The conservator’s public image is most likely of someone cleaning an old painting with a cotton wool swab in a studio with classical music playing. However, art conservation — particularly contemporary art conservation — calls for an innovative and creative approach to the unique challenges presented by contemporary art display. Preparing fragile and complex art…
Continue reading » “Getting ready for bed: Contemporary art conservation”
Nearly three metres long and two across — and gilded entirely in gold leaf — the imposing frame for George Romney’s 1771 painting, Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse, Melpomene (illustrated) is a time capsule of framing fashions, repairs and interventions. QAGOMA is presently the only gallery in Australia with a framing studio where experts both restore and make…
In 1940, William Dobell (1899-1970) returned to Australia after ten years in Europe. He completed The Cypriot (illustrated) that same year, a portrait of his friend Aegus Gabrielides. Was it the first major painting he produced, and what is the mystery behind the work? RELATED: The life and art of William Dobell DELVE DEEPER: The…
Continue reading » “The Mystery behind William Dobell’s ‘The Cypriot’”
George Wishart (1872-1921) was born in Brisbane and was taught painting by Isaac Walter Jenner, Brisbane’s foremost marine painter (illustrated below). Wishart also worked professionally as a photographer and was associated with local firm Thomas Mathewson Photographic Studio (see contemporary depictions of Brisbane below). Wishart’s painting A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897 is…
Continue reading » “Go back in time to a busy corner of the Brisbane River”
In 1957, artist James Gleeson, then art critic at The Sun newspaper, wrote that the paintings of Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) would never last.1 Reputedly using whatever materials came to hand within his itinerant lifestyle, the paintings of Fairweather are renowned as much for their fragility as their beauty, and this is part of their appeal.…
Continue reading » “Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve Ian Fairweather’s paintings”
As conservators caring for a range of paintings in the QAGOMA collection, we began to notice that some contemporary paintings on pre-primed canvases do not always behave predictably during conservation treatments. This, combined with questions from artists, led us to a three year collaborative project with colleagues in Singapore and Melbourne to assess the range…
Continue reading » “Investigating Contemporary Artist Canvases”
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.