Vale: Sydney Ball

Adelaide-born abstract painter Sydney Ball (1933–2017) passed away in March, Ball moved to New York in 1962 where, through his studies, he was exposed to the rise of Abstract Expressionism, rubbing shoulders with Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning. Returning to Australia three years later, he helped to bring…

Margaret Preston’s ‘NSW and West Australian banksia’

NSW and West Australian banksia 1929 is one of a number of paintings by Australian artist Margaret Preston (1875-1963) in which she used the floral still life to bring attention to the natural world and landscape as a way of expressing place and the notion of ‘home’. The distinctive organic forms of the banksia and…

Inge King and Bea Maddock: Respected figures in Australian art

The recent passing of Inge King AM, and Bea Maddock AM saw the loss of two significant and highly respected figures in Australian art. We commemorate these great women in the Collection. Inge King Ingeborg Viktoria (Inge) King AM (1915–2016) was a leading non-figurative sculptor in Australia for more than five decades. Born in Berlin,…

Inventive colour: The art of Grace Cossington Smith

Grace Cossington Smith (1892–1984) was one of the most inventive colour painters to emerge from Australia’s first wave of modernism in the early decades of the twentieth century. After growing up in Sydney’s northern suburbs, in 1914 Cossington Smith moved with her family to the Turramurra residence that would become her lifelong home and the…

Ben Quilty captures strength, fragility, trauma and resolve

Ben Quilty’s striking portrait Sergeant P, after Afghanistan 2012 was acquired through the 2014 Foundation Appeal with generous support from Foundation members and donors, including a lead donation from the Returned & Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch). Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial in the role of official war artist, Quilty spent three weeks…

Lee Mingwei ‘Bodhi Tree Project’: An ambitious living artwork

Every year as part of Brisbane’s Buddha’s Birthday Festival, members of Chung Tian Buddhist Temple perform a special blessing ceremony on the front lawn of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), to honour a tree descended from an ancient Bodhi Tree at the site which gave birth to Buddhism. Bodhi Tree Blessing, 2015 Just over…