The watercolour The bark hut on the plain, Darling Downs, Qld., Mount Sturt from Glengallan c.1850s by Conrad Martens (1801–78) provides new insights and connections to the colonial history of Queensland’s Darling Downs. In late 1851 the Sydney-based painter Martens arrived in Brisbane from Sydney via sea, and for the next few months travelled on…
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Robin Gibson’s vision of Brisbane celebrating its powerful river changed the face of the city’s South Bank waterfront, and his award-winning design for the Cultural Centre enabled the Queensland Art Gallery to host major national and international exhibitions, including ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT). In this tribute by Michael Barnett, we honour…
Sidney Nolan’s Platypus Bay, Fraser Island 1947 (illustrated) is an important work from this series, one of the works from Nolan’s 1948 exhibition at Brisbane’s Moreton Galleries, it allows QAGOMA to tell, in greater depth, the significant part that the state played in Nolan’s artistic development. In July 1947, Nolan travelled to Brisbane, eager to…
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The major installation work Heritage, a ‘last paradise’ inspired by Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island, moves visitors with the symbolism behind the work. On first encountering Cai Guo-Qiang’s 2013 installation, many visitors gasp in awe and surprise, a visceral response that is at once sensory and emotional. While many contemporary works of art evoke a sense…
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Edmund Rosenstengel, the most highly regarded furniture maker in Brisbane from the 1920s to the 1950s, provided the benchmark of excellence in his field for several generations. This acquisition, purchased for the Collection with the generous assistance of Valmai Pidgeon, AM, is a piece that Rosenstengel made for himself. Edmund Rosenstengel (1887–1962) was born in Toowoomba,…
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This magnificent Presentation vase 1864 is the most important example of Victorian silver in the Gallery’s Collection. Its elaborate decoration is unlike anything produced in the Australian colonies, though the beautifully cast and chased kangaroos and an emu (as well as a camel) around the base suggest that it was commissioned with an Australian connection…
Continue reading » “Marks on Hunt and Roskell’s ‘Presentation vase’”
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.