Category: Art Conservation

The textile designs of Olive Ashworth: A unique Queensland style

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   25 Jun 2018

Queensland textile designer Olive Ashworth (1915–2000) made a major contribution to Australia’s visual culture. Authors and academics Nadia Buick and Madeleine King have explored the works of this local artist , whose stunning designs are part of the Australian collection. Ashworth was born in Brisbane and educated at Somerville House. After the death of her…

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William Dobell, Australia 1899-1970 / The Cypriot 1940

William Dobell’s ‘The Cypriot’ shares its secrets

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   31 Oct 2017

William Dobell (1899-1970) is an artist recognised for his portraits and for often embellishing his sitter’s appearance to draw out their most distinctive traits. The model for The Cypriot 1940 was Aegus Gabrielides, a Greek Cypriot waiter who worked in a London café frequented by Dobell and his fellow Slade School students in the 1930s. Go…

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Go behind-the-scenes as we clean ‘Evening (Mt Coot-tha from Dutton Park)’

Posted by Kate Wilson   ●   16 Sep 2016

F.J. Martyn Roberts painting Evening (Mt Coot-tha from Dutton Park) 1898 is an important Brisbane landscape so a six month project carrying out a delicate conservation treatment to clean and restore this work was scheduled. Due to the aging process of the upper varnish layers, and the restoration treatment that had taken place before the painting…

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Anthony Alder’s ‘Heron’s home’

Posted by Glenn R Cooke   ●   14 Jul 2016

Once a prominent colonial Queensland artist, Anthony Alder (1838-1915) and his works had all but vanished from public memory until, in 2011, his descendants’ estate was offered to the State Library of Queensland. Here, we reintroduce you to one of his works in the QAGOMA Collection Heron’s home 1895.  Heron’s home: Before Conservation Art history…

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Lyrical Lines: Examining two Drawings by Charles Blackman

Posted by Samantha Shellard   ●   19 Jan 2016

The preparation of artworks by Gallery Conservators for the exhibition ‘Lure of the Sun: Charles Blackman in Queensland‘ offered an opportunity to observe Blackman’s deliberate selection of certain materials and techniques to depict his subjects. This exhibition explores Blackman’s formative relationships with Queensland artists and writers that were pivotal in his development as one of Australia’s…

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