Private Collectors, Public Benefactors: Ian & Judeen Airey

Benefactors of the Gallery for 25 years, Ian and Judeen Airey recently raised the Collection’s holdings created by Japan-based French artist Paul Jacoulet from one work to 28. Here, the Aireys share something of themselves and their approach to collecting, and giving, with the wider Gallery community. Paul Jacoulet ‘Une belle de Palaos’ 1935 Paul…

Birds of Passage: The influence of travel & cross-cultural experience

‘Birds of Passage’, a display in Queensland Art Gallery’s Philip Bacon Galleries opening 24 February 2024, sees the works of artists Ian Fairweather and Paul Jacoulet illustrating the influence of travel and cross-cultural experience on their respective works. In bringing together these artists, the Gallery celebrates the power of cultural exchange in creative practice. ‘Birds…

Fairy Tales: Life at the margins

In the world of the fairy tale, witches and crones are not the only characters who generate mistrust and fear — ‘others’, outsiders and so-called misfits pushed to the margins of society, figure prominently in many tales. In these stories, people living outside the norm are branded as villains or monsters. The Beast from ‘Beauty…

Bundaberg Post Office: Then (1891) & Now

Although the artist of A view of the new Post Office & School of Arts, Bourbong St. Bundaberg from Barolin St., Augt. 1st 1891, Queensland 1891 (illustrated) is unknown — like the artists of many images of nineteenth century Queensland — the watercolour quite possibly by an architectural draftsman, is significant in showcasing the growing…

The Shahnameh: Persian miniatures

The Gallery has acquired ten miniature paintings from a volume of the Shahnameh, or ‘Book of Kings’, by the Persian poet Abu’l Qasim Firdausi (935–1020CE), the epic poem captures the lives and stories of the ancient Iranian kings, from the creation of the world to the Arab conquest of Iran in 642.1 The Shahnameh —…

Rosalie Gascoigne: An alternative form of art making

Rosalie Gascoigne (25 January 1917–1999) first came to public attention in the mid 1970s through her installations and boxes of found objects. She is best known, however, for her wall-based assemblages, which brought diverse materials from everyday life into new frames of reference. Gascoigne worked with items that had been discarded and left to weather,…