Anzac Square, Brisbane & the beach

For Anzac Day this year, we focus on Palms, Anzac Square, a work depicting Brisbane’s Anzac Square looking towards the War Memorial by Betty Quelhurst (17 September 1919-2008). We also profile this and other Brisbane landmarks by Quelhurst in the Gallery’s Collection alongside contemporary photography for an artists viewpoint. Focusing on recording life in Brisbane…

Go back in time when Bowen Terrace was an unquarried cliff

George Seymour Owen’s (1844-1921) watercolours provide an accurate record of the early heritage of Brisbane and the Moreton Bay area. House under Bowen Terrace, Brisbane 1889 (illustrated) of a cottage in inner-city Bowen Terrace, is a detailed representation of a home in the young township of Brisbane. The watercolour shows the unquarried cliff along which…

Go back in time to 1928 when Brisbane was a growing city

On display in the Queensland Art Gallery’s Australian Art Collection, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries (10-13) Brisbane townscape 1928 (illustrated) by William Bustard (1894-1973) depicts a growing city in a construction boom establishing itself as a state capital. We look over rooftops toward Queen Street from Edward Street, to the City Hall clock tower…

Laying down the lines: Isaac Walter Jenner’s underdrawing

The oil paintings of Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902) are executed in a fine and detailed manner which invite close and careful viewing. Like many artists, Jenner used sketching or ‘underdrawing’ to develop subjects beneath oil paint layers. Here, we highlight the artist’s style and detail some of the discoveries found when we look at Jenner’s…

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

We delve into a major reframing project for prominent Queensland ornithological artist and taxidermist Anthony Alder’s (1838-1915) painting Red-tailed Black Cockatoos c.1895 currently on display in the Queensland Art Gallery’s Australian Art collection. Anthony Alder (Standing 3rd from the right) DELVE DEEPER: Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’ The oil on canvas Red-tailed…

Step back in time to Brisbane’s pioneering days

This watercolour (illustrated) is a preparatory sketch for the oil painting Slab cottage, Bowen Hills 1894 (illustrated). Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902) was interested in the picturesque subject rather than Brisbane’s impressive commercial and public buildings that were already embellishing Queen Street, the main thoroughfare of the city of Brisbane (illustrated). ‘Sketch for ‘Slab cottage, Bowen…