The horse: Companion & muse

The horse has been a integral part of human history for millennia, prized both for their agility, speed and endurance, or strength needed to pull a plow or a carriage full of people. However improved transportation options towards the end of the 1800s, especially the construction of railways, and the development of new mechanical innovations…

Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’

Large scale paintings from Queensland’s Colonial period are extremely rare. Currently on display in the Australian Art Collection (Gallery 10, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries) at the Queensland Art Gallery is an oil painting that has recently been conserved while research into a replica frame have brought it back to its former glory. This…

Step back to an earlier time when Brisbane was named after a river

The Brisbane River and Moreton Bay have continually shaped south-east Queensland’s history. From the time of the First Australians for the Turrbal and Jagarra people, the river, known as Maiwar, has been a meeting place, a highway and a source of food. A critical conduit for early settlement and subsequent industry and development, the winding…

North by North-West: Journey across the Northern Territory

Through generations of artistic tradition from the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, journeying south to Ntaria (Hermannsburg) and sweeping across the southern Gibson desert, the exhibition ‘North by North-West’ at the Queensland Art Gallery traces the distinctive regional flavours that speak to both ancestral narratives and current social concerns. The recognisable customary Tiwi style, Jilamara,…

Go back in time when artists travelled to Lone Pine for inspiration

We look back to when Brisbane’s Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was established in 1927 by the Reid family as a safe refuge for sick, injured, and orphaned koalas, it was the first such sanctuary of its kind, beginning with just two called Jack and Jill, since then it has grown from these original koalas to…

Ian Fairweather, Gethsemane 1958

Gethsemane: Ian Fairweather’s masterwork

In his lifetime, Ian Fairweather (29 September 1891–1974) — one of Australia’s greatest artists who painted some of his most celebrated works here in Queensland, on Bribie Island — created two masterworks relating to stories of Christ’s life: the occasion of Christ’s birth which he painted in 1962, titled Epiphany (illustrated), purchased by the Gallery…