gordon Hookey,

Daniel Boyd, Christopher Pease, Judy Watson and Jean Baptiste Apuatimi at the official opening of Culture Warriors in Washington, DC, 10

September 2009. Photograph: Jeff Watts,

courtesy American University


is a quintessentially international contemporary artist.

Speaking to the ABC, Thompson described the experience

of the exhibition as ‘a great opportunity for the world to

see such a dynamic collection of work and gain an insight

into the complex nature of Aboriginal identity and how it is

in this contemporary age’.

The exhibition was officially opened on the evening

of Thursday 10 September by the Hon Peter Garrett AM,

MP, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.

The launch was attended by nearly 400 people, including

members of the United States Congress, diplomats and

members of the American Friends of the National Gallery

of Australia (AFNGA).

Minister Garrett commended the important cultural

exchange between Australia and the United States of

America which Culture Warriors represents, as well as the

significant degree of co-operation that this undertaking

involved. Without generous corporate sponsorship and

Government support, the exhibition could not have

travelled to the United States of America. The significant

partnerships that were forged between the Embassy of

Australia in Washington, the Australian International Cultural

Council, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,

the American University and the National Gallery of

Australia will create an enduring legacy of international

cooperation and cultural exchange. The contributions of

the Australia Council for the Arts and the Queensalnd

Arts Marketing and Export Agency were invaluable in

allowing the participation of exhibition artists in the

launch events. Artists attending the events included Jean

Baptiste Apuatimi, Daniel Boyd, Gordon Hookey, Ricky

Maynard, Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jr, Christopher

Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC. Image courtesy Geoff Chesman, ImagelinkPhoto

(clockwise from top left) Christopher Pease with his New Water

Dreaming, Wrong side of the Hay and Target at the media launch, 8 September 2009.

Photograph: Jeff Watts, courtesy American University

Dennis Richardson AO, Australian Ambassador to the United States of America,

at the media launch, 8 September 2009. Photograph: Jeff Watts, courtesy American University

Cameron McCarthy performing at the American University Museum at the

Katzen Arts Center, 10 Septemebr 2009. Image courtesy Geoff Chesman, ImagelinkPhoto

The Hon Peter Garrett AM, MP, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts,

at the official opening, 10 September 2009. Image courtesy Geoff Chesman, ImagelinkPhoto


Pease, Christian Bumbarra Thompson and Judy Watson.

Guests at the opening were moved by Jean Baptiste

Apuatimi’s performance of her ceremonial Buffalo Dance

in front of her paintings, which she repeated for members

of the public on the afternoon of Saturday 12 September,

along with talks by artist Ricky Maynard and exhibition

curator Brenda L Croft and a performance by Christian

Bumbarra Thompson.

AFNGA members were also specially honoured by

a preview tour of the exhibition and a private luncheon

at the residence of the Australian Ambassador Dennis J

Richardson AO. After a quarter of a century of warm

support from AFNGA, giving a special preview of a National

Gallery of Australia exhibition on their home soil was a

welcome opportunity.

Rupert Myer AM, Chairman of the National Gallery

of Australia, reminded audiences that ‘the promotion

of our best art internationally and the development of

new audiences for our own visual culture are significant

elements of [the] National Gallery’s charter’. In Washington,

Culture Warriors will enable an influential and discerning

audience to experience the richness and diversity of

contemporary Australian Indigenous art in a unique and

powerful way. It will also open up fresh audiences for the

artists’ work and create new and lasting partnerships for

the National Gallery of Australia.

A fascinating aspect of the tour of Culture Warriors to

the United States of America has been the opportunity to

expand on what Americans understand about Australian

Indigenous art. The process of unpacking the many crates

that the show travelled in was one of constant wonder

for the American University Museum staff, each crate

containing a surprise, a challenge or a new favourite.

The Director of the American University Museum, Jack

Rasmussen, was observed standing in front of Gordon

Hookey’s Grog gott’im 2005, a large-scale and direct

modern allegory of the affect of alcohol dependence

on Indigenous communities. Rasmussen commented to

a museum benefactor that the exhibition ‘wasn’t quite

what we were expecting’. American museum-goers and

collectors are very aware of the Central and Western

Desert schools of painting but it was a delight to watch the

revelation of the vast diversity and extraordinary qualities of

contemporary Indigenous Australian art dawn on the faces

of visitors to the museum. The response to the exhibition

to date has been overwhelmingly positive. One of the great

strengths of Culture Warriors resides in its variety: some

works lull viewers with their allusions to tradition, others

issue an overt challenge to audience expectations. All of

them in some way refute conventional understanding

of Indigenous Australian art yet contribute to a deeper

appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history,

culture and views.

Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors is

proudly supported by principal sponsor BHP Billiton, airline

sponsor Qantas, and Australian Government sponsors

the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Visual

Arts and Craft Strategy/Visions of Australia/Contemporary

Touring Initiative, the Australia Council for the Arts,

the Queensland Government through the Queensland

Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency, the

Northern Territory Government, the Government of

Western Australia’s Department of Culture and the Arts,

and Arts Victoria.

Bronwyn Campbell Assistant Manager, Travelling Exhibitions

Jean Baptiste Apuatimi’s performance at the opening of Culture Warriors in Washington, DC, 10 September 2009. Image courtesy Geoff Chesman, ImagelinkPhoto


exhibition

Masterpieces from Paris

Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond

Post-Impressionism from the Musée d’Orsay

4 December 2009 – 5 April 2010 | Exhibition Galleries

Masterpieces from Paris brilliantly reveals how Post-Impressionism burst onto the cultural scene,

in France and farther afield, at the end of the nineteenth century. Among the 112 paintings

brought to Canberra this summer and autumn are some of the most heralded works of modern

art, reproduced in art books, posters and postcards, and always sought after for loan by other

museums. Normally, they are visited by millions of tourists in Paris every year in the cathedral of

nineteenth-century art, the Musée d’Orsay. Visitors will see the ways new generations of artists

competed with Impressionist and Salon painters, how the experimenters influenced each other,

and how explosive was the arrival of modern art throughout Europe.

Paul Gauguin Portrait of the artist with ‘The yellow Christ’ 1890–91 oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris purchased with the assistance of Philippe Meyer and patronage organised by the Nikkei newspaper, 1994 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / René-Gabriel Ojéda

Vincent van Gogh Eugène Boch or The poet 1888 oil on canvas 60 x 45 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris bequest of Eugène Boch, through the Société des Amis du Louvre, 1941 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski



Georges Seurat Model standing, facing the front or Study for ‘The models’ 1886 oil on wood panel 26 x 15.7 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris gift of Philippe Meyer, 2000 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Michèle Bellot

Model from the front 1887 oil on wood panel 25 x 16 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris purchased ex Félix Fénéon collection, 1947 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

(opposite) Claude Monet London, Parliament: sun through the fog 1904 oil on canvas 81 x 92 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris bequest of Count Isaac de Camondo, 1911 © Musée d’Orsay, Dist RMN / Patrice Schmidt

In Masterpieces from Paris, the most famous and

influential painters are represented by many works:

Vincent van Gogh by seven, Paul Gauguin by nine,

Paul Cézanne by eight, and Georges Seurat by eleven.

Paintings by van Gogh, Gauguin and Seurat have been

seen in Australia only rarely, and never in this depth

nor represented by such high-quality examples of their

art. There are also many paintings by Emile Bernard

(five), Pierre Bonnard (nine), Maurice Denis (ten), Claude

Monet (five) and Edouard Vuillard (eight), among others.

Works by these artists announced a break with

Impressionism, the revolutionary movement that took place

in France in the second half of the nineteenth century. By

the 1880s, however, artists were experimenting with even

more radical ideas, and their art is now classified under

the general heading of Post-Impressionism. Here we can

see such movements as Pointillism, Neo-Impressionism,

Synthetism, Symbolism, the School of Pont-Aven and

the Nabis.

The year 1886 marked the end of organised

Impressionism and the beginning of Post-Impressionism.

The eighth and final Impressionist exhibition held that year

was the end of an era and the triumphant announcement

of a new one. Monet’s responses to what he saw as the

crisis of Impressionism include venturing beyond observed

reality to what the contemporary critic Octave Mirbeau

identified as Monet’s genius; this was the artist’s ability to

extract from a particular place ‘at a glance, the essence

of form and colour and, I would also say, of intellectual life,

of thought … from this supreme moment of concentrated

harmony, where dream becomes reality’. Such genius

is made manifest in London, Parliament: sun through

the fog 1904.

A grand canvas by Seurat, A Sunday afternoon on the

island of La Grande Jatte 1884–86 was shown in the 1886

Impressionist exhibition, and with it the Neo-Impressionist

artist transformed the nature of Impressionism. Two studies

for the painting can be seen in Masterpieces from Paris.

Instead of the Impressionists’ concentration on momentary

effects of light, Seurat and his followers—Paul Signac,

Théo van Rysselberghe, Henri-Edmond Cross and others—

devised a science of colour. Their theories depended on

complementary hues—red and green, blue and orange,

yellow and violet—placed side by side in small marks. They

also borrowed from other traditions, such as stained glass,

cloisonné and Japanese woodblock prints, for example.

Neo-Impressionist painters, also known as Divisionists

and Pointillists, lit up their canvases with strokes or dots


of pure colour laid side by side on light grounds. These

dots or dashes combine in a viewer’s eye, blending and

creating new effects as we perceive them. In Seurat’s Model

from the front 1887, the nude’s shimmering pearlescent

flesh is composed of white, pale orange, brown and blue

paintstrokes. Similarly, in Cross’s all-but-anonymous study

of his wife combing her hair, her wavy brown tresses are

made of circular dots of orange and green and purple,

among other colours.

The rebel Cézanne, born a year before Monet, and

participant in two Impressionist exhibitions, became the

overarching Post-Impressionist artist, influencing almost

all modern artists of the following generations. Cézanne

was awkward, touchy and misanthropic in his character,

but he was also bold and experimental, even audacious,

in his work. He was a master of still life, and Kitchen

table 1888–90 fulfils his own prophecy: ‘I shall astonish

Paris with an apple!’ Gauguin looked at Cézanne for his

vibrant Still-life with fan c 1889, using similar brushstrokes

to render the fruit and displaying some of the fictional

space in which the objects float. Gauguin owned several

paintings by Cézanne, thus increasing the circulation of

knowledge about the reclusive artist.

Van Gogh’s great adventure with the drama of colour

can be seen in his portrait Eugène Boch 1888. The work

depicts his fellow artist and dreamer as ‘The poet’, which

the painting was also titled. Van Gogh wrote to his brother

Theo in September 1888 that he wanted to paint men and

women with ‘something of the eternal which the halo used

to symbolise’. For the portrait of Boch, he chooses a yellow-

gold for the figure and a deep, rich blue as the ground,

and replaces the conventional halo with stars, invoking

a limitless celestial night sky.

In his Portrait of the artist with ‘The yellow Christ’

1890–91, Gauguin presents one of the most interesting

and striking images of the artist as martyr. He portrays

himself three times: the central image as a brilliant man

misunderstood by society, flanked by his painting of the

suffering Christ and his distorted ceramic self-portrait, a

radical self-realisation. The painting stands as a testament

to the future, when the world would understand Gauguin’s

genius and regret the lack of appreciation and success in

his lifetime. It was made in Pont-Aven in Brittany, where

Bernard met Gauguin for the second time in 1888. Artists

sought renewal in the remote province, perceiving it to be a

magical Celtic realm of mysticism and pre-urban innocence.

Breton subjects, often traditionally dressed peasants in a

rural Arcadia, yet allowed original pictorial solutions such

as those Bernard devised in The harvest 1888. Striking

diagonal fields of colour, arbitrary divisions of the canvas

and denial of conventional perspective are some of the

tactics the painter employed.

It was also in Pont-Aven, in October 1888, that Gauguin

gave the student Paul Sérusier a painting lesson in the

Bois d’Amour on the bank of the Aven River. He inquired:

‘How do you see these trees? They are yellow. Well, then,

apply some yellow. That bluish shadow, paint it with pure

ultramarine blue. These red leaves? Try vermilion …’ The

resulting small painting, The Aven at the Bois d’Amour

1888, was taken back to Paris to the Académie Julian. It

was a revelation to the young painters there, especially

Bonnard, Denis, Paul Ranson and Vuillard, who were shortly

to form the artists’ group called the Nabis, perhaps because

of this painting. The work was nicknamed ‘The talisman’:

that is, a secret and magical object. Gauguin’s instructions to

Sérusier, to intensify colour and simplify forms, led to short,

square vertical brushstrokes, lengthened and continued as

flat patches of colour. The panel is now famous, regarded

as the earliest forerunner of abstraction, although it was

not exhibited during the artist’s lifetime.

As well as the rich colour and exotic themes of van

Gogh, Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven, strongly

Emile Bernard The harvest (Breton landscape) 1888 oil on wood panel 56.5 x 45 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris purchased 1965 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi, © Emile Bernard. ADAGP/Represented by Viscopy, 2009

(opposite) Paul Cézanne Kitchen table (Still-life with basket) 1888–90 oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris bequest of Auguste Pellerin, 1929 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

Paul Gauguin Still-life with fan c 1889 oil on canvas 50 x 61 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris transferred in application of the Peace Treaty with Japan, 1959 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski



Symbolist elements can be traced through paintings

by Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon and Pierre Puvis de

Chavannes. More intimate are the jewel-like domestic

interiors and figures by the Nabis painters, especially

Bonnard, Denis, Sérusier and Vuillard. Portraits of friends

and family members, nude studies and schemes to

decorate rooms were common subjects. The Nabis, who

named themselves after the Hebrew and Arabic words

for ‘prophet’, were inhabitants of the city and rarely

ventured into rural France. Félix Vallotton paints a bird’s

eye view of a little boy playing in the park, The ball 1899,

which communicates the quintessential experience of

a lone child in an urban park, watched over from afar

by two women.

Part of the Nabis project was an attempt to expand

their art from easel painting to include large wall paintings,

screens, posters and the decorative arts. The exhibition

contains large decorative panels by Nabis artists, especially

examples by Vuillard, Bonnard and Denis. The Muses 1893

shows Denis’s successful intertwining of outlined figures—

the nine (or is it ten?) female figures symbolising the arts.

Forms are outlined with sinuous lines, pinks and browns

contrast with greens and blacks, while beautiful patterns

decorate the whole. The floor of the forest would make a

wonderful carpet!

A surprising and disruptive final note is sounded by

Henri Rousseau’s grand painting War c 1894. With its

emotive and critical subject and flat application of paint

to two-dimensional shapes, War is different in its pictorial

language from other Post-Impressionist works. But rank

outsiders always exist in any field of endeavour, and the

artist brilliantly communicates his message of death and

despair. Essentially modern elements—experiment, flatness,

shock—are part of Rousseau’s vocabulary. As the painter

stated to Pablo Picasso in 1908: ‘we are the two greatest

painters of the era, you in the Egyptian genre, I in the

modern genre’.

The various Post-Impressionist aesthetic adventures,

it becomes clear, were the basis for the development of

Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, and even Abstraction into

the twentieth century. When we look at these paintings by

van Gogh, Seurat, Gauguin, Denis, Cézanne and others—

their bold colours, new theories, novel designs and complex

geometries—we experience the vibrant, changing world of

the Post-Impressionists.

Christine Dixon Senior Curator, International Painting and Sculpture

The book Masterpieces from Paris, published in conjunction with the exhibition, is available at the NGA Shop for $39.95 and at selected bookstores nationally for RRP $49.95.

Henri Rousseau War c 1894 oil on canvas 114 x 195 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris purchased 1946 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / All rights reserved

(opposite) Maurice Denis The Muses 1893 oil on canvas 171.5 x 137.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris purchased 1932 © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski, © Maurice Denis. ADAGP/Represented by Viscopy, 2009


exhibition

Celebrating two outstanding sculptors

Bert Flugelman and Inge King

Over the autumn and winter months the National Gallery

of Australia hosted ‘a season of sculpture’, with numerous

artists presenting lively and informative talks about

their works. Among the most memorable presentations

were those given by two of Australia’s renowned senior

sculptors, Inge King and Bert Flugelman. Both artists have

made major contributions to the art of this country. This

is evident in their many public commissions that grace our

cityscapes and gardens, including the National Gallery of

Australia’s Sculpture Garden, and in their wider sculptural

practice over several decades.

Both King and Flugelman were born in Europe and both

were adventurous exponents of contemporary art from

the 1950s. Born in Berlin in 1918, King described herself

as ‘an ancient sculptor’. ‘My career has spanned the best

part of seventy years. So I’ve been fortunate.’ She recalled

that she had a traditional training, just prior to the Second

World War and on and off during the war years. Among

the key works of this period, Warsaw 1943, in the Gallery’s

collection, was made around the time when the horrors

of the concentration camps were becoming more widely

known.

While this early work is overtly figurative, it was not

long before King’s works moved more emphatically towards

an abstract way of working. Among the inspirational

sculptors for her in the 1940s was Henry Moore but it was

really the time that King spent in New York in 1949 and

1950 that provided a turning point. ‘Just being in New

York was fantastic after the dreariness of the war years in

Europe. I saw Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Jackson

Pollock. I became infatuated by Abstract Expressionism.’ In

relation to her own work, she became deeply interested in

steel sculpture, which was just starting to develop.

Inge King recalled in her talk that, although she had

received a scholarship to go to America, her Australian-

born husband, the renowned printmaker Grahame King,

was not able to get a working visa. When she arrived

in Australia in 1951 it was something of a shock to the

system: ‘It was a bit like a can of flat beer’. She was

nevertheless committed to making the most of her new

life. ‘It was a new country for me and I really did want to

make a go of it. I also had a very supportive husband.’

Sculpture was her chosen path, but it was not until the

1960s that she was able to dedicate herself to her work.

Once she started again, King found the landscape was

a key source of inspiration. ‘It was really the Australian

landscape that fired my imagination ... It is a difficult

landscape. No matter how large your sculpture is, it doesn’t

mean anything. It can disappear. The only way to work with

the landscape is to make sculpture of great simplicity and

clarity of form, expressing inner strength and high tension.’

This approach is evident in many of King’s mature

works, including her impressive Temple gate 1976–77

in the Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. The work was in part

inspired by a visit the artist made to Japan in 1974,

especially the archways, known as Torii, in front of Shinto

shrines. After the germination of the idea over two

years, King had evolved a dramatic sculpture in her own

distinctive visual language. The work had come to the

attention of the Gallery’s founding director, James Mollison,

who had seen it in an exhibition at Realities Gallery in

Melbourne. Although Temple gate was not a commission,

it works remarkably well in its site in the Sculpture Garden.

It has its own strong presence while at the same time

interacting beautifully with the landscape through

the archway and through the open circle cut within a

circle above.

Inge King discussing her practice and her work

Wandering angel in the exhibition Reinventions.


There are some uncanny parallels between this

monumental work and King’s much later smaller sculptures,

including Wandering angel 2000, acquired by the Gallery

in 2003. In this work the circle and wing-like forms recall

the shapes in her earlier work. It was not until the 1980s

that King had returned to working with the figure. Now,

all these years after her European figurative sculptures,

her work was very much informed by her experience

with abstraction over the years. This enabled her to be

increasingly inventive and to do things with the figure

that she had not done before. ‘I like to be spontaneous,

and to do that I begin by working on a smaller scale.’ The

inspiration for Wandering angel and related works came

from Paul Klee’s drawings of angels. In King’s series of

works around that theme there is a sense of liberation, of

taking flight, an idea that had long interested her. As she said:

Throughout my career I have been fascinated by flight.

This fascination made me abandon carving wood and

stone, for steel. Assemblage enabled me to let forms leap

into the air and thrust out sideways … [to] balance large

objects on small ones … or anchor shapes precariously

between two uprights (Temple Gate 1977) …

The inspiration for ‘Angels’ came from Paul Klee’s

drawings done late in his life. His angels are preoccupied

with death—he was suffering from a terminal illness.

My angels are an ode to life. Wings dominate in some, in

others they are part of the body jutting out into space. Some

are serious, others are humorous—the moor’s last laugh.

Among the most striking aspects of the presentations by

both King and Flugelman was their optimism and their

ongoing engagement with their sculptural practice. At 90

years of age King noted that her work is more optimistic

than it was earlier on; that when you have seen a lot, there

is an awareness of the importance of life and the need

to make the most of what you have. This is a sentiment

shared by Bert Flugelman who, at 86, is still brimming with

ideas for his work. In recent years, the Gallery acquired

Double spiral 2007, which reveals Flugelman’s capacity to

continue to create work that is dynamic and engaging;

precise in its geometry and inventive in its vital sense of

movement and varied surface textures.

Born in Vienna in 1923, Flugelman came to Australia

in 1938. In the ensuing years he experimented with a

wide range of sculptural techniques. One of his favourite

mantras in his formative years as a sculptor was that he

found it ‘boring to be too consistent’. By the late 1960s,

however, the restless experimentation abated and he began

to focus on finding a visual language that worked for him.

Inge King Wandering angel 2000 welded bronze 140 x 65 x 60 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2003

Inge King Temple gate 1976–77 painted steel and aluminium 477 x 238 x 238 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 1977


Ultimately I find objects more exciting than ephemera.

This is a personal choice. I’m not legislating about what

you ought to like. There was so much going on that

I had to somehow condense it … Anything was fair

game. I did performances and installations and ultimately

I thought I had to pull it all together in some way. I

thought, ‘I will start at the beginning’. I did this by using

simple, irreducible geometric solids … the pyramid, cube,

tetrahedron, cone, sphere and so on. I had an exhibition

in 1972 where I made doubles of the spheres and cones,

end to end. The geometric forms and the discipline within

geometry itself taught me that within those parameters

you can be as inventive and creative as with anything else.

Having experimented with aluminium and fibreglass,

Flugelman soon found that he preferred stainless steel,

and he has worked with this medium ever since. As

well as discussing many major commissions, Flugelman

noted in his talk that he has from time to time enjoyed

challenging the boundaries of what constitutes a work of

art. A classic example of this was the burying of a large

sculpture Tetrahedra, made in 1970 and laid to rest in

Commonwealth Park in Canberra in 1975. Flugelman

recalled that he was asked to make an earthwork by

a former director of the Mildura Arts Centre, Tom

McCullough, who was working as a curator on an art and

science festival. ‘He asked if I would be interested in doing

an earthwork. Quick as a flash I said, “Yes, of course”.

He said, “We can let you have a bulldozer and a driver and

a site”.’ After some consideration Flugelman decided that

Tetrahedra, a work that had been on many journeys to

museums and sites around Australia, could be used.

The process was undertaken with great care.

As Flugelman recalled:

The bulldozer driver understood. After we had placed the

six tetrahedra carefully in the trench, just as we would in a

gallery, he gently filled in the trench making sure the work

wasn’t disturbed and making good the landscape. There

was nothing left except the curve of the hill and a sign

with photographs of the work.

Bert Flugelman with his work Cones in the

Sculpture Garden, May 2009

Bert Flugelman Double spiral with graffiti

2008 stainless steel

85 x 107 x 85 cm National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra purchased with the generous

assistance of Village Roadshow Limited, 2008


Among the most fascinating images accompanying

Flugelman’s talk were those of the making of Cones

1978–82 for the Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. These images

took the audience on a journey from the design and

construction of an individual cone, through to the gradual

sanding and polishing of the seven main components to

attain an immaculate finish. He then showed how the

seven components needed cages built for them to travel

from Adelaide to Canberra and to be lifted into place.

Flugelman recalled:

Work began on the commission in 1978 and it had to be

finished in 1982, in time for the opening of the Gallery.

They were brought here from Adelaide on two enormous

low loaders and we had to arrange for a police escort …

It was a major undertaking but we got them here in time

before the Gallery opened.

It was remarkable to recall from the slides the nature of

the Sculpture Garden site, as image after image revealed

the magnificent Cones being installed in the then-bare

landscape, flanked by imposing buildings, with an open

vista to the lake. It was fascinating to see the contrast

of the original stark space with the established gardens

today, and the way the work has settled into the site.

Cones, stretching over more than 20 metres in length,

is undoubtedly one of Flugelman’s most successful

commissions. The precise clarity of the geometry is

balanced by its dynamic movement. With four of the seven

cones balancing on points and the other three held in

suspended animation, the work appears to defy gravity.

Adding to this sense of dynamism, the stainless steel

surface is continually changing with the altering reflections

of trees, ground, sky and the many people who visit and

interact with the work.

Flugelman noted in his talk that for him Cones

embodies what he had always dreamed of for his public

commissions; to create a work that is at once a source of

continual engagement and also something of permanence,

that will outlast us all. Both Flugelman and King have

achieved this in their works, and it was an honour to hear

these senior artists discuss aspects of their remarkable

journeys into sculpture over the past decades.

Deborah Hart Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post 1920

note All quotes from the artists in this article are from discussions with the author and recordings of their talks at the National Gallery of Australia: Bert Flugelman in conversation with Deborah Hart for International Museums Day, 18 May 2009, and Inge King floortalk to coincide with the Reinventions: sculpture + assemblage exhibition, 30 June 2009.

Bert Flugelman Cones 1982 polished stainless steel 450 x 2050 x 450 cm (overall) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra commissioned 1976, purchased 1982


Kenneth Tyler Collection online

To those unfamiliar with printmaking, its technical

processes can seem mysterious. Especially in the workshops

of master printer Kenneth Tyler, where 500-tonne

printing presses were housed alongside antique Bavarian

lithography stones; where staff in white overalls and rubber

boots sprayed paper pulp from moving platforms above

works of art; and where traditional Japanese woodblock

and papermaking methods were employed in the same

rooms as photo-mechanical techniques, the engineering of

kinetic sculptures, and the making of vast, colourful mixed-

media prints in three dimensions.

The newly updated website for the Kenneth Tyler

Collection gives visitors a unique, behind-the-scenes look

at all these processes and more. Work began on the Tyler

Collection website in 2003, and it was officially launched

in October 2009. The site features over 70 artists and

Kenneth Tyler (left) and Roy Lichtenstein (right)

discussing Lichtenstein’s print Reflections on

Minerva, with paintings from the Reflections

series in the background at the artist’s studio in

Southampton, New York, USA, 1989.

Photograph: Jim McHugh

Anni Albers Josef Albers John Altoon Sam Amato Ed Baynard Per Inge Bjørlo Stanley Boxer Anthony Caro John Chamberlain William Crutchfield Allan D’Arcangelo Ronald Davis Willem De Kooning Mark Di Suvero

Kosso Eloul Jules Engel Sam Francis Helen Frankenthaler Alberto Giacometti Joe Goode Nancy Graves Richard Hamilton Hardy Hanson Michael Heizer Al Held David Hockney Paul Jenkins Jasper Johns Donald Judd Ellsworth Kelly Edward Kienholz RB Kitaj Piotr Kowalski Nicholas Krushenick Terence La Noue Roy Lichtenstein

Man Ray Richard Meier Joan Mitchell Malcolm Morley Robert Motherwell Bruce Nauman John Newman Kenneth Noland Hugh O’Donnell Claes Oldenburg George (Earl) Ortman Sam Posey Kenneth Price Patrick Procktor Joe Raffaele Robert Rauschenberg George Rickey James Rosenquist Edward Ruscha David Salle Arthur Secunda Maurice Sendak Richard Serra Ben Shahn Alan Shields Richard Smith TL Solien Keith Sonnier Steven Sorman

Frank Stella Donald Sultan Altoon Sultan Rikio Takahashi Masami Teraoka Wayne Thiebaud Gina Tomao Jack Tworkov John Walker Andy Warhol Charles White Robert Zakanitch


presents an exciting visual history of printmakers working

from 1963 to 2002. Prominent figures in twentieth-century

American art, such as Josef Albers, Helen Frankenthaler,

David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank

Stella, are included on the website. Some artists worked

with Tyler over several decades while others, such as Andy

Warhol and Donald Judd, collaborated with the printer on

a one-off basis.

One highlight of the website is an ever-expanding

repository of over 3000 high-quality digital images of

original works of art in the National Gallery of Australia’s

collection. Experimental, abandoned and working proofs

are incorporated where possible, to give the viewer an

insight into the development of an image. Also available

on the site are hundreds of rare candid photographs of

artists at work in the different Tyler workshop locations,

as well their own studios. Because candid photography is

shot without the staged lighting, backdrops and poise of

professional photographic portraits, it captures the action

of the workshop in a spontaneous and unobtrusive way.

The result is like a glimpse into a private photo album,

and gives an understanding of the collaborative nature of

the printmaking process, characterised by many complex,

labour-intensive techniques—but also by happy accidents.

This rare collection of photographs was compiled over

decades by Ken and Marabeth Tyler and given exclusively

to the National Gallery of Australia in 2002, where it will

continue to be digitised and published online. The Tyler

website also preserves rare 16-mm film and sound footage

from these years that has been cleaned and copied in

digital format to ensure access for future generations. In

co-operation with the National Film and Sound Archive,

this audiovisual material will be harnessed progressively to

support future exhibitions.

Along with material from the Tyler Film, Sound and

Photography collection, the website showcases extensive

artist and exhibition chronologies; a comprehensive

technical glossary; electronic access to original print

prospectuses and publications; a virtual, three-dimensional

user-navigated exhibition tour; and over 40 photographic

essays that document the technical experimentation carried

out in the Tyler workshops.

Online visitors are invited to view this site—which has

been developed by Andrew Powrie, the Gallery’s online

manager—and to take a dynamic journey through the

decades-long creative collaboration behind some of the

most iconic images of twentieth-century American art.

Gwen Horsfield Curatorial Assistant, Kenneth Tyler Collection

View the Kenneth Tyler Collection website at nga.gov.au/tyler.

Roy Lichtenstein using an electric handtool to carve the woodblock for the black printing of his Reflections on Conversation, Tyler Graphics workshop, Mount Kisco, New York, 1990. Photograph: Jim McHugh

Roy Lichtenstein carving black woodblock element for his print Reflections on The Scream, with a detail of cartoon character baby Swee’pea, Tyler Graphics Ltd artists studio, Mount Kisco, New York, 1989. Photograph: Kenneth Tyler

(opposite) Roy Lichtenstein uses a hand gouge to carve the woodblock for his print Reflections on Crash, Tyler Graphics Ltd artists studio, Mount Kisco, New York, 1989. Photograph: Jim McHugh


acquisition

J Miller Marshall Fossicking for gold

English-born landscape artist J Miller Marshall arrived in

Australia in the late 1880s. It appears that he was initially

drawn to Victoria in search of gold but stayed for the art.

Miller Marshall had returned to England by the mid 1890s

and may have taken with him a number of works painted

in Australia.

Fossicking for gold c 1893 is a rare oil painting from

Miller Marshall’s time in Australia. It depicts a scene at the

Creswick goldfields near Ballarat in Victoria and is from

a period when a second large discovery of gold attracted

many fossickers into the area. Fossickers were miners

who searched through mined earth for any remaining

gold and, in this painting, Miller Marshall portrays two

fossickers at rest. One miner is standing with his shovel

astride his shoulder, while the other is seated smoking a

pipe; positioned beside him is the conspicuously empty

gold pan.

While it is probable that the figures in Miller Marshall’s

painting were based on models, he has successfully

conveyed a sense of a momentary break from the hard

work of labouring in the blistering heat of an Australian

summer’s day. Miller Marshall’s response to the colours

and qualities of the Australian light and landscape reveal

a glowing yet heavily mined earth, coloured with rich

yellows and ochres. And the roughly textured bark of the

two gum trees and scattered rocks in the foreground are

rendered in shades of smoky blues, pinks and greens.

For several weeks in January of 1893, Miller Marshall

and fellow artist Walter Withers ran plein-air painting

classes at Creswick. It is likely that Miller Marshall and

Withers worked side by side at this time, with Withers

painting a strikingly similar work, Fossickers 1893. This

work is also held by the National Gallery of Australia and

the comparison of the two paintings yields insights into

the differences between the artists’ handling of paint and

approach to composition.

J Miller Marshall Fossicking for gold 1893

oil on canvas 54.5 x 39 cm

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

gift of Jenny, David and Melissa Manton in memory of Jack

Manton, 2009


Walter Withers Fossickers 1893 oil on canvas 67.7 x 49 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra gift of Mrs Alec de Bretteville, 1969

Percy Lindsay (attributed) Fossicking for gold 1893 oil on canvas 45.5 x 34 cm Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum purchased as a tribute to Miss BK Leviny, 2007

In addition, a third, unsigned work depicting the very

same scene is held in the collection of the Castlemaine

Art Gallery and Historical Museum. This work, also titled

Fossicking for gold 1893, was previously attributed to Miller

Marshall; however, it is now believed that this work may

have been painted by Percy Lindsay. A member of the

well-known Lindsay family, Percy grew up in Creswick and

is celebrated for his paintings of the surrounding area.

He and his brother Lionel were among the students who

Miller Marshall and Withers taught in the summer of 1893.

Little is known about Miller Marshall except that he was

a founding member of the Norwich Art Circle from 1885

until 1904 and was one of five children; his father was the

Norwich-based artist Peter Paul Marshall (1830–1900).

Miller Marshall is most recognised for his watercolours but

was also proficient in oil painting. He had a number of paintings

selected for exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.

Miller Marshall’s Fossicking for gold was recently gifted

to the national collection by Jenny, David and Melissa

Manton in memory of the late Jack Manton. This painting

is currently on public display at the National Gallery of

Australia, alongside the unsigned Fossicking for gold, on

loan from Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum,

and the Gallery’s Fossickers by Walter Withers.

Miriam Kelly Assistant Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture


acquisition

John Skinner Prout Break of Day Plains, Tasmania

and The River Barwon, Victoria

Australia Illustrated was the most popular illustrated book

produced during the period of colonial expansion in the

late nineteenth century and was a clear demonstration

of Australia’s developing nationhood. Intended as a

comprehensive survey of the southern colonies, the

volumes were published in England between 1873

and 1876 by Edwin Carton Booth and were adorned with

steel engravings of landscape views by John Skinner Prout

and Nicholas Chevalier.

English watercolourist and drawing master John

Skinner Prout was born in 1805 in Plymouth, Devon, and

worked in Australia from 1840 to 1848. On returning to

London he took with him a number of sketchbooks and

many of his Australian watercolours, which later featured

in Australia Illustrated. The recently acquired Break of Day

Plains, Tasmania c 1845 and The River Barwon, Victoria

c 1847 were both subjects of engravings by E Brandard,

accompanying chapters on Tasmania and Victoria

respectively.

After sketching Sydney and its environs for over

three years, Prout moved to Hobart Town, Van Dieman’s

Land, in 1844, where he gained recognition as one of

the most progressive artists working in the colony. He

was instrumental in arranging the first art exhibitions

in Australia in 1845 and 1846, delivered a number of

subscription lectures on painting, and was a stimulating

influence on amateur artists through the sketching clubs

he formed.

Prout explored the rural and urban landscapes of

Hobart from May to December 1844, working on material

for the lithographs that appeared in volume one of

Tasmania Illustrated. It was during this period that Prout

became the centre of an extensive amateur sketching

culture based on the Bristol sketching club he had been a

part of from 1832 to 1837. Following the principles of plein

air painting, the Hobart Town club was formed in 1845

and included artists GTWB Boyes, Francis Simpkinson de

Wesselow, Louisa Anne Meredith, Ellen Burgess and Jeanie

Louisa Stewart Dunn, Bishop Nixon, colonial treasurer Peter

Gordon Fraser and architect William Porden Kay.

In December 1845, the club set out from Hobart Town

on an excursion up the east coast of Van Dieman’s Land

to St Mary’s Pass, the Fingal Valley and Launceston. Painted

during this trip, Prout’s wonderfully fresh watercolour

Break of Day Plains, Tasmania features a pastoral staffage

in the foreground, heightened with body colour, opening

out to the wide expanse of the Mt Nicholas Ranges and

the South Esk River. This view across the valley displays

Prout’s facility with the watercolour medium. He excelled in

this technique, favouring rapid sketches rather than highly

finished paintings, which resulted in a number of small

atmospheric works.

Accompanied by Francis Simpkinson, in mid December

1846, Prout travelled to Port Phillip to paint and sketch

Melbourne and its surrounds for the lithographic folio

Views of Melbourne and Geelong. By early January, the

artists had moved on to Tallarook and Goulburn Valley,

returning to Melbourne via Geelong and the Barwon

Valley. In the deftly painted The Barwon River, Victoria,

Prout has positioned a couple in the foreground, looking

out over the river towards a homestead nestled in a rural

landscape. This quiet impression of everyday life is further

emphasised by the inclusion of two men fishing off a punt

on the river and the haze of smoke from the emerging

settlement of Geelong in the distance. Rather than the

more precise topographical views of Simpkinson, the largely

self-trained Prout preferred a lyrical vision of the landscape,

championing the right of the artist to interpret freely rather

than merely imitate. Capturing the valley’s cool light,

The Barwon River, Victoria is among the earliest depictions

of the region and certainly the earliest in the National

Gallery of Australia’s collection.

These two lively sketches depict a significant aspect

of Prout’s Australian oeuvre. Until now the National

Gallery of Australia only held the highly finished exhibition

watercolour, Aborigine stalking—Willoughby Falls, New

South Wales c 1850, completed after the artist’s return to

London in 1848.

Emma Colton Australian Prints and Drawings

John Skinner Prout Break of Day Plains,

Tasmania c 1845 watercolour 26 x 38 cm


purchased 2009

The River Barwon, Victoria

c 1847 watercolour

27.2 x 37.8 cm National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra purchased 2009


acquisition

Mawalan Marika The Milky Way

One of the most important Yolngu artists in the history of

bark painting, Mawalan Marika was born before the time

of early European invasion into what is now the Arnhem

Land region. He lived in country near Yirrkala in north-east

Arnhem Land, roughly 700 kilometres east of Darwin,

which has approximately 25 homeland centres within a

200-kilometre radius. The area itself is known as the Miwatj

region, which means ‘morning side’, and refers to the fact

that it is the most eastern part of the Top End of Australia.

Marika was a senior religious leader, not only of the

Rirratjingu clan but also of the Dhuwa moiety, as well

as a warrior, songman and dancer.

In 1935, the Methodist Overseas Mission sought to

establish a mission station at Yirrkala on Rirratjingu land.

Although he was strongly protective of traditional culture

and the Yolngu way of life, Mawalan supported the

missionaries and assisted in clearing the land for a school,

houses, roads and the mission farm.

Politically, he was a key figure in several historic

negotiations between the Yolngu people and the outside

community. From the 1940s, Marika assisted the Australian

anthropologists Charles P Mountford and Ronald and

Catherine Berndt with their research into Yolngu culture

and society and, in the late 1950s, he was commissioned

by Tony Tuckson and Stuart Scougall to make large bark

paintings for the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 1962,

he played a leading role in producing painted panels

on Yolngu religious themes, which were installed in the

Yirrkala Church, contributing to the regional reconciliation

of two very different cultures—the English and the Yolngu.

In 1963, Marika was one of the signatories of the famous

Yirrkala Bark Petitions presented to Parliament to protest

the Commonwealth’s granting of mining rights. The historic

petitions were not only the first traditional documents

prepared by Indigenous Australians that were formally

recognised by the Australian Parliament but they were also

the first recognised native title claim.

Mawalan Marika was significant in establishing the

bark painting tradition of the Top End. He led the way

in producing traditional paintings on bark for sale to

outsiders and, with Narritjin Maymurru and Mungurrawuy

Yunupingu, they developed a narrative approach for their

paintings. This became characteristic of much Yirrkala

art of the 1960s to the 1980s, and this bark is a classic

example of that style. Marika taught bark painting to the

boys at the mission school and, in 1963, lived and worked

for two months in Sydney—he was one the first Yolngu

to travel that far south. He also played an important role

in encouraging Yolngu women to paint at a time when

women were not allowed to produce sacred paintings.

Marika was an influential figure at the head of one

of the most important artistic families to emerge from

Yirrkala to date. His brothers Mathaman and Dadaynga

‘Roy’ Marika, son Wandjuk Marika, daughters Dhuwarrwarr

and Banduk Marika and brother-in-law Mungurrawuy

Yunupingu are all celebrated artists.

This bark painting by Marika depicts Baru the crocodile,

an important creation ancestor for the Yolngu people.

The black vertical strip on the bark denotes the Milky Way,

which is regarded by many northern Aboriginal people

as a river in the night sky, teeming with fish and other

creatures. The origins of the creation of the Milky Way

vary from group to group. According to the chronicles

of the Rirratjingu and related Dhuwa clans, two brothers

were fishing in their bark canoe when it capsized in a

strong wind. One brother’s body washed up on shore; the

other’s sank. The crocodile Baru went looking for food and

smelled the body of the brother on the beach. The two

brothers and Baru then ascended into the night sky and

became constellations. A group of Possum ancestors who

were conducting a ceremony—playing didgeridoo and

clap sticks while women danced—saw the stars and they

too ascended into the heavens. The ancestral Native Cat,

the submerged canoe and the Scorpion, who was once a

man, also joined the others in the night sky. All became

constellations. Two bags of stars projecting from the Milky

Way in the upper left represent Djulpan, the belt of Orion:

the triangular bag is male, the elliptical one female.

This work by Mawalan Marika will be a feature work in

the new Indigenous Australian galleries that open next year

as part of the Stage 1 building project.

Chantelle Woods Assistant Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Mawalan Marika The Milky Way c 1965

natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

177.5 x 63.5 cm National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra purchased 2009


acquisition

Devare & Co Prince Yeshwant Rao Holkar and his

sister Manorama Raje

This graceful portrait of Prince Yeshwant, the eldest child of

HH Maharaja Tukoji Rao 3rd of the Maratha state of Indore

in Central India, and his younger sister Manorama Raje is

an outstanding example of the distinctive genre of hand-

coloured royal portrait photography popular in India in the

early to mid twentieth century. The subtle colouring gives

substance and life to the rich silks and satin garments worn

by the young royals. The photograph was taken by court

photographer Gopinath Devare, most likely at his studio in

Bombay and perhaps prior to the prince going to Cheam

School in England in 1920.

The Holkar children’s portrait is more complex than the

standard royal portrait pose of a figure leaning up against

a plinth or seated at a table. Prince Yeshwant and sister

Manorama appear, instead, as if the photographer had

come upon them in the corner of an English-style drawing

room. The foreign setting might seem odd for a portrait

of Indian royalty but European antiques were fashionable

in the country’s palaces and photography studios; Indian

photographers also adopted poses, props and backdrops

from imported European portrait photographs. The

inspiration for the setting was most likely the relaxed

‘at home’ style of the aristocratic portraiture known as a

‘conversazione’, or conversation piece, which was in vogue

in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Prince Yeshwant acceded as Rao Holkar Bahadur,

14th Maharaja of Indore in 1926, but only assumed rule

from 1930, after further Western education in England.

He remained ruler of Indore until Indian Independence in

1947—Indore was then subsumed into the state of Madhya

Pradesh. After his schooling, the prince developed a dislike

of the British, although he maintained an appreciation for

other parts of Europe and later enjoyed American culture.

His second and third wives were American.

This high quality work by a twentieth-century Indian

photographer is important to the Gallery’s representation

of the history of photography in Asia and has connections

to other areas of the collection. Maharaja Yeshwant was

an enthusiast for modern European art, furniture and

architecture and had avant-garde photographer Man

Ray take his first honeymoon photographs in Paris with

Maharani Sanyogit Devi Holkar. As soon as he was installed

as ruler in 1930, Maharaja Yeshwant commissioned

Eckart Muthesius, a young German architect, to build

a new palace outside Indore. Called Manik Bagh (Jewel

Gardens) the palace had white streamlined international-

style architecture and was filled with modernist designer

furniture and works of art, including a number of pieces

by the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi.

In 1936, the Maharaja purchased three late versions

of Brancusi’s Bird in space—one in black marble, one in

white marble and one in bronze—and commissioned the

artist to design a ‘temple of meditation’ to house them in

the palace grounds. Brancusi had various designs, including

ones with a reflective water pool, and travelled to Indore

in 1937 to begin work. By then, however, the Maharaja

had apparently lost interest—he was possibly mourning

for the death of the Maharani—and the work on the

temple of meditation never began. The Maharaja’s pair

of marble ‘birds’ now reside in a different ‘temple of

meditation’, inside the National Gallery of Australia.

They were acquired from the Maharaja’s daughter in 1973.

The Gallery’s display of the two stunning sculptures reflects

some of Brancusi’s ideas for their installation in the Indore

Royal palace garden.

Gopinath Devare became official photographer of all

Indian States, and he and his associates at Devare & Co

were active as photographers of the Imperial Durbar in

1911. Devare was reputedly the first Indian to be awarded

Fellowship of the Royal Society of Photography in London.

He travelled to Indore in May 1930 to record the prince’s

investiture—the commemorative album opens with a tinted

studio portrait of Yeshwant in the same delicate style as

his earlier portrait.

Gael Newton Senior Curator, Photography

Devare & Co Gopinath Devare

photographer Prince Yeshwant Rao Holkar and his sister

Manorama Raje c 1918 watercolour on gelatin

silver photograph 36.7 x 26.6 cm


purchased 2009


acquisition

Walter Burley Griffin Desk chair for Newman College

The architect Walter Burley Griffin was born near Chicago

in 1876. He graduated in architecture from the University

of Illinois in 1899 and worked in the office of eminent

Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright from 1901 to

1906 before establishing his own practice in Chicago.

Stirred by the Federation movement in Australia, Griffin

developed an interest in town planning, and he entered

and won the 1912 competition for the design of the new

federal capital city of Australia, Canberra. He relocated to

Australia in 1914 to work on this project and later to run

his own architectural practice in Melbourne and Sydney.

He left Australia in 1935 to work in India, where he

died in 1937.

This chair is part of the furniture from Griffin’s second

largest project in Australia, the University of Melbourne’s

Newman College, which he designed in 1915. The

building’s character—an amalgam of meso-American and

southern European Gothic styles—was expressed through

strong, modern geometric detailing in stone and wood.

It was reflected in the plain, angular suites of furniture

designed by Griffin to provide a calm and integrated

environment for research and study. Several firms

produced this range of furniture for the project, using

unadorned Japanese oak with minimal plain brown leather

upholstery in the manner of American Arts and Crafts

furniture of the period.

This swivelling and tilting office chair was produced

by Melbourne church furniture specialists Fallshaw and

Sons (established in 1875). The chair’s uncompromising

form and functionality are rare qualities in Australian

design of the period. Its flat planes and slanted design

elements reveal a debt to Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1903

designs for office and library furniture, while its dynamic

angles show similarities in approach to Czech Cubist

furniture designs of 1912–14. In synthesising such diverse

influences, Griffin produced a suite of furniture unique

in Australian design.

Robert Bell Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design

Walter Burley Griffin Desk chair for Newman College

1917 Japanese oak, steel, iron,

leatherette 104 x 59 x 60 cm

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra purchased 2009


acquisition

Erich Heckel White horses

Erich Heckel, EL Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl and Karl Schmidt-

Rottluff were the founding members of the German

Expressionist group Die Brücke (The Bridge). From 1905,

Die Brücke were determined to break new ground in

German art by rejecting academic conventions and

adopting the striking imagery and techniques that they

observed in the work of African and Pacific cultures.

The group radically revitalised the Germanic printmaking

tradition and their works stand today as some of the most

important print works ever produced.

Heckel created White horses (Weisse Pferde) in 1912,

a year after Die Brücke moved from Dresden to Berlin.

The relocation to a large city caused a dramatic change

in Heckel’s work as the artist reacted to the metropolis by

producing works that were introspective and melancholy.

In contrast, White horses depicts a combination of animals

and figures within an Arcadian landscape, giving the scene

a lyrical tone that is markedly divergent from the artist’s

other figurative works.

The woodcut shows two men leading two white

horses along a path. As they near a junction, a third figure

walks towards them. Heckel’s treatment of the landscape

is masterly: three trees bend towards the right side of the

image, buffeted by a breeze that is evoked by a rough

cutting of the wood. The irregular slope of the top edge

of the woodblock is also harnessed by Heckel as a visual

device to underscore this sense of energy and to heighten

the anticipation; a meeting of the three figures is imminent.

Perhaps the art historical events of 1912 are key to

Heckel’s uncharacteristic choice of subject. It was during

this year that Heckel met the leading artists of the Munich-

based artists group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), Franz

Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. Marc, in particular, viewed

the horse as a symbol of energy and strength and had

adopted this motif as the major theme in his work. The

unusual appearance of the horse in Heckel’s White horses,

in combination with the meeting of three figures, can be

interpreted as a momentary fusion of the ideas of two

revolutionary artist groups: Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke.

Jaklyn Babington Assistant Curator, International Prints and Drawings

Erich Heckel White horses (Weisse Pferde) 1912 woodcut image 30 x 31 cm sheet 68 x 53.3 cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra The Poynton Bequest, 2009

1 2

3 4 5

6 7

faces in view

1 Ita Buttrose and daughter-in-law Adrianne Macdonald, with The lime tree 1917, at the opening of McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17, 13 August 2009.

2 Larissa, Joanna and Kristiane Pang at the McCubbin opening.

3 Sir Michael Parkinson with JM Crossland’s Portrait of Nannultera, a young Poonindie cricketer 1854.

4 Performers portray iconic Post-Impressionist figures at the Gallery’s Big Draw event, 20 September 2009.

5 A young girl draws the garden outside as part of Big Draw, 20 September 2009.

6 Margaret Cerabona and Barbara Blake, with Bush sawyers 1910, at the McCubbin opening.

7 Tina Baum, Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Carly Lane, Curator, Indigenous Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and Franchesca Cubillo, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, at the media preview for Emerging Elders, 1 October 2009.

8 Visitors of all ages participate in the many Big Draw activities at the Gallery, 20 September 2009.

9 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the World Presidents Organisation dinner at the Gallery on 22 October 2009.

10 Deborah Hart, Senior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture post-1920, interviews artist John Olsen in a public forum, 17 September 2009, in association with Big Draw.

8

9

10


Travelling exhibitions summer 2009–10I

The National Gallery of Australia Travelling Exhibitions Program is generously supported

by Australian airExpress.

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

McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907–17Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA,

11 December 2009 – 29 March 2010

Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Vic, 24 April – 25 July 2010

Discover Frederick McCubbin’s rarely displayed later works and experience his

striking use of colour in the first McCubbin exhibition to be held in almost 20 years.

See this iconic Australian artist in a new light as he depicted a modern Australia

in cityscapes, sea views, landscapes and portraits. nga.gov.au/mccubbin

Proudly sponsored by R.M.Williams, Exhibition Benefactor the Hon Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer and Media Partner ABC Local Radio

Robert Dowling: Tasmanian son of EmpireQueen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, Tas,

6 March – 25 April 2010

Robert Dowling holds a special place in the history of Australian art. He was the first

artist to be trained in Australia and was renowned for his paintings of pastoralists

and their properties, Indigenous people and biblical themes. This is the first major

exhibition of his oeuvre, including his much-lauded orientalist subjects. nga.gov.au

Supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia. Also proudly supported by the National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund.

Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture WarriorsAmerican University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC,

USA, 8 September – 6 December 2009

Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors presents the highly original and

accomplished work of 30 Indigenous Australian artists from every state and territory.

Featuring outstanding works in a variety of media, the exhibition draws inspiration

from the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum (Aboriginals) and demonstrates

the breadth and calibre of contemporary Indigenous art practice. nga.gov.au/aiat

Proudly supported by principal sponsor BHP Billiton, airline sponsor Qantas, and Australian Government sponsors the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy/Visions of Australia/Contemporary Touring Initiative, the Australia Council for the Arts, the Queensland Government, the Northern Territory Government, the Government of Western Australia’s Department of Culture and the Arts and Arts Victoria.

The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift

These suitcases thematically present a selection of art objects that may be borrowed free-of-charge for the

enjoyment of children and adults in regional, remote and metropolitan centres. nga.gov.au/wolfensohn

For further details and bookings telephone (02) 6240 6650 or email [email protected]/wolfensohn.Blue case: technology

South East Arts, Bega, NSW, 8–26 February 2010

Country Arts SA, c/o Riddoch Art Gallery, Mt Gambier, SA, 3–31 March 2010

Red case: myths and rituals and Yellow case: form, space and design

Arts Access Victoria (Melbourne), 15 February – 13 April 2010

1888 Melbourne Cup

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tas, 9 March – 7 April 2010

Emily O’Brien Hair chairs 2004, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (in Blue case: technology)

Frederick McCubbin The old slip,

Williamstown 1915 private collection

Richard Bell Australian art it’s an

Aboriginal thing 2006 TarraWarra Museum of

Art Collection acquired 2006

Image courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery

Robert Dowling Mrs Adolphus Sceales

with Black Jimmie on Merrang Station

1855–56 National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra purchased from the Founding

Donor Fund 1984

Acknowledgements (clockwise from top left): Maringka Baker Anmangunga 2006 Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 136.5 x 202.5 cm. Courtesy of Art Gallery of South Australia. Featured in Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial developed and toured by the National Gallery of Australia. © Maringka Baker | Mavis Ganambarr Basket 2006 (detail) Pandanus fibre, natural dyes, fibre string 48 x 38.2 cm (diameter). Photo: Peter Eve | Belinda Winkler Swell Slipcast ceramic vessels, dimensions variable. Photo: Phil Kuruvita | The Ngurrara Canvas painted by Ngurrara artists and claimants coordinated by Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency, May 1997, 10 x 8 m | Anne Zahalka The Bathers 1989 type C photograph 74 x 90 cm

www.arts.gov.au/visions

Contemporary Touring InitiativeA wide range of Australian collecting institutions and other organisations can apply for funding to develop and tour contemporary Australian visual arts and craft exhibitions.

The program guidelines are now broader and we encourage eligible institutions and organisations to apply for funding.

Closing date: Check our website

The program guidelines and application form can be obtained from: www.arts.gov.au/visions

Email: [email protected] Phone: 02 6275 9519

The Contemporary Touring Initiative is managed by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia Program.

Visions of AustraliaA national touring exhibitions program making high quality cultural exhibitions accessible to more Australians.

Closing dates for funding applications:

1 April for projects commencing on or after 1 September that year.

1 September for projects commencing on or after 1 February the following year.

Program guidelines and applications forms can be obtained from www.arts.gov.au/visions

Email: [email protected] Phone: 02 6275 9517

The Visions of Australia program is administered by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

The Contemporary Touring Initiative aims to:

Australian visual arts and craft;

through quality publications, education and public programs and fora held as part of the touring exhibition; and

between funded organisations and collecting institutions.

Funding is available to assist eligible organisations to develop and tour exhibitions of Australian Cultural Material across Australia.

‘Australian Cultural Material’ is material relevant to Australian culture due to its historical, scientific, artistic or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander significance which:

organisation.


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Invite your friends and family to sample award-winning wines, fresh regional produce and spectacular views at a vineyard cafe or restaurant in the stunning rural surrounds of the ACT. Grab a Canberra District Wineries Guide, tour some of the region’s best wineries and enjoy delicious food matched with cool climate wines — but be sure to leave plenty of room in your car for gourmet treats!

For a copy of the Canberra Holiday Planner or the Canberra Gourmet Guide call 1300 554 114 or visitcanberra.com.au

tour some of the region’s best wineries and enjoy delicious food matched with cool climate wines — but be

The Canberra

region is a great

destination for food

and wine lovers

Picture Picture Picture yourself in yourselfyourselfyourselfyourselfyourself in yourself in yourself in yourselfyourselfyourselfyourselfyourselfheaven!

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Depuis 1849Excellence et Indépendance

Proud supporter of the National Gallery of Australia and official French Champagne Partner of the Post Impressionist: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay art exhibition.

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Proudly sponsoringMcCubbin: Last Impressions

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National Gallery ofAustralia Package

Per night. Extra night $192.00.Subject to availablity. Extra person $25.00.

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4 DEC 2009 – 5 APR 2010 • CANBERRA ONLY

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The Canberra Times is the leading source for news, the arts and lifestyle and home to Canberra’s premier arts magazine, Panorama. Every week, The Canberra Times tantalises readers with the Food&Wine lift-out.

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Packages available

Vincent van Gogh Starry night 1888 Musée d'Orsay, Paris © RMN (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

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Vincent van Gogh Starry night (La nuit étoilée) 1888 oil on canvas Musée d’Orsay, Paris© RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

3 December 2009 – 5 May 2010Love touches us all. Discover stories of love and longing in time of war. Explore the emotions felt by couples – the pain of separation, the grief of loss and the great joy of reunion.

Free entryOpen daily 10 am – 5 pm(Closed Christmas Day)www.awm.gov.au

FACING ASIAHISTORIES AND LEGACIES OF ASIAN STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY

National Gallery of Australia, CanberraSaturday 21–Sunday 22 August 2010

A symposium on early Asian photographers and their studio practices and cross-cultural photographic exchanges in the Asia—Pacific region.

Presented by the Research School of Humanities, Australian National University and the National Gallery of Australia.

Call for papers Abstracts required by 24 February 2010. For details see rsh.anu.edu.au/events/2010/facingasia or contact Dr Luke Gartlan, University of St Andrews, e: [email protected], or Ms Gael Newton, National Gallery of Australia, e: [email protected]

A shop like no other! From Friday 4 December, the National Gallery of

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Don’t miss out on treasures inspired by the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition and the sumptuous exhibition catalogue as well as

a diverse range of fabulous books for adults and children.

National Gallery of Australia Shop | Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2600

T (02) 6240 6420 | E [email protected]

Emerging Eldershonouring our senior Indigenous artists from the national collection

Until 14 June 2010CANBERRA ONLY NGA.GOV.AU

Harry Tjutjuna Wangka Tjukurpa (Spiderman) 2007 (detail), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2008


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