Vale: Tim Klingender

QAGOMA joins with the Australian arts community to mourn the recent unexpected passing of Tim Klingender DC. Over the course of a formidable decades-long career, Tim specialised in the secondary Aboriginal art market in Australia, then London and Paris, and more recently to great success in America. He was known for his ethical stance and…

Vale: John Olsen

John Olsen AO OBE (1928-2023), who was one of Australia’s last great post-war landscape painters, has died at the age of 95. For more than 60 years Olsen’s name was synonymous with his lyrical depictions of the Australian landscape and its natural inhabitants that greatly contributed to a vision synonymous with this country. QAGOMA farewells…

Vale: Graham Burstow

The Gallery acknowledges the passing of Queensland photographic artist Graham Burstow OAM. Born in Toowoomba in 1927, Burstow was initially self-taught, but later took instruction as a member of the Camera Club Movement. Working on black-and-white film, he was a subject-driven social documentarian with a keen lens for every-day Australians. A foundation member of the…

Vale: Robert MacPherson

When Robert MacPherson AM died, on 12 November 2021, aged 84, Australia lost one of the most important artists of his generation. What made his contribution so remarkable was the way in which he translated the arcane languages and modes of contemporary art, particularly those of conceptualism and minimalism, into images and objects that formed…

Vale: Mervyn Moriarty

The sad announcement of the passing of Mervyn Moriarty (1937–2021), one of Australian art’s national treasures, in November, was felt by many Queenslanders. A genuine pioneer and generous spirit, Moriarty passionately believed that art education had the potential to change lives — that it was a fundamental human right, no matter in which far-flung corner…

Vale: Kumantje Jagamara

With great sadness, we acknowledge the recent passing of Kumantje (Michael Nelson) Jagamara AM (b.c.1946-2020). One of the foremost champions of the Western Desert painting movement, Kumantje was a dynamic innovator of Papunya’s second wave of painters, known for creating evocative newforms to portray his ancestral inheritance, He was also a deeply respected Warlpiri/Luritja Elder…