Finding joy in small things

Grace Cossington Smith’s artworks are a reminder that joy is all around us. In her hands, an array of objects, the fold of a tablecloth or light falling through stained glass inspire delight and open windows onto her world. We look to the paintings of Cossington Smith who found pleasure in the things about her.…

Loma Lautour: A rebellious spirit

Known for her versatility as an artist, her work ethic and her unconventional lifestyle, Loma Lautour is an eccentric and engaging personality in Australian art history. Living a bohemian existence in Sydney’s artist community during the 1920s and 30s, she established herself as a talented sculptor, jeweller, modeller, printmaker and craft-worker. Loma Lautour Loma Kyle…

The allure of the savage beauty of Belle-Île

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the fierce wildness and ‘savage beauty’ of Belle-Île, the small island off the coast of Quiberon in Brittany, France, exerted a powerful attraction to creative artists of a late-romantic temperament. Delve into why Belle-Île’s temperate climate, magnificent coastline, and 60 beaches became a magnet for Australian impressionist…

Ian Fairweather: Life lines

The QAGOMA Research Library holds a collection of letters, photographs and other memorabilia relating to the famously reclusive artist Ian Fairweather, who spent the last two decades of his life in a hut on Bribie Island. A new book Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters from Text Publishing compiles several hundred of Fairweather’s letters, which…

Objects have conversations

As the first guest artist for the Open Studio project at the Queensland Art Gallery, John Honeywill was invited to select artworks from the QAGOMA collection through which to share insights into his practice. As we continue our Open Studio series, we delve into this still life artist and his interest in the relationships between…