In his political sonnet England in 1819 the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) described King George III (1738-1820) as “an old, mad, blind, despised and dying king”. Working some 20 years prior the unknown maker of the patchwork Coverlet with King George III Reviewing the Troops 1803-05, held a very different, although no…
Continue reading » “Popular Prints and Patchwork in 18th – 19th century Britain”
Following the opening weekend of events and the first bustling weeks of ‘Quilts 1700-1945’, I feel like it’s a good time to sit down with a cup of milky English breakfast tea and describe how this extraordinary exhibition of historic British textiles has come together over the past few weeks. In the lead up to…
Continue reading » “Take a walk through historic British textiles 1700-1945”
Death and Life: rakuny ga walnga focuses on the universal regenerative cycle of death, engendering new life. Included are more than 70 bark paintings, memorial poles, sculptures and weavings by 34 artists from Arnhem Land in northern Australia. The works reflect the languages, moieties, clan affiliations and connections of the artists with their country: from…
Sue Prichard, Curator of Contemporary Textiles at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (V&A), curated the V&A’s highly successful 2010 exhibition ‘Quilts: Hidden Histories, Untold Stories 1700–2010’ and is the curator of the Gallery’s ‘Quilts 1700–1945’. She was in conversation with Sally Foster, Assistant Curator International Art (pre 1975) QAGOMA. Sally Foster | Sue, can…
From June until late October, the Gallery presents its largest exhibition of contemporary Indigenous Australian art, which aims to facilitate what Carly Lane describes as a ‘truly national conversation about nationhood’. Celebrate the opening weekend on Saturday 1 June by enjoying a day of discussions, workshops and talks by artists, performers, writers and curators ending with with…
In 2011, curator Robert Leonard, summed up Michael Zavros’s art practice in an erudite article for the journal ‘Art & Australia’. It is often said that Zavros’s subject is beauty itself, but it is, more generally, symbols of status. His canon of beauty is aspirational – keyed to notions of privilege, tradition and the faux-aristocratic…
Continue reading » “Everything, beautiful or not, is fleeting.”
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