We take a look at William Dobell’s The Cypriot 1940 (illustrated), a portrait of his friend Aegus Gabrielides which is a strange and complex painting with an equally intriguing history. The Gallery’s painting is the last of six known portraits of Gabrielides by Dobell (1899-1970) over a period of several years. RELATED: The life and…
The Hermannsburg School of watercolour painting is the longest continuing contemporary Aboriginal art movement, spanning the period from the mid 1930s to today. This important movement was established at Ntaria (Hermannsburg) before moving to Alice Springs, 125 kilometres to the east. Here, the families of the original painters have continued the tradition, living and working…
Continue reading » “Arrernte Watercolours integral in the Namatjira story”
Albert Namatjira (28 July 1902 – 8 August 1959) was a Western Arrernte-speaking Aboriginal artist from the MacDonnell Ranges, west of Alice Springs in Central Australia. His Western-style landscapes, different from traditional Aboriginal art, made him a celebrated pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art in the 1950s and the most famous Indigenous Australian of his generation.…
The story of Judy Watson’s tow row transcends its physical form and speaks of cultural retrieval and community activation. This stunning work, generously funded by the Queensland Government, the Neilson Foundation, Cathryn Mittelheuser AM and others, is a fitting acknowledgment of the ancestor spirit of Kurilpa. Public art has the power to change the cultural…
Albert Namatjira occupies a significant place within Australian art history, being the first widely recognised Indigenous artist. His work Western MacDonnells c.1945 was the first by an Aboriginal person to enter the QAGOMA Collection in 1947. The Hermannsburg School art movement that began at the Lutheran mission of Hermannsburg in Central Australia in the 1930s,…
Australian artist Margaret Preston (1875-1963) is best known for the striking paintings and woodcut prints that she produced from the 1920s until the 1950s. Bridge from North Shore c.1932 (illustrated) is a bold and decorative work and a fine example of the artist’s style during this period. Like the floral still-lifes the artist produced at…
Continue reading » “Margaret Preston’s bold and decorative work”
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.