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nga.gov.au

14 July – 16 October 2006 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Michael Riley Wiradjuri/Kamileroi peoples Untitled from the series cloud [cow] 2000 printed 2005 chromogenic pigment photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Michael Riley, Licensed by VISCOPYImants Tillers installing Terra incognita 2005 at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2005

The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government agency.

2 Director’s foreword

4 Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre

8 Revolutionary Russians: Commemorating the centenary of Shostakovich

16 The crafted object 1960s–80s

24 The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art

28 New acquisitions

42 James Turrell changes the shape of the sky

45 Travelling exhibitions

46 Abracadabra: the magic in conservation

50 Tribute: Gela Nga-Mirraitja Fordham c. 1935–2006

52 Tribute: Micky Garrawurra 1940–2006

54 Development office

55 Access services: Making a difference

58 Faces in view

contents

Publisher National Gallery of Australia nga.gov.au

Editor Eve Sullivan

Designer Sarah Robinson

Photography Eleni Kypridis Barry Le Lievre Brenton McGeachie Steve Nebauer John Tassie

Designed and produced in Australia by the National Gallery of Australia Printed in Australia by Pirion Pty Limited, Canberra

artonview issn 1323-4552

Published quarterly: Issue no. 47, Spring 2006 © National Gallery of Australia

Print Post Approved pp255003/00078

All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The opinions expressed in artonview are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

Submissions and correspondence should be addressed to: The editor, artonview National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 [email protected]

Advertising (02) 6240 6587 facsimile (02) 6240 6427 [email protected]

RRP: $8.60 includes GST Free to members of the National Gallery of Australia

For further information on National Gallery of Australia Membership contact: Coordinator, Membership GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 (02) 6240 6504 [email protected]

front cover: Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh, India Lakshmi Narayana 10th–11th century sandstone National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

artonview

2 national gallery of australia

Behind the scenes, we are working on the reconfiguration

of the main level gallery spaces opening in late October as a

chronological survey of late nineteenth-century and twentieth-

century international art focusing on the School of Paris, Dada

and Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism

and Conceptual Art. These movements are of course crucial

to the careers of many noted Australian artists whose work

will be presented in context here for the first time. The new

international displays present a broad range of media – paintings,

sculpture, prints, drawings, illustrated books, photography and

the decorative arts, including our Ballet Russe costumes. It is

hoped that these displays will generate a new interest in, and

understanding, of our collection strengths.

Meanwhile, our temporary exhibitions program continues

unabated, with the extraordinary contemporary survey exhibitions

of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley (on display until 16 October).

The exhibitions are supported by the new National Gallery of

Australia Council Exhibition Fund, led by the enthusiastic and

tireless advocate Rupert Myer, Chair of the Gallery Council. We

also thank the Michael Riley Foundation for assisting with the

research and organisation of the Michael Riley exhibition and

publication, and the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative for

assistance with research and loans.

Michael Riley: sights unseen and Imants Tillers: one

world many visions present two very complementary points

of view. Acclaimed Indigenous photographer and film-maker

Michael Riley’s searingly poetic images present an alternative

to conventional icons of Christianity, reflecting what he has

described as the ‘sacrifices Aboriginal people made to be

Christian’. In contrast, Imants Tillers, a second-generation

Australian artist of Latvian descent, perhaps more than any

other Australian artist living today, demonstrates the cultural

legacy and condition in which locality fails to entirely address

what constitutes our cultural identity.

This issue of artonview launches The crafted object

1960s–80s and the dynamic Revolutionary Russians, featuring

works from the collection across a broad range of media,

and also previews our major summer blockbuster exhibition,

Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the

afterlife. The coming months will be very exciting for the

Gallery as we redirect attention to the exceptional strengths of

the National Collection and our ongoing program of changing

major exhibitions.

Ron Radford Director

director’s foreword

The Gallery is beginning to look different. And we will see more

changes over the next six months. Last month we finished the

first complete cleaning of the building’s outside walls. Ugly

stains have been removed and the building looks immaculate.

Inside, we have commenced a relighting program that will

eventually show all of our display galleries literally in a new light.

Old, unsightly and inconsistent fittings will be replaced under

the supervision of George Sexton, the world’s leading museum

lighting expert.

On display in the Australian Galleries are two major new

additions. One is Australia’s first Symbolist painting, Charles

Conder’s intriguing Hot wind 1889, an important painting

thought to be lost. We are grateful to the Sarah and Baillieu

Myer Family Foundation for helping us purchase the work.

The other is Sydney Long’s Flamingoes c. 1906, a decorative

art nouveau painting acquired with the generous assistance of

donors through the Masterpieces for the Nation fund.

We are now seeing the beginning of the reconfigured displays

of the permanent collection – the Indian Gallery opened late last

month and the Southeast Asian Gallery opens in September.

While highlights from the Indian subcontinent include newly

acquired second-century Gandharan work from Pakistan and

Afghanistan, and sculptures from Nepal and Bangladesh, most

of the art on display is from present-day India, with spectacular

Buddhist, Jain, Hindu and Islamic works. More than half of the

sculptures and architectural elements have been acquired in the

past eighteen months and some have not been shown before.

The collection of Indian sculptures and architectural structures,

textiles and paintings is the largest and most important in our

region outside India. This display includes a marvellous sixteenth-

century Deccan canopy from the facade of a building (its purchase

generously assisted by Margaret Olley AC) and the Lakshmi

Narayana featured on the cover of this issue, an excellent example

of the kind of figure imagery that adorned medieval temples in

central India. Narayana (which means ‘universal abode’) is one of

the many emanations of Vishnu, the ‘preserver’ and maintainer of

cosmic order, an appropriate icon for these unsteady times.

The new Southeast Asian Gallery emphasises our strengths

in sculpture and textiles from Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar,

Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Asian neighbours. It also features

new major acquisitions, particularly early ancestral animist works.

On show in our old downstairs Asian Gallery is the rare and

wonderfully preserved early sixteenth-century Japanese painted

folding screen from the Muromachi period, a recent gift of

Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett and the National Gallery of Australia

Foundation. As outlined in my Vision for the National Gallery

of Australia (available at nga.gov.au/Vision), while the arts of

Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent are the main focus of

the national Asian collection, we are also committed to developing

a small but high quality North Asian collection.

artonview spring 2006 3

credit lines

Donations James Andrew

Roslynne Bracher

Charles Curran AC

Ashley Dawson-Damer

Penelope Evatt-Seidler

Richard and Maryan Godson

Andrew Gwinnett

Lee Liberman

Myer Foundation

Brian O’Keeffe AO and

Bridget O’Keeffe AM

The Sarah and Baillieu

Myer Family Foundation

Margaret Hannah Olley

Art Trust

Roslyn Packer

Maxine Rochester

Andrew Rogers

Catherine Rossi Harris AO

Rotary Belconnen

John Schaeffer AO

Raphy Star

Patricia Stephenson

Gifts American Friends of the

National Gallery of Australia

Avril Burn

Eduardo Campaner

Chris Canning

Tony Coleing

Robyn Daw

Barrie Dexter

Blair Gardner

Jonathan Hope

James and Joan Kerr

Darani Lewers

Klaus Moje

Robert McDougall

Donald Moffatt

Ron Radford AM

Dorothy Reid

Jill Richards

Patricia Sabine

Carmen Scott

Stills Gallery and the Freedman

Foundation in memory of

Linda Slutzkin

John Thompson

Alathea Vavasour

Grants Australia Council for the Arts

Visions of Australia

Masterpieces David Adams

Ross Adamson

Antoinette Albert

Robert O Albert AO

Robert Allmark

William Anderson

Susan Armitage

Stuart Babbage

Peter and Dorothy Barclay

Peter Boxall

Robert Brennan

Christine Burgess

Esther Constable

Lyn Conybeare and

Christopher Conybeare AO

Ann Cork

Greg Cornwell

Elizabeth Coupland

Debby Cramer Research

Services

James Cruthers

Lyn Cummings in memory

of Clement G Cummings

David and Laurie Curtis

Joan Daley OAM

Kathy Davis

Winifred Davson MBE

Barbara Dickens in memory

of Mairie Pender

Peter Eddington

Jacqueline Elliott

Pauline Everson

Florence Fane

Joyce Fildes OAM in memory

of Eleanor Fildes

Brian Fitzpatrick

Jane Flecknoe

R and A Fleming

Friends of Cowra Art Gallery

Neilma Gantner

Pauline Griffin AM

Joyce Grimsley

June P Gordon

William Hamilton

Vi Harding

David Healey

Elisabeth Heard

Shirley Hemmings in memory

of Anthony Reis

Janet Hine

Keith Hooper

Claudia Hyles

Father Jack

Susan Jardine

Christopher Johnson

Judith Johnson

Pamela Kenny

Peter Kenny Richard Kingsland AO CBE DFC

and Lady Kingsland

Judy Laver

Paul and Beryl Legge-Wilkinson

Bernard Leser

W and H Lussick

Judith MacIntyre

Jenny Manton

Margaret Mashford

Patricia McCormick

Simon McGill

Jean McKenzie

Paul McKeown

John Middleton QC

Eveline Milne

Kathleen Montgomery

Nance Atkinson Trust

Susan Neumann

W Newbigin

Angus Paltridge

John Parker

Lee-Anne Patten

SV Plowman

Lady Praznovszky

Susan Rogers

Alan Rose AO and Helen Rose

K Saxby

Gisella Scheinberg OAM

S Schonberg

Heather Shakespeare

Dick Smith AO and Pip Smith

Elizabeth Smith

Wendy Smith in memory

of Robert Bruce Smith

Ann Somers

Lady Synnot

Elizabeth Tanner

Kenneth Taylor AM and

MH Taylor

Sue Telford

Noel Tovey

HN Truscott AM

Morna Vellacott

Elizabeth Ward

Joy Warren OAM

Gough Whitlam AC QC

and Margaret Whitlam AO

Stephen Wild

Yvonne Wildash

I Wilkey

Muriel Wilkinson

Lady Wilson

Robine Wilson in memory

of Donald Edward Wilson

Donna Woodhill

Sponsors Boomalli Aboriginal

Artists Co-operative

Casella Wines

Forrest Inn and Apartments

Harvey Norman

Westfield Woden

Michael Riley Foundation

Saville Park Suites


This summer in Canberra the Australian public will

have the opportunity to see an extraordinary collection

of art and artefacts from one of history’s most enduring

civilisations. Over two hundred objects will go on show

in an exhibition of Egyptian antiquities from the Musée

du Louvre in Paris. This momentous event is the first

exhibition the Louvre has sent to Australia in nearly

two decades. Many of the works are drawn from the

permanent display of Egyptian antiquities at the Louvre,

while others have never been on public display.

The ancient Egyptians saw life as a continuous

process, in which mortal existence was only preparatory

to the transformation brought by death, a mere shadow

of the delightful world to come. A life lived morally

and in accordance with the Egyptian commandments

would allow a soul to pass through the final gate from

the Underworld to the paradise of the Field of Reeds

after judgment by the god Osiris. The journey between

death and the Hall of Judgement was, however, lengthy

and fraught with danger. The deceased had to set out

equipped with amulets, magical spells and blessings

from the gods. The exhibition draws its narrative from

the Book of the Dead, or what the Egyptians called the

Book of Coming Forth by Day, a compilation of spells and

incantations to secure protection against the perils of the

journey. The manuscripts were often illustrated with scenes

of the stages of the journey, or the rewards awaiting those

who completed it successfully and gained entry to the

Field of Reeds. Visitors will have the pleasure of seeing

a number of these painted papyrus manuscripts in the

exhibition.

Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to

the afterlife will include a broad range of subjects and

themes in a variety of media, showcasing the incredible

skill and virtuosity of ancient Egyptian artists and

for thcoming

Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the afterlife 17 November 2006 – 25 February 2007

Ptolemaic Period, 32nd Dynasty (332–30 BCE)

Funerary chest of Hetepimenplastered and painted wood

Collection Musée du Louvre, Paris Photograph © Georges Poncet, Musée du

Louvre, Paris


New Kingdom, late 18th – early 19th

dynasties (1323–1295 BCE)Fragment of an Osiris pillar

limestone Collection Musée du Louvre, Paris Photograph

© Georges Poncet, Musée du Louvre, Paris


craftspeople. We will see major sculptural works in stone

and bronze, illustrated manuscripts, painted chests and

mummy cases, low reliefs, jewellery, ceramics, and fine

wood carving.

The smallest objects in the exhibition are amulets and

jewels for adorning and protecting mummies, made from

ceramic, carnelian, and other semi-precious stones. An

army of over two hundred faience ushabti figures stand

to attention, ready to act as deputies for the deceased in

the afterlife, performing on his or her behalf any duties

required. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on illustrated stele

invoke the gods to grant favours and safe passage to

donors on their travels through the afterlife to the Hall of

Judgement. Painted scenes on canopic chests and mummy

cases show vignettes from the journey of the dead, as

they travel beyond the mortal realm towards eternal life

with the gods. Lifelike sculptures and mummy portraits

ensure the survival of the physical form, the eyes of the

deceased gazing at us across the millennia. Throughout,

the sublime, impassive faces of the gods watch over

the progress of souls through the rigours of life and the

Underworld’s dangers.

Although ancient Egyptian art is often perceived to

be about death and the tomb, the exhibition shows that

the elaborate funerary preparations and mummification

rituals were actually only the first step on the path to

eternal life. The Field of Reeds was a paradise imagined by

a simple, agricultural society: tilling fertile fields, tending

fat livestock, hunting in a countryside teeming with birdlife

and game, dancing and listening to heavenly music, and

fishing in swollen streams. It was a life like that along the

Nile, but brighter, more beautiful, and more restful, where

magical servants carried out the more tiresome tasks, and

everyone was comfortable and happy. This was not only a

paradise for the upper classes, but also one to which every

Egyptian aspired. Some of the works depict the world

to come; others serve as reminders of it, such as a blue

glazed bowl decorated with the water lilies that symbolise

rebirth and the fecund splendour of the afterlife.

Among the most spectacular objects in the exhibition

are the sarcophagi, coffins and cartonnages – mummy

cases made of linen or papyrus strips held together and

hardened with plaster and resin then covered in painted

decorations. To enter the Field of Reeds, it was not just

necessary for the soul to pass the final Judgement of

the god Osiris. The body must remain intact for the soul

to be reunited with it and these coffins protected the

mummified remains from physical damage. Together

with the accompanying wall paintings, low reliefs and

portrait sculptures inscribed with the names of the

deceased, they also allowed the soul to find and recognise

its body more easily and substituted for it in the case of

loss or damage. One of the most exquisite examples of

painting to be seen in the exhibition is the Cartonnage of

Third Intermediate Period, 21st–22nd

dynasties (1069–715 BCE) Cartonnage of

Djedkhonsouioufankh plastered, painted and gilded

linen Collection Musée du Louvre Photograph ©

Georges Poncet, Musée du Louvre, Paris


Djedkhonsouioufankh, which combines a portrait of the

deceased with a scene in the Hall of Judgment, a variety

of talismanic motifs, and symbols of the afterlife and the

journey of the soul.

Pharaonic culture lasted in ancient Egypt for well over

three thousand years, gradually evolving over this time

as the kingdom was conquered, divided, reunited, and

transformed. The exhibition imparts an understanding

of how these changes affected religious belief and art

production over the millennia, from the Old Kingdom, when

the pyramids were built to Cleopatra, last of the pharaohs,

and the Roman conquest two thousand years ago.

This exhibition of Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre

is unlike any exhibition of ancient Egyptian art and culture

ever seen in Australia. Visitors will gain an appreciation of

Egyptian artistic traditions and the enormous skill of the

ancient hands that fashioned the works on display, and an

understanding of their functional context. Ancient Egypt

holds a perennial fascination, one that this exhibition will

reignite in anyone who has a memory of a school project

on the pyramids, or a first encounter with a mummy on a

museum visit. The exquisite workmanship of the objects

in the exhibition grants the ancient Egyptians their longed-

for immortality, bridging the intervening millennia and

allowing visitors to accompany them on their journey

through the Underworld.

The National Gallery of Australia is proud to be the

first venue to host this outstanding exhibition from one of

the foremost collections of Egyptian art and antiquities in

the world.

Bronwyn CampbellCo-ordinating curator, Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre

Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the afterlife is organised by Art Exhibitions Australia and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, in association with the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Further information at nga.gov.au/Egypt

a

New Kingdom, 18th–20th dynasties (1550-1069 BCE) Funerary pectoral: Isis and Nephthys protecting Kheprigilded wood inlaid with lapis-lazuli, glass and faienceCollection Musée du Louvre, Paris Photograph © Christian Décamps, Musée du Louvre, Paris


2006 marks the centenary of the birth of the great

composer Dmitri Shostakovich. He was born in

St Petersburg on 25 September 1906 into a Russia

racked by revolutionary ferment. In the hundred years

that followed, Russia endured continual upheavals and at

least four revolutions. The first began in 1905 and lasted

until 1907, while the year 1917 saw two in February and

October. As well as the Civil War of 1918 to 1921, the

new Soviet Union saw Stalin’s Great Terror of the 1930s,

then invasion by Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

This was followed by the turmoil of the Cold War from

1945, until a largely peaceful revolution saw the end

of the Soviet Union and its empire between 1989 and

Orde Poynton Gallery

Revolutionary Russians: Commemorating the centenary of Shostakovich23 September 2006 – 28 January 2007

1992. Political and economic dislocation was mirrored by

cultural and artistic advances and retreats, breakthroughs

and stagnation.

In the visual arts, the twentieth century was

distinguished by the adoption of new, modernist visual

languages, especially the multiple images of printing,

photography and film. These are all media where the aura

of one original work is replaced by numerous identical

versions. In Russia the idea of cheap and plentiful art

objects mirrored the ideal of creating a new society, in

fact a new human being: Homo sovieticus. The utopian

idealism of the project lasted only a few years, but the

form continued into the 1970s.

In 1905 the first Russian revolts of the twentieth

century began as the Tsarist regime’s imperial adventure,

the attack on Japan in 1904, began to fail. The shock of

European defeat by an Asian nation was complete: Russia’s

ambitions for a Pacific empire and a warm water port were

crushed, along with its navy, at the Battle of Tsushima

in May 1905. In contrast to the aristocracy’s leisured,

luxurious life, peasants and workers suffered under

appalling conditions, and were joined by the intelligentsia

in opposing the autocratic and incompetent regime. On

9 January a peaceful demonstration at the Tsar’s Winter

Palace in St Petersburg turned into the massacre of Bloody

Sunday when troops fired into the crowd, killing and

wounding more than a thousand people.

In the tradition of the lubok, the coloured folk

woodcut print, and the unauthorised pamphlet, hundreds

of savagely critical illustrated newspapers were published

in the temporary relaxation of censorship when the

government floundered between 1905 and 1907. The

National Gallery of Australia’s collection of 167 issues

includes some harrowing images of the poor, victims of

the Tsar and his three agents (the nobility, the military and

the church). Bloody Sunday altered the view of the Tsar

as protector, the Little Father of the people: Nicholas II

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky October idyll, from Zhupel

[Bugbear] no. 1 1905, reprinted in Pulemet

[Machine-gun] no.1 1905 colour lithograph

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Unknown artist The responsible editor

swallows the amnesty in Maski [Masks] no. 9,

10 April 1906 colour lineblock




was now seen as an oppressor like the others. Radical,

broad, and excoriating in their depiction of the forces of

repression, most surprising perhaps is the hatred the

artists and illustrators expressed towards priests. One

extraordinary image shows a naked woman crucified

– unusual in a prudish culture where nudity was banned

apart from a few high art representations, and where

the Orthodox Church controlled religious discourse.

But a bare-breasted female Jesus? Even now it appears

confronting.

In the years before the outbreak of war in August

1914, Europe was convulsed by modernism in the arts.

Russia was industrialising rapidly, producing a large and

liberal middle class as well as some enlightened patrons.

The painters Kazimir Malevich, Natalya Goncharova and

Mikhail Larionov all produced original lithographic book

illustrations in the style of Russian Futurism. In Gardeners

over the vines 1913, for example, Goncharova develops

the idea of Rayism, where bolts of lines and divided

forms dissect images of the natural world. Radical

verse and writing were accompanied by abstracted

compositions, which could be produced in large, cheap

editions to broadly disseminate radical artistic ideas.

After the Bolshevik Revolution this became state policy,

which would lead to criticism and then suppression of

individual creation.

An upsurge of patriotism which greeted the First

World War produced some extraordinary visual creations,

such as Goncharova’s portfolio War: Mystical images of

war 1914. Symbols of nation states – the white eagle

of Russia and the English lion for example – co-exist

with images of death and destruction: the pale horse;

the doomed city; a common grave. Angels hover but

cannot protect the Russian army. Malevich used the lubok

woodcut style in his jocular, bloodthirsty posters exhorting

the defence of the Motherland, with verse captions by

the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Despite the initial support,

carnage on the front and incompetent military command

led to the liberal February Revolution of 1917. The

Kerensky government’s inability to end the war sparked

the Bolshevik Revolution in October, the victory of Lenin’s

Communist Party and the eventual establishment of the

Soviet Union.

In the first heady days of the Revolution many artists

enthusiastically joined the struggle, especially after

Western Powers, including Britain, France, the United

States and Canada, intervened in the Civil War to support

the White Army. The movement of Constructivism grew

out of the attempt to bring education and modern art to

the masses, through the famous Agitprop trains (agitation

and propaganda travelling in rail carriages), publications,

clothing design, architecture, films and radio. Aleksandr

Natalya Goncharova Vertogradari nad lozami

[Gardeners over the vines] by Sergei Bobrov 1913

colour lithograph Gift of Orde Poynton Esq.

CMG 1993National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra

Olga Rozanova Zaumnaya gniga [Transrational book]

by Aleksei Kruchënykh and Alyagrov 1915

collage, colour linocut National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra



Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Vladimir Tatlin and Gustav

Klucis led attempts to modernise Russia though radical

aesthetics, under the auspices of Narkompros [the People’s

Commissariat for Enlightening] as the Education and

Culture Ministry was called.

Inventive women artists and designers, notable in their

numbers and predominance even before the start of the

First World War, continued to figure prominently until the

1940s. Olga Rozanova, in her Transrational book 1915,

plays with the conventions of the medium itself: the cover

has a button attached to a cut-out red paper heart; inside,

Aleksandr Kruchënykh’s transrational verse is rubber-

stamped at random across the text pages, accompanied by

colour linocuts based on playing cards. Valentina Kulagina’s

striking poster for the Art exhibition of the Soviet Union

1931 shown in Switzerland presents as metaphor for the

building of the new society and pin-up of modern design,

a cylindrical orange-red construction worker.

An odd continuation of Tsarist tradition occurred

through the use of porcelain blanks from the Imperial

Porcelain Factory, founded in St Petersburg in 1744.

Artists, including Wassily Kandinsky, decorated plates, cup

and saucers and teapots in various styles to fit the times.

Sergei Chekhonin’s teapot, My work is my truth 1921,

combines an elegant and animated crimson ribbon with

the flower motifs of folk art, encircled by the emblazoned

slogan. Even under the new order, work of this quality

was too expensive for ordinary people, and such porcelain

remained a luxury for the well-connected or was exported

to sympathisers and collectors in the West.

El Lissitsky was originally a disciple of Marc Chagall

at Vitebsk in the revival of Jewish culture in Russia, made

possible after the Revolutionary government lifted a

Tsarist ban on printing Hebrew letters. He then became

a convert to the pure rationality of Malevich’s abstract

cause, and contributed his considerable talents as a book

and exhibition designer to the service of the Revolution.

Lissitsky went to Germany in 1921 as a surrogate

diplomatic representative of the Soviet Union, which was

not recognised by the Western powers. They imposed

economic, political, military and cultural blockades

against the new Russia after their unsuccessful military

Kazimir Malevich Poster: Nu i tresk-zhe, nu i grom-zhe! [What

a boom, what a blast!] 1915 colour lithograph



intervention in the Civil War from 1918 to 1920. Lissitsky

found artistic confrères in Germany at the Bauhaus, as

well as in The Netherlands, especially Theo van Doesburg

and other Neo-Plasticists. His playful use of red and black

typographic symbols to construct Mayakovsky’s poems in

For the voice 1923 underlines Lissitsky’s combination of

intuition and expertise.

The tall figure and bald head of Mayakovsky haunt

1920s modernism in Russian art and literature. Rodchenko

used him as a subject in the always enjoyable cover

illustrations to Mayakovsky’s poetry pamphlets, his large

head adorning the back covers, his brain with aeroplanes

circling it standing in for the world. They collaborated

on the radical art journal LEF, which stood for Left Front

for the Arts, and its successor, Novy LEF or New LEF.

Rodchenko used the face of Mayakovsky’s muse, Lilya

Brik, for the cover of Pro eto [About this] 1923. It was

the first book ever to be illustrated using photomontage,

and the artist increasingly demonstrated his grasp of the

dynamic and abstract qualities inherent in the medium of

photography.

The Communist Party saw culture as an important tool

in the transformation of society, and controlled it through

state associations such as the Union of Artists and the

Union of Composers. By the end of the 1920s, as Stalin

tightened his grip on power, modernism was seen as

counter-revolutionary and bourgeois, and Socialist Realism

became the only acceptable artistic style. Rodchenko also

worked with Stepanova, his wife, designing books and

journals such as USSR in construction, an ironical title

during this time of great famine, stemming from the failed

collectivisation of agriculture and ideologically-based mass

murders in the Soviet Union from 1930 onwards. It may be

this contradiction, and the betrayal of the original ideals

of the Revolution, which led many artists to withdraw

from the public realm. Rodchenko’s tender, contemplative

Portrait of my daughter 1935, while still using radical

angles and unusual juxtapositions, could hardly claim any

political territory or any Soviet identity.

Musicians, like many visual artists and writers, fell

foul of Communist Party edicts commanding Marxist

optimism and clarity while banning bourgeois decadence.

Sergei Chekhonin Teapot: My work is my truth 1921 porcelain National Gallery of Australia, Canberra


Modernism was seen as incomprehensible to the masses,

and counter-revolutionary in its visual sophistication and

complexity. Film and photography escaped the harshest

strictures, as they could be defended as inherently

narrative and naturalist, if not distorted too far by such

techniques as superimposition and collage. Dmitri

Baltermans’ brilliant snapshot of soldiers in action, Attack!

1941, counterposes the blurred figures of fighters in

motion with focused, static shooters.

As well as its great literary culture, Russia had a

glorious tradition in the performing arts: drama, opera,

ballet, classical music. The latter produced two of the

greatest composers of the twentieth century, Shostakovich

and Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky emigrated to Switzerland

in 1914, returning for a single visit in 1962, while

Shostakovich composed his joyous, serious, frivolous

and profound oeuvre in Russia. As well as his fifteen

symphonies, substantial chamber music such as the

profound string quartets, operas and ballets, Shostakovich

composed more than thirty-five film scores. It is his aural

contribution to the Gesamtkunstwerk of Soviet cinema

which is celebrated in this exhibition.

From the beginning of sound in cinema, Shostakovich

worked with many Soviet directors, especially Grigori

Kozintsev, with whom he spanned his film career from

New Babylon in 1929 to King Lear in 1970. Their finest

collaboration was Hamlet 1964, perhaps the best screen

version of a Shakespeare play ever made. It is only rivalled,

visually and for its psychological insight, by their King Lear

1970, with its outstanding acting, photography, direction

and score. Shostakovich supported his family in the early

twenties by playing the piano to accompany silent films.

As well as his many original film scores, his music has

been orchestrated later for the soundtrack of silent film

masterpieces such as Battleship Potemkin 1925, directed

by Sergei Eisenstein, and Man with a movie camera 1928–

29, directed by Dziga Vertov.

Shostakovich died in Moscow on 9 August 1975,

as the Soviet Union he had known for almost all his life

faltered into its last, corrupt, decades. The Revolution

was soon to fail and dissolve. Its main legacy was terrible

loss and destruction, yet some of the original optimism of

trying to build a new society remains in the creations of

revolutionary Russian artists.

Christine Dixon Senior Curator, International Painting and Sculpture

Further information at nga.gov.au/RevolutionaryRussians

Dmitri Baltermans Attack! 1941 gelatin silver photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Aleksandr Rodchenko Back cover of Sergeiu Eseninu [To Sergei Esenin] by Vladimir Mayakovsky 1926 colour photolithograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

a


The crafted object 1960s–80s brings together a

wide range of Australian craft works from the national

collection, many of which were acquired early in the

Gallery’s history and have not been displayed for over a

decade. This exhibition focuses on the period from the

mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, when a revival of studio

craft practices opened up new possibilities for expression

in the visual arts in Australia.

The international revival of studio craft grew from a

number of influences and traditions which had survived

into the postwar period of the 1950s and 1960s. These

centred on the celebration of the handmade and the

unique object in the face of dwindling craft training and

the increased availability of higher-quality manufactured

goods; the successful integration of designers and crafts

practitioners with the industrial process of applied arts

manufacture in Scandinavia; a closer connection between

the work of sculptors and designers in the expression of

organic modernism; and the exposure of craft practice

as a lifestyle choice through popular and professional

architecture and design journals promoted through craft

organisations and societies and museum and commercial

art gallery exhibitions. A major influence in ceramics

was the philosophy and practice of the British potter

Bernard Leach who, with Japanese potter Shoji Hamada,

promoted the appreciation of an Anglo–Japanese

vernacular approach to form and technique.

A younger generation of Australian artists, craft

practitioners and designers began to engage with

these streams from the late 1950s, establishing craft

organisations that would shape agendas for the

integration of craft training, scholarship, marketing

and innovation with the mainstream of the visual

Project Gallery

The crafted object 1960s–80s26 August – 10 December 2006

arts and design industries. It was an area of practice

increasingly promoted and nurtured by the national

craft organisation, the Crafts Council of Australia (later,

Craft Australia) and its affiliated crafts councils in each

Australian state, and supported with the funding and

advocacy of the Australia Council through its Crafts

Board, which was established in 1973. This Board

represented the Australian government’s first formal

recognition of the crafts and operated a number of

programs to support the professional development of

this nascent industry. It developed its own contemporary

craft collection and mounted exhibitions of this work. It

also assisted artists through the purchase of their work

and encouraged and supported state and regional art

galleries to acquire and exhibit Australian craft. The

Board’s programs were a positive response to the large

number of exhibitions of contemporary craft coming

into Australia from overseas in the early 1970s, allowing

Australian audiences to make connections with new

Australian work.

As a result of the Crafts Board’s activities during

the 1970s this substantial collection of contemporary

Australian craft in all media was acquired for inclusion

in nine travelling exhibitions of ceramics, jewellery and

textiles (mounted in the period 1975–83 within Australia

and overseas) that were a central part of its program

to expose and promote Australian craft overseas. The

works in these exhibitions were selected by a number of

institutional and independent curators and experienced

craft practitioners, resulting in collections of objects that

demonstrated a rich and representative cross-section of

contemporary Australian practice.

Alan Peascod Jar 1986 glazed stoneware




In 1980 the Crafts Board of the Australia Council

Collection, by that time comprising 898 works, was given

to the National Gallery of Australia, substantially boosting

its nascent decorative arts collection and providing a

strong foundation for the subsequent acquisition of

contemporary Australian craft. The Crafts Board Collection

remains a rich expression of the most significant period in

the development of Australian craft practice and contains

important early work by most of Australia’s now senior

craft practitioners. As a collection, it is striking evidence

of how a group of interconnected art forms flourished

through government support and patronage, giving

visibility and authority to practices that had previously

been excluded from the lexicon of the fine arts.

The ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery, woodwork,

textiles and leatherwork included in this exhibition

have been drawn extensively from both the Crafts

Board Collection and the National Gallery of Australia’s

own early acquisitions from the mid-1960s to the mid

1980s. They are displayed in thematic groupings to

reflect some of the influences that impacted on the

field during a period of two decades characterised by

enormous social change, design experimentation and the

search for alternative means of visual expression in the

production of functional and sculptural objects. While

this search for a direct expression of material and form

that characterised the craft revival of the early 1960s had

antecedents in the British and American Arts and Crafts

movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth

centuries, its late twentieth century manifestations owed

less to a rejection of industry than to the exposure of a

younger generation of designers and makers to myriad

influences on the nature of object-making.

With increased opportunities from the mid-1960s for

Australians to travel abroad, allowing a maturing, and

design-educated post-second world war generation of

makers first-hand access to the richness and diversity

of the material cultures of Asia, Europe and the Third

World, a broadened dimension of expression through

craft media and techniques entered the repertoire of

Australian craft practice. Traditional modes of training,

skill development and apprenticeship were encountered

and adopted by a number of Australians willing to

subject themselves to such rigours. These experiences

gave many makers a foundation for their own studio

practice and were revealed through hybrid work

(particularly in the area of ceramics) that explored and

combined the qualities of both foreign and Australian

materials, techniques and design motifs. The enduring

ceramic traditions of Japan dominated studio ceramics,

Elizabeth OlahSunrise and shade 1981

sterling silver, 18 carat gold, porcelain and opal

Crafts Board of the Australia Council Collection 1980

Ragnar Hansen Tea service 1982 sterling silver and

ebony National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Marea Gazzard Kamares VII 1972 glazed stoneware

Crafts Board of the Australia Council Collection 1980




allowing Australians to engage with its material culture

through locally-produced objects interpreting the

complexities and subtleties of traditional Japanese firing

and glazing techniques.

The intrinsic uniqueness and material qualities of the

hand-crafted object existed as a counterpoint to the

wider world of art and design from the mid-1960s, from

pop and op art and minimalism to the new design forms

and use of plastics and other synthetics in furniture,

industrial design and fashion. The postmodernist fervour

of architecture and object design from the late 1970s also

encouraged a new appreciation of other design and craft

traditions, such as eighteenth- and nineteenth-century

porcelain, Venetian and Bohemian glass, Victorian

jewellery, art nouveau and art deco design, and those

more broadly determined examples of kitsch and popular

culture. Such traditional modes of expression found new

proponents among Australian craft practitioners who

would expand the stylistic and technical vocabulary of

the crafts through work that offered witty, intellectually

engaging and technically accomplished interpretations of

these styles.

These influences ran parallel to that of Scandinavian

design, which reached its peak of marketing exposure

in Australia during this time. Offering models of rational

production and astute marketing through eloquent

expressions of natural and indigenous materials, the

Scandinavian approach to design (which combined

craft and functionalist traditions with modernist ideals)

provided models for the curricula of Australia’s newly-

developing tertiary craft and design courses. From these

programs emerged a new generation of craft artists and

designers with a thorough understanding of materials

and techniques, allied with a confident approach to

design and the expression of narrative and content in

their work. For instance, the abundance of native woods

in Australia provided a challenge to designers and

woodworkers to exploit their particular qualities while

addressing the rising concern for the preservation of

natural resources. Similarly, much work in ceramics and

textiles addressed environmental issues.

Such discipline encouraged experimentation

with materials and processes not usually associated

with crafts. The increased availability of refractory

metals, high-performance ceramic and glass materials,

synthetic fibres and composites, allied with the skilled

use of high-tech equipment (including the early use

of computers in the design process), gave makers the

confidence to explore new approaches to form, colour

and texture. This was seen particularly in the fields of

jewellery and metalwork, where the use of industrial

materials led to not only new forms and materials for

personal adornment but also a rejection of the values

of the traditional world of commercial jewellery, with

Helmut Lueckenhausen Teraph I 1985 mahogany,

Huon pine and synthetic polymer paint National

Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Mona Hessing Scoop 1972 woven wool construction




its emphasis on prestige and the value of precious

materials. Instead, the body became a site for design

experimentation and a focus for discourse on the nature

of personal adornment and expression.

Engaging with these modes of practice brought

many Australian designers and makers into contact with

overseas institutions and colleagues, building professional

relationships that resulted in visits to Australia from well-

known and experienced artists to undertake residencies

and workshops, hold exhibitions and participate in

conferences. Some stayed, or came specifically to take

up teaching positions, injecting new approaches to

training while developing their own work to reflect their

experience of Australia. In turn, Australians began to find

opportunities to travel and work overseas, undertaking

research and developing their skills for extended periods

on grants from the Crafts Board of the Australia Council.

The travelling exhibition programs of Craft Australia

and the Crafts Board offered numerous opportunities

for Australian participants to travel with exhibitions and

represent their fields of practice, while organisational

affiliations with international craft organisations such

as the World Crafts Council facilitated dialogues for

Australian delegates on broader issues in the field.

Such expanded horizons helped Australians to frame a

view of their own contribution and to begin to define

what qualities characterised Australian craft and design.

For the first time, through direct experience of works

in exhibitions and their publication in specialist and

established art and design journals, Australian crafts

began to be seen and evaluated in an international

context by audiences with few preconceptions of an

Australian style.

The twenty years from 1965 to 1985 were

characterised by radicalism, social upheaval and change,

generational conflict, the exploration and politicisation

of gender issues, war and global concerns for the state

of the environment, all fuelled by increased access to

information and the accelerating availability of new

technologies. While the revival of the slower and

more introspective modes of craft practice may have

seemed escapist in the face of such global urgencies,

its intimate and individual nature allowed a number

of artists to use it as a form of protest, satire and

subversion. Feminism, for instance, opened up modes

of critical inquiry into what had been categorised and

marginalised as women’s craft, politicising materials,

techniques and approaches to production. In Australia,

the Vietnam war, Indigenous rights, the rise and fall of

the Labor government (under which the Australia Council

had developed its programs of support for the crafts),

ecological concerns and environmental activism, gay

Frank Bauer Neckpiece 1977 18 carat gold and

stainless steelCrafts Board of the Australia

Council Collection 1980National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra

Klaus Moje Uriarra 1985 fused and kiln-formed glass

Purchased from Gallery admission charges 1988



politics and outright larrikin humour were all subjects for

craft practitioners to investigate and enjoy through work

that was unconventional, sometimes impractical and

often deliberately garish and grotesque. Pride in popular

culture, allied with a revival of interest in the vernacular

(from traditional trades, bush crafts and handicrafts to

overt expressions of Australiana subjects and motifs in

the decorative and applied arts) broadened the historical

frame of reference for craft practitioners.

The experimental and adventurous atmosphere that

surrounded the crafts during this twenty-year period

opened new pathways of inquiry to many practitioners,

encouraging many to forge unique expressions that

would find their way into public collections and, as

a result, into the wider world of the visual arts. The

National Gallery of Australia, along with most state

and several regional art galleries, developed important

collections of craft from this period, providing a greater

public access to the new work being produced across the

country. A new generation has matured since most of

the works in this survey were produced, yet there is little

understanding of the critical role that these works and

their makers played in redefining Australian decorative

arts and design. This exhibition offers a reassessment

of the work of the period and encourages a generation

born since the 1980s to engage with ideas that redefined

notions of the role of craft in the interpretation of the

a

Australian experience. That role has broadened since

the mid-1980s, much of it through the later and current

work of many of the artists whose work is shown in

this exhibition, as well as the work of their younger

contemporaries. Their contribution to defining the most

important period of craft and design innovation in the

history of Australian decorative arts is beginning to be

more widely understood and opens stimulating avenues

of inquiry for researchers and collectors alike.

Robert BellSenior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design

Further information at nga.gov.au/CraftedObject.

Stephen Benwell Sculptural piece 1979glazed stoneware, underglaze painted decorationCrafts Board of the Australia Council Collection 1980 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Margaret Dodd Holden with lipstick surfboards 1977 glazed earthenware National Gallery of Australia, Canberra


collection focus

The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art introduces the

richness of the region’s art practice in all significant

media over more than a millennium. From its roots in the

veneration of ancestors and the spirits of nature, through

the great classical Hindu Buddhist epochs and the far-

reaching influences of Islam and Christianity, Southeast

Asian art in the national collection reveals the vibrancy

and eclecticism of the region’s cultures.

Even before the Australian National Gallery opened

to the public in 1982, the art of Southeast Asia had

been a key focus of the Gallery’s collecting strategies, an

indication of a developing awareness, post the Second

World War, of Australia’s geographic location. Over the

past three decades, a rich, diverse and unique collection

has been established. With its relocation to the entrance

level, following the new installation of the art of the Indian

subcontinent, the Southeast Asian displays celebrate

exciting new acquisitions and revitalise old favourites,

The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art

including works most recently seen in the exhibitions

Sari to Sarong and Crescent Moon. Through objects in a

wide range of materials – wood, textile, bronze, gold and

paper – enduring themes important to Southeast Asia’s

art, culture and traditions are explored in the context of

active engagement at a crossroad of culture, trade and

exchange. The national collection is particularly strong in

sculpture and textiles from the region.

Buddhist and, to a lesser extent, Hindu sculpture

from Cambodia, Thailand and Burma has long been

at the heart of the Gallery’s Southeast Asian sculpture

collection. The enlightenment of the historical Buddha

Shakyamuni has remained a popular theme in Southeast

Asian Buddhist art. The Gallery holds a number of

sculptures of the Buddha seated with his right hand

reaching down to touch the ground, capturing the instant

when Shakyamuni calls on the Earth to witness his victory

over the temptations of Mara. Related images depict the

Enlightened Buddha, protected from a fierce storm by

the serpent king as he meditates. These key events in the

life of the historical Buddha are among those succinctly

narrated in the temple hangings and canopies from

Cambodia and Burma. Aniconic imagery of the Buddha

includes the huge recently acquired seventeenth-century

Burmese stone footprint inscribed with 108 symbols

relating to the Buddha.

Hindu images on display in the new Gallery range

from a rare eleventh-century gilded bronze figure of the

god Shiva from Angkor-period Cambodia to nineteenth-

and twentieth-century manuscripts, embroideries and

silk brocades illustrating narrative scenes from local

versions of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the

Mahabharata, from Bali, the only remaining Hindu culture

in Southeast Asia. Textiles from the Gallery’s world-

renowned collection of textiles illuminate the regional

variations in artistic styles, especially across the Indonesian

Tanimbar islands, south Moluccas, Indonesia

Ceremonial pendant and clan heirloom [masa] 19th

century gold alloy, cinnabar; beaten metal, repousse


Khmer people, Cambodia or Thailand Buddha

Shakyamuni under the serpent’s hoods late Angkor

period (12–13th century) stone




archipelago where they have survived as heirlooms,

alongside valuable Indian cloth traded into the region over

many centuries.

Recent acquisitions, however, have strengthened

the representation of ancestral and animist art from the

Southeast Asian region. While animist traditions predate

Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, and the

powerful influences of trade, particularly with India, China

and Europe, they have continued to coexist with the

world religions. On display are wooden ancestral figures,

architectural elements for clan houses and tombs, objects

used by village priests in magical rites, and textiles whose

creation and designs can be linked to the ancient beliefs

related to fertility and renewal. These works range from

the rice guardian bulol figures of the Ifugao people of

the northern Philippines to a funerary spirit figure in the

form of a bird from upland Vietnam. The symbolism of

prestigious and mythical composite creatures such as the

buffalo and dragon is similarly associated with protection

and abundance. Also central to Southeast Asian ceremony

are elaborate gold ornaments – earrings, headdresses and

pectorals – which serve as markers of rank, as well as clan

heirlooms and items of bride-wealth. In exhibiting metal

objects alongside textiles, the displays emphasise the

dualism of male and female elements in Southeast Asian

cosmological beliefs, where the hot sharp male arts of

smelting and carving are ritually paired with the soft cool

textile skills of women.

Since its arrival through trade with the Arab world, India and China almost 800 years ago, Islam has been a significant force in the art of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as Muslim communities of Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam. Arabic calligraphy and the importance of the divine written word for spiritual, talismanic and symbolic purposes in Southeast Asia’s Islamic art is not confined to religious texts, such as the

Gallery’s Qu’ran from Borneo, but also adorns cloth, stone, wood and metal. The wide-ranging impact of international trade and design evident in the region’s arts encompasses Chinese mythical beasts such as the mythical

qilin unicorn and phoenix, floral chintzes and fairy tales from Europe, and Mughal niches, elephants and tigers from India and Central Asia.

The Gallery of Southeast Asian Art provides a unique

opportunity for visitors to experience the rich and diverse

artistic achievements of Australia’s northern neighbours.

From the inception of the national collection in the 1960s,

Southeast Asian art has been central to the Gallery’s

vision of Asian art. The launch of the new Southeast Asian

displays in late September will celebrate and demonstrate

this long commitment to the great art traditions of

Southeast Asia.

Robyn Maxwell, Melanie Eastburn and Hwei-Fen CheahAsian Art

a

Toba Batak people, Sumatra, Indonesia Priest’s container for magical potions 19th century water buffalo horn, wood National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Battambang region, Cambodia Buddhist temple hanging or canopy [pidan] late 19th century silk, natural dyes; weft ikat National Gallery of Australia, Canberra


With thanks to the generosity of Andrew and Hiroko

Gwinnett and the National Gallery of Australia Foundation,

an extraordinary pair of Japanese folding screens has

recently entered the Gallery’s collection. Painted around

1550, Pine trees by the shore is a rare example of an intact

pair of screens from such an early date. More often only

single screens survive from this period.

Called byobu, or ‘protection from the wind’, in

Japanese, screens are an integral part of Japanese

interior space – designed to serve as room dividers

as well as objects of beauty. Painted screens were

frequently commissioned by wealthy patrons and

embellished according to their tastes and position, and

whether the screens were intended for public or private

use. Certain subjects appealed to particular audiences at

different times but land and seascapes remained popular

over the centuries.

The subject of pine trees by the shore, known as

hamamatsu, has a long history in Japanese painting.

The pine tree [matsu] is a symbol of youth and longevity.

The theme is thought to have come to prominence in

the landscape painting of the Heian period (794–1185)

and continued to be fashionable in the centuries that

followed. It is, however, the Muromachi period, when the

Gallery’s screens were painted, with which hamamatsu

scenes are most closely associated. The oldest known

extant screen showing pine trees by the shore is a single

screen from a fifteenth-century pair in the collection of

the Tokyo National Museum. Despite being produced at

a time of war and upheaval, the art of the Muromachi

period was vibrant and innovative.

Pine trees by the shore is a vibrant scene of horses

amongst the pines beside an inlet. The right screen shows

horses galloping into the picture, becoming quieter with

each panel: by the fourth panel they are reclining. The

exuberant entrance of the horses is balanced on the

left screen by a small group of intricately painted boats

returning from fishing. Inspection of the boats reveals the

crew of two of the vessels struggling with the full sails,

while another craft heads to shore. There are two small

new acquisition Asian Art

A 16th-century Japanese screen Pine trees by the shore


salt-preparing huts on the shore and in the distance, on

the other side of the river, two larger buildings appear

amongst a grove of trees.

Beneath clouds and undulating mountains, the

flowing water wends across both screens. Painted in blue

and white mineral colour accented with mica and gold

dust, it appears to sparkle through the twisted pines,

some needles of which have been embellished with

silver. The rich gilding on these screens has been applied

to create particular effects. The sky, for instance, is

ornamented with gold leaf glitter and torn pieces of gold

leaf while the clouds were constructed using rectangular

sheets of gold.

Pine trees by the shore is an exceptional work of

art and a marvellous addition to the Gallery’s small but

treasured collection of Japanese art.

Melanie EastburnCurator, Asian Art

Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573) Pine trees by the shore c. 1550 pair of six-fold screens; ink, gold and colour on paper Gift of Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett and the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, 2006



Many of the most admired aspects of Indian art in

museum collections were originally created as elements

of temple and palace architecture, although their gallery

display rarely illuminates that role. The acquisition of

a set of large Indian architectural elements, through

the generous support of well-known Australian artist

Margaret Olley, has prompted the National Gallery

of Australia to recreate some of the glory of Indian

architecture. The bold effect distinguishes the new

Asian galleries, both in terms of creating an evocative

atmosphere for Canberra visitors to enjoy the art of

India and by contributing to the uniqueness of the Asian

displays, which are quite distinct from those of the

Australian state galleries. Erected in the foyer near the

entrance of the newly relocated Asian galleries, where

they echo the concrete vaulting of Colin Madigan’s

architecture, this series of massive teak brackets and

corbels is over two-and-a-half metres tall, supporting six-

metre-long lintels.

From the Deccan region of central India, their

elaborate wood carving displays the fusion of Hindu and

Islamic imagery that was to characterise architectural

decoration in many areas of the Indian subcontinent

during the rule of the great Mughals. The design of these

brackets evokes the sinuous serpentine form, with vestigial

eye circles, of the mythical makara widely found in Hindu

temple architecture. The intricate layers of geometric detail

and foliate pendants and arabesques on the brackets

and lintels, however, reveal the strong Islamic character

of the arts of the Deccan. The sculptures have been

radiocarbon dated to 1450–1600, a period coinciding with

the establishment of the Mughal Empire throughout India.

(Akbar the Great reigned 1556–1605.) Although parts

Deccan region, India Architectural brackets and lintels 1450–1600 wood

Purchased with the assistance of the Margaret Hannah Olley

Art Trust 2006 National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra

of the Deccan were never fully conquered, the wealthy

sultanates of the Deccan plateau had a long history of

Islamic contacts and cultural influences, first through

trade. The resulting style features complex ornamentation

widely found on the region’s elaborately worked stone

and wooden architecture, of which the Gallery’s wooden

brackets and lintels are fine examples.

Because of the size of the architectural elements,

the Gallery has divided them into two groups of three

brackets, with corresponding corbels, and two lintels

– one set flagging the entrance to the Asian galleries,

while inside another group towers imposingly above the

sculpture, creating niches within which are displayed small

paintings and textiles. The installation of this amazing

structure has been a complex and major undertaking for

the Gallery. In the original architectural setting, the heavy

brackets, smaller interconnecting corbels and the long

lintels resting atop were marvellously stable, held together,

without nails, by gravity and tongue and groove fittings.

In their new permanent home, reinforced walls and steel

fittings have been added for safety reasons. This, however,

only encourages our admiration for the art of Indian

traditional architecture. The Gallery is very grateful to the

Margaret Hannah Olley Art Trust for generously assisting

the Gallery with its purchase of this exciting acquisition.

Robyn MaxwellSenior Curator of Asian Art

Monumental wooden architectural elements from the Deccan region of India


The Gallery recently acquired a magnificent sculpture

from the Solomon Islands, a wooden post from a

ceremonial house. It is carved in the form of a naked

man with earrings and armlets, who stands on the head

of a bent and crouching smaller man. The main figure

is topped by the body and tail of a large shark, flanked

by two bonito. The sculptor retains the original tree

trunk’s cylindrical form, while establishing a rhythm of

masses up and down the work that also contrasts and

differentiates the front from the back. Earthly and divine

creatures are combined to produce a work of great

mana, the spiritual power desired by humans.

Geographically, the Solomon Islands consist of a

chain of islands stretching from Bougainville (politically

part of Papua New Guinea) south-east to Vanuatu,

between the South Pacific Ocean and the Coral Sea.

Culturally, the Solomon Islands are divided between

coastal fishing people and inland farmers, with distinct

spiritual beliefs. Art was a reflection of the beliefs which

underpinned everyday life, not an activity undertaken

for its own sake. Men were the carvers of wood,

women the makers of textiles.

The post was created, probably more than a hundred

years ago, on the small volcanic island of Owa-Raha,

which lies at the south-eastern tip of San Cristobal,

making it the southernmost island of the Solomon

Islands chain proper. Owa-Raha, also known as Santa

Ana, is 18 square kilometres in area, with a population

new acquisition Pacific Arts

Solomon Islands Post from ceremonial house

of 1,600. Before their recent conversion to Christianity,

the people of Owa-Raha centred their religion on the

bonito (Katsuwonus pelamis), large fish similar to tuna.

The scholars Douglas Newton and Hermione Waterfield

in their 1995 study Tribal sculpture explain that bonito,

‘being the vehicles and manifestations of the gods, were

sacred; therefore fishing, and everything associated with

it, was sanctified.’

Ceremonial houses were used to keep boats and

also for men’s meetings and initiations. ‘They were

the centers of ancestral reverence: model canoes and

large carvings of bonito were kept in these houses as

shrines for ancestral skulls. They had much the same

architectural grandeur [as New Guinea houses]; their

roofs were supported on huge posts carved with

full-length figures of bonito, sharks, and ancestors’,

according to Newton and Waterfield. The Gallery’s

work, recorded in France in the middle of last century,

originally stood on a pole of two metres or more, under

the protection of an overhanging roof.

The house post from the Solomon Islands

exemplifies the best art of Melanesia and the Solomon

Islands. It is an extraordinary and powerful sculpture,

which will serve to highlight the Gallery’s renewed

commitment to the prominent place of Pacific art in

its collection and displays.

Christine DixonSenior Curator, International Painting and Sculpture

Solomon Islands, Owa-Raha (Santa Ana)

Post from ceremonial house c. 1900 height 128 cm wood National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra


34 national gallery of australia34 national gallery of australia


Created in southern India in the 11th century, this bronze

sculpture shows the formidable Hindu goddess Auspicious

Kali, or Bhadrakali, seated in front of a trident, the sides of

which curve inwards to meet the central tine. According to

the Kamika Agama, a text of the time, the prongs of the

trident represent purity, activity and lethargy.

Bhadrakali is one of the many manifestations, both

creative and destructive, of the Great Goddess Devi.

Wielded by the Great Goddess in cosmic conflict, the

trident is also closely associated with the god Shiva who

uses the weapon to free the human soul from burden.

Shiva has several shaktis, divine female counterparts,

including Bhadrakali, Kali, Durga and Parvati, who are also

regularly depicted with tridents. Bhadrakali’s connection

with Shiva is further indicated by the other attributes she

shares with him – the sacred thread that crosses her body,

the knotted snake above her breasts and the crescent

moon in her flame-like hair.

Like the fangs extending from the corners of her

mouth, Bhadrakali’s four arms emphasise her supernatural

qualities. One hand is raised in a gesture of protection

and reassurance while each of the others holds an object

associated with the goddess – a noose, a trident (one tine

of which is broken) and a bowl made from a human skull.

Made using the still widespread lost-wax or cire

perdue technique of metal casting, the trident with

Bhadrakali was made during the Chola dynasty (9th–

13th centuries), a period of Indian art renowned for

extraordinary sculpture in bronze. Fine tridents such as

this were produced for use in ritual rather than battle.

The base supporting the trident and goddess is hollow,

allowing the sculpture to be attached to a pole and carried

in temple festival processions. The sculpture’s slightly

worn appearance is due to ritual bathing and anointing by

Hindu priests and devotees, with substances such as milk,

honey and ghee, purification practices which continue to

occur in many Indian temples.

Melanie EastburnCurator, Asian Art

Trident with Auspicious Kali

Tamil Nadu, India Chola dynasty

(9th–13th centuries) Trident with Bhadrakali

11th century bronze National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra


The Gallery has recently acquired a major nineteenth-

century symbolist painting by Charles Conder, Hot wind

1889. Painted during the great Victorian drought of

1888–89, the work had been taken by Conder to England

in 1890 and had disappeared for many years from

public view. It was documented in numerous accounts in

Conder’s time and subsequently became one of the great

mysteries of Australian art history. The rediscovery of the

Hot wind 1889 in a private collection fills an important

gap both in our understanding of Conder’s output and in

the history of Australian art.

This evocative painting caused quite a stir when it

was first shown. In a letter of 1889 Conder wrote that

it represented the harshness of drought. The femme

fatale breathing smoke from a burning brazier across

the parched desert plains towards a distant town aptly

symbolises the spectre of drought. The eerie effect is

heightened by the powerful emptiness of the space

and the serpent that moves in towards the mysterious

personification of drought. Conder wrote that he felt

this work was one of the best paintings he had done.

new acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Charles Conder Hot wind

His friend Arthur Streeton was also impressed and

delighted by the way that the design broke with tradition.

The emphasis in the Hot wind is on symbolist

evocation: on light and heat, sensual beauty and danger.

The pale, bleached shimmering tonality of the foreground

landscape is also characteristic of some of Conder’s best

works. The cumulative elements of this painting reflect

the artist’s own passions: his love of theatrical expression,

his intense imagination, his familiarity with contemporary

symbolist trends in Europe, his feeling for the Australian

landscape and his profound awareness (as a result of the

death of his brother and personal illness) of our human

mortality.

We are indebted to the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Family

Foundation for their generous assistance in acquiring

Hot wind, a work that is arguably the most important

of Conder’s group of allegorical paintings and that will

greatly strengthen the national collection.

Deborah HartSenior Curator, Australian Painting and Sculpture

Charles Conder Hot wind 1889 oil on board Purchased with the assistance of the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Family Foundation 2006 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra


new acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Fred Williams Saplings

Fred Williams Saplings c. 1961 oil on board


Fred Williams is one of Australia’s greatest landscape

painters. He created a highly original way of seeing the

Australian countryside based on his experience of the

landscape around Mittagong to the Dandenong Ranges,

and the southern coast of Australia to the Pilbara region

of the north-west. The Gallery’s recent purchase, Saplings

c. 1961, is a vibrant, sensuous painting presenting a view

of a sapling forest from close quarters. The tall trees are

cut off above and below, so they float in the picture plane

without sight of earth or sky and almost merge one into

another. They are so pared down that they have no leaves

or limbs. But despite this – or perhaps because of it – we

feel the very physicality of the central blond tree trunk as

if we could reach out and touch it. Williams has conveyed

the density of a sapling forest, the sense of being engulfed

within a mass of trees as an image for meditation, for

soaking the self into.

In Saplings Williams showed that he was interested

in portraying nature in a new way – in merging a

contemporary concern with abstraction, flat surfaces

and gesture with an ongoing interest in figuration. He

demonstrated his fascination with subtleties of tone and

colour and with rich painterly textures – from nuances of

dusky greens and blues to the daring addition of a velvety

black with a wedge of vibrant red.

Williams painted this work in 1961, at a time when he

was working with extraordinary concentration and energy.

At this time he also produced a large number of etchings

and gouaches in which he focused on the trunks of closely

grouped trees, reducing his images to semi-abstract

vertical lines. In these works, as in Saplings, Williams did

not just create an impression of a particular place, the

surface appearance; he also conveyed something about

the character of the bush that is absolute and enduring.

Anne GrayAssistant Director, Australian art


Curators are often asked to view works of art from private

collections, which sometimes bring unexpected surprises.

It was just such a chance encounter that enabled the

Gallery to acquire its first work of art by Arthur Merric

Boyd: a watercolour, Gathering seaweed before the storm,

Sandringham Beach 1900, which comes to us in its original

gold mount and frame.

Grandfather of Arthur Boyd, Boyd Senior was an

important artist of the Federation period and he and

his wife, Emma Minnie Boyd, also an accomplished

watercolourist, were to found one of Australia’s most

famous artistic dynasties. Boyd had an early introduction

to plein-air painting through his school teacher, the British

artist Thomas Wright, a founding member of the Victorian

Academy of the Arts. At the National Gallery School, Boyd

was introduced to Louis Buvelot’s tonal impressionism

and the French Barbizon School. He exhibited with the

Heidelberg School of Australian Impressionists at the

Victorian Artists Society and often accompanied Charles

Conder on sketching sojourns.

new acquisition Australian Prints, Drawings and I llustrated Books

Arthur Boyd Senior Gathering seaweed before the storm, Sandringham Beach

Arthur Boyd Senior Gathering seaweed before the storm, Sandringham Beach 1900 watercolour on paper National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Arthur and Minnie Boyd were drawn to the seaside

suburbs of Melbourne’s Port Philip Bay, where they

lived. Boyd’s love of the sea inspired many of his oil and

watercolour paintings and, in his later watercolours in

particular, he sought to capture the effects of light on

water. Gathering seaweed before the storm, Sandringham

Beach is filled with transparency and light, giving the

scene a quiet energy. On a seaweed-strewn beach a

small figure coerces his struggling horses to hasten their

pace. The forces of the gathering storm overshadow

their efforts as the rain-drenched clouds roll in and a

lightning flash illuminates the late afternoon sky. A flock

of birds are caught in a gust of wind and tea-trees bend

in compliance to the approaching storm. Boyd’s fondness

for the landscape and his respect for the labours of the

worker struggling against the forces of nature are the

overwhelming elements of this wonderful watercolour.

Anne McDonaldCurator, Australian Prints and Drawings


Trent Parke is a self-taught photojournalist who began

working for newspapers in the early 1990s after a career

as a professional cricketer. In June 2003 he became the

first Australian photographer to be accepted into Magnum,

the renowned photo-agency founded in 1947. Members

voted to accept Parke as an associate member in 2005

with his submission of Minutes to midnight, a portfolio

of images drawn largely from a road trip around Australia

in 2003–04 made with partner Narelle Autio (also an

award-winning photojournalist). For this work Parke was

also awarded the prestigious W Eugene Smith Grant in

Humanistic Photography. The Minutes to midnight project

was sparked by a 2003 newspaper survey that Parke read

in which it was reported that the majority of those asked

believed that an era of Australian history was coming to an

end and that the nation had lost its innocence.

Parke set out on his own journey of discovery and,

unlike those who practised conventional photojournalism,

embraced the personal in the final portfolio with images

such as Narelle, six months pregnant, swimming in a

billabong, curled like a baby in the womb; and the birth of

new acquisition Australian Photography

Trent Parke Minutes to midnight

Trent Parke Backyard swingset, Queensland 2003

from the portfolio Minutes to midnight 1999–2004 gelatin silver photograph


his son Jem. Parke has written:

The camera helps me to see. When I was young

my mother died suddenly of an asthma attack,

from that day on I questioned everything

around me, life, death and our reason for

being. Forever searching.

Poetic and moody, Minutes to midnight offers a dark,

even apocryphal, reading of contemporary Australian

society. The depiction of often small, private moments are

emblematic of events of global significance and of how

Parke, representative of his generation, feels about his

place in the world.

Parke’s work is at the forefront of a new approach

to photojournalism which allows greater inclusion of

the subjectivity and aesthetics characteristic of ‘art’

photography. His work is a reflection of how the genre

has continued to evolve and become a potent force in

contemporary photographic practice.

Anne O’HehirAssistant Curator, Photography


new acquisition International Photography

Documentary photographers can make specimens of the

rich and rally concern for the poor and powerless but

often miss seeing their own social milieu as an exciting

subject. After spending almost a decade photographing

the disadvantaged and disenfranchised – the prostitutes of

Bombay, sufferers of HIV/AIDS and so on – internationally

known contemporary photographer Dayanita Singh turned

instead in the early nineties to photographing Indians from

her own social class living in the big cities. The photo-

editors in the West to whom Singh first showed these

images refused to believe that they were indeed taken in

India, a country that they viewed as exotic and other, or

as the site of disasters. It was a reaction guaranteed only

to steel Singh’s resolve. ‘There are many versions of India’,

she has argued, ‘and this is mine’.

Drawing upon a wide-ranging knowledge of the

history of both portrait painting and photography, Singh’s

images are composed with an almost academic precision,

but also allow for the unpredictability and uncontrollability

of the moment captured on camera. Someone hurries

unawares through the back of the shot. One of the

women engages with the photo-making process in the

expected way, not smiling it is true, but staring into the

lens. But what of the younger woman sitting to have her

photograph taken? Eyes closed, she has unexpectedly

disappeared into her own private world. The image

becomes so much more than the sum of its parts: it

becomes a site for the imagination, a mystery.

Singh explores her own relationship with the sitters:

their hopes and vulnerabilities in being photographed;

the relationships of the sitters to each other – depicted

through closely observed body language; and our

relationship with the places we inhabit, how our

environments become emblematic of who we are.

Anne O’HehirAssistant Curator, Photography

Dayanita Singh Sybil and Sunanda, Calcutta 1997 gelatin silver photograph NGA Photography Fund: Farrell Family Foundation National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Dayanita Singh Sybil and Sunanda, Calcutta


new acquisition International Prints, Drawings and I llustrated Books

A major figure in French art, Edgar Degas is renowned

for his portrayal of contemporary Parisian life in the

latter half of the nineteenth century, reflected in his

scenes of the racetrack, the café, the orchestra, the

opera ballet, the café concert and brothels. His art also

became increasingly intimate, informal and radical in its

composition and execution.

The lithograph of Mademoiselle Bécat aux

Ambassadeurs [Mademoiselle Bécat at the Café

Ambassadeurs] 1877–78 is an important example of

Degas’ embrace of modernity and his technical virtuosity.

Mademoiselle Emélie Bécat was a significant figure in

the world of the café concert in Paris. The café-concert

evolved in the 1840s, and it was made popular during the

Exposition Universelle of 1867. These open air concerts on

the Champs-Elysées proved very popular, especially during

the summer heat. Cafés, such as the Café Ambassadeurs,

Alcazar, Eldorado and Le Bataclanes, were places of

pleasure in the centre of Paris. One contemporary wit,

Gustave Coquiot, commented that `the repertoire of

the café-concert is almost entirely composed of those

concerns which arise below the belt’. Mademoiselle Bécat

made her debut at the Ambassadeurs in 1875 and she

was a sensation. Degas had previously made drawings

and monotypes of Mademoiselle Bécat performing. She

is shown here singing with gusto, arms raised and in full

voice, before her adoring public seated in the dark in the

foreground.

Degas was a great collector of art and a particular

favourite was the work of Honoré Daumier. For this

lithograph Degas has drawn from the style and technique

of the French caricaturist, composing the view from

the orchestra pit, lighting the performer from below,

scraping back the surface of the inked stone to create the

lights, including the spectacular chandelier, and adding

lithographic crayon to emphasise form.

Degas did not make large editions of his prints: in

fact some remained unique. He did, however, produce

approximately fifteen impressions of this work, now

almost all in public institutions, which suggests the

composition was a favourite of his.

Jane KinsmanSenior Curator, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books

Edgar Degas Mademoiselle Bécat at the Café Ambassadeurs

Edgar Degas Mademoiselle Bécat aux Ambassadeurs

[Mademoiselle Bécat at the Café Ambassadeurs] 1877–78

lithograph The Poynton Bequest, 2005



Here is an empty seat in an unknown garden, inviting us

to spend time in contemplation. An etched blossom keeps

company with precious droplets of moonstone; it could

be spring, and yet there remains an unsettling, wintry

undertone. The monochromatic soft greys infuse the

work with a certain pensiveness, even melancholy, that

encourages reminiscences.

German artist Bettina Speckner uses unusual

juxtapositions of photographic imagery and materials,

which she then places within formal settings that refer

to historical jewellery and metalwork traditions. The

elegant simplicity of this box evokes the Arts and Crafts

Movement from the late nineteenth century, yet it frames

a recent photographic image taken by the artist. This

apparent contradiction of form and content plays on the

nature of memory and the preciousness of time.

The seemingly capricious placement of the

moonstones on the lid disturbs the smooth symmetrical

surface of the box, interrupting the underlying mood

of nostalgia. The gemstones and the etched flower

motif anchor the two-dimensional image within its

three-dimensional setting, drawing attention to the very

deliberate nature of its construction. Despite her apparent

affection for using portraiture and landscape imagery in

her work, Speckner avoids presenting a straightforward

story. Primacy is given to the object, not the narrative.

The use of photographic imagery is a constant

preoccupation for Speckner, challenging accepted

notions of preciousness and adornment. In this work, the

congruence of traditional forms and materials with the

photo-etched image has resulted in an intriguing object

that resonates with history yet remains deeply personal.

This work was included in the 2005–06 exhibition

Transformations: the language of craft at the National

Gallery of Australia.

Sarah EdgeCuratorial Assistant, Decorative Arts and Design

new acquisition International Decorative Arts and Design

Bettina Speckner Box

Bettina Speckner Box 2000 silver, photo-etched zinc and moonstones National Gallery of Australia, Canberra


James Turrell cast a spell on the evening of Saturday

11 March 2006. A capacity crowd of artists and museum

people, architects and lighting designers, landscape

gardeners, astronomers, Quakers, and other fans gathered

at his public lecture in the Gallery’s James O Fairfax

Theatre. The internationally renowned artist, aviator and

rancher engrossed the audience for nearly ninety minutes

with stories of his upbringing, his creative output and his

philosophical grounding.

We saw intriguing early works, experiments with natural

and artificial light, projections and site-specific installations,

as well as a range of collaborative projects. We were

amused by wry tales of court cases, of human perception,

foibles and follies. And we were captivated by the trials and

tribulations of moving millions of cubic tonnes of earth to

build the spaces, chambers and viewing platforms of his

chef d’oeuvre – the Roden Crater on the edge of a Native

American Indian reservation in the Painted Desert, north-

west Arizona.

From an early reminiscence of being captivated by the

glow of a childhood night light, Turrell told us how he

James Turrell changes the shape of the sky

began to question light and whether darkness is something

to be feared. This developed into an awareness of the ability

of light and perception to influence human emotion. He

realised a desire to work with different types and qualities

of light, wanting the ‘thingness’ of light to predominate in

his work. By way of example the artist illustrated one of his

Shallow space constructions in which natural and artificial

light combine to affect the colours perceived and to adapt

the architectural space occupied by the viewer. The work

appears as if floating on a field of light.

During the 1980s and ‘90s Turrell continued to work on

projects dealing with the perception of natural light but also

developed environments which expose visitors to complete

darkness or isolate an individual within a small, contained

space. His indoor installations were further developed to

feature water, and to dramatically modify internal space.

He also collaborated with architects. His works are Spartan,

quietly elegant and calm. Across the range of his projection

work, installation and land art, Turrell makes use of halogen,

fluorescent, ultraviolet, tungsten and natural light. All his

built environments enhance the senses, causing the viewer

James Turrell Rise 2002 Photo courtesy of the

Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Photographer:

Florian Holzherr.

This is one of Turrell’s Shallow space constructions.

A rectangular false wall is constructed within the

gallery and the combination of artificial light, controlled by a timer, and natural light

which changes over the course of the day, means the

work is never the same

James Turrell East portal in the Roden Crater 2002

Photographer: Florian Holzherr.

The Skyspace, approached by the Alpha Tunnel which

extends for more than a quarter of a kilometre, is

one of a series of chambers within the East Portal.

Viewers are seated on the bench that runs around the perimeter of the space; the

aperture opens onto the bowl of the crater


to experience light in different ways and to ask questions

about its source and origins. A Skyspace has the effect of

altering what we see with our own eyes. In its simplest form

a Skyspace is a viewing chamber without a roof, an aperture

opening out to the atmosphere. Because it relies on light, a

Skyspace works best in the morning and evening, times of

transition between day and night. Initially, much of Turrell’s

work was temporary, in keeping with its ethereal nature.

Increasingly, due to the artist’s growing reputation and the

complexity of the architectural environments conceived by

him, permanent installations have been created all around

the world.

In the period 1977–79 Turrell bought a 1,100 acre site

around a bowl-like volcanic cinder cone near Flagstaff,

Arizona, and began to build the Roden Crater. Turrell’s

plans, developed since the early 1970s, incorporate a series

of underground chambers, tunnels and portals. As a naked-

eye conservatory and the ultimate Skyspace, when complete

the Roden Crater will allow visitors to experience the view of

both the sun and moon, and to see rare celestial alignments.

The Roden Crater has its origins in pre-historic sites, such

as Stonehenge and Mayan temples, and more recently

constructed astronomical observatories, such as India’s

Jantar Mantar of 1727–34. Turrell likens the structure to a

mastaba – an early Egyptian tomb with a rectangular base,

sloping sides and a flat roof – but in its final form the Roden

Crater may be closer to the elaborate pyramid complexes

constructed by the Pharaohs.

Despite having committed huge chunks of time and a

vast quantity of funds to the project, throughout a long and

sometimes painful process, Turrrell’s sense of humour has

never been far away. He presented slides of a bulldozer as

the ultimate artist’s tool and related stories of explaining

his vision to the team: now, he said, ‘we will shape the sky’.

Video footage such as that included in Robert Hughes’ TV

series American Visions 1997 effectively shows the impact

of the earthworks on a viewer’s perception of the sky and

the celestial vault above. Turrell and his team have shaped

and reshaped the volcano rim into an ellipse, restoring

the topsoil to the upper edge so that the exterior of the

structure retains its pristine form. Within the crater, the

artist’s interventions are more dramatic. The completed

work will contain twenty or more viewing rooms with

Wedgeworks, Projection pieces, Space division pieces

and Skyspaces, all composed with a palette of naturally

occurring materials such as black volcanic sand and ochres

assembled from the site, richly-polished stone, bronze and

reinforced concrete. On the north-south axis, moonsets

are experienced, camera-obscura projections of the cloud,

moon and stars witnessed, and future eclipses predicted;

the further one delves into the centre, the rarer the events.

Through the aperture of a Skyspace in the East portal the

sky appears as if painted: who knows what would happen if

one stepped onto the bronze stairs, passed up through the

footlights ... into the infinite?

Lucina WardCurator, International Painting and Sculpture

The National Gallery of Australia is currently in consultation with James Turrell over a Skyspace project to be incorporated into the plans for the extended Sculpture Garden. Thanks to Haines Gallery, San Francisco, for assistance with sourcingimages.

James Turrell at the Roden Crater, September 2001

Photographer: Florian Holzherr

James Turrell Gasworks 1993 Photo courtesy of the

Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Photographer:

Florian Holzherr

From the series of Perceptual cells. The viewer is rolled

through a slit of entry into the fibreglass sphere where a

series of light patterns flash to cause an intense Ganzfeld

a


Constable: Impressions of land, sea and sky Developed by the National Gallery of Australia in partnership with Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Generously supported by Qantas Freight, Network 7 and Indemnity Australia.

Constable: Impressions of land, sea and sky celebrates the art of one of the greatest British landscape painters. It focuses on John Constable as a maker of pictures, and works have been selected to emphasise his art-making processes. nga.gov.au/Constable

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand, 5 July – 8 August 2006

Michael Riley: sights unseen Supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of cultural material across Australia.

Michael Riley (1960–2004) was one of the most important contemporary Indigenous visual artists of the past two decades. His contribution to the contemporary Indigenous and broader Australian visual arts industry was substantial and his film and video work challenged non-Indigenous perceptions of Indigenous experience, particularly among the most disenfranchised communities in the eastern region of Australia. nga.gov.au/Riley

Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, Vic., 16 November 2006 – 25 February 2007

Moist: Australian watercolours Moist is a rare glimpse into the National Gallery of Australia’s extraordinary collection of Australian watercolours. While the title refers to the liquid nature of watercolour, the word ‘moist’ elicits images of an atmospheric, physical or emotional state of being. The watercolours in Moist demonstrate how Australian artists have created visual representations of such states, from the highly figurative to the purely abstract and intensely emotional. nga.gov.au/Moist

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, Vic., 25 July – 24 September 2006

Riddoch Gallery, Mount Gambier SA, 1 December 2006 – 18 February 2007

An artist abroad: the prints of James McNeill Whistler James McNeill Whistler was a key figure in the European art world of the 19th century. Influenced by the French Realists, and the Dutch, Venetian and Japanese masters, Whistler’s prints are sublime visions of people and the places they inhabit. nga.gov.au/Whistler

University Art Museum, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld., 5 August – 1 October 2006

Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, NSW, 15 December 2006 – 21 January 2007

travelling exhibitions spring 2006

Kenneth Macqueen Summer sky c. 1935 (detail) watercolour and pencil on paper Purchased 1965 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © The Macqueen family

James McNeill Whistler Portrait of Whistler 1859 (detail) etching and drypoint National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Stage Fright: the art of theatre (Children’s Exhibition) In partnership with the Australian Theatre for Young People. Supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of cultural material across Australia.

Stage Fright: the art of theatre raises the curtain on the world of theatre and dance through works of art, interactives and a program of workshops conducted by educators from the National Gallery and Australian Theatre for Young People. Worlds from mythology, fairy tales and fantasy characters intended for the ballet, opera and stage are shown in exquisitely rendered finished drawings alongside others that have been quickly executed, capturing the essence of an idea, posture, movement or character. nga.gov.au/StageFright

Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Swan Hill, Vic., 6 October – 26 November 2006

The Elaine & Jim Wolfensohn Gift Travelling Exhibitions The 1888 Melbourne Cup and three suitcases of works of art: Red case: Myths and rituals includes works which reflect the spiritual beliefs of different cultures; Yellow case: Form, space, design reflects a range of art-making processes; and Blue case: Technology. The suitcases thematically present a selection of art and design objects for the enjoyment of children and adults in regional, remote and metropolitan centres that may be borrowed free-of-charge. nga.gov.au/Wolfensohn

Red case: Myths and rituals and Yellow case: Form, space and design

Coffs Harbour City Gallery, Coffs Harbour NSW, 10 July – 24 September 2006

Burnie Regional Gallery, Burnie, Tas., 9 October – 17 December 2006

Blue case: Technology Caloundra Regional Art Gallery Tour, Caloundra, Qld., 7 August – 17 September 2006

Children’s Festival, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, 25 September – 8 October 2006

Mosman Art Gallery and Cultural Centre, Mosman, NSW, 7 November – 3 December 2006

The 1888 Melbourne Cup Warwick Art Gallery Tour, Warwick QLD, 5 – 29 October 2006

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Tour, Ballarat, Vic., 1 Nov 2006 – 31 Jan 2007

Exhibition venues and dates are subject to change. Please contact the gallery or venue before your visit. For more information please contact (612) 6240 6556 or email: [email protected].

Sri Lanka Seated Ganesha 9th–10th century (detail) from Red case: myths and rituals National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Karl Lawrence Millard Lizard grinder 2000 (detail) brass, bronze, copper, sterling silver, money metal, Peugeot mechanism, stainless steel screws National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

David Wallace Stockman and horse 1997 recycled materials including wire, fabric, plastic, buttons National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

The 1888 Melbourne Cup (detail) The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Untitled from the series cloud [cow] 2000 (detail) printed 2005 chromogenic pigment photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Courtesy of the Michael Riley Foundation and VISCOPY, Australia

Loudon Sainthill Costume design for the ugly sister from Cinderella 1958 gouache, pencil and water colour on paper National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

John Constable A ploughing scene in Suffolk (A summerland) c. 1824 (detail) oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art, New Haven Gift of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon in 1977


children’s gallery

In Abracadabra: the magic in conservation conservators

from the Gallery’s Conservation Department unpack

their repertoire of ‘magic tricks’, to present fascinating

techniques that reveal information hidden within the

material structure of works of art. No matter how often

such discoveries are made, they remain fresh and exciting

and it is this sense of magical revelation that the exhibition

aims to convey. The science behind X-rays, infrared

reflectography, ultraviolet fluorescence and microscopy

can be complex but the hey presto! effects are a constant

source of wonder and delight.

In contrast to such revelations, some aspects of

conservation practice require conservators to put

as much effort into concealment as into unlocking

secrets. Considerable expertise is needed to carry out

undetectable repairs or to mimic original colour using

an entirely different medium. Where damage exists on

a relatively large scale, deceptive disguise rather than

restoration may be the only option. Conservators therefore

develop and practise various strategies for camouflaging

their work. Abracadabra is based on the dual themes

of hiding and revealing; stylistically it borrows from

magicians’ showmanship and it is designed around works

of art with strong visual appeal to children.

X-radiography is an imaging technique adopted

from the medical profession by conservators. The process

involves passing high energy radiation through objects

onto photographic film to form a radiograph. The X-

ray film records differences in material densities. The

varying absorption rates are displayed in the radiograph

Abracadabra: the magic in conservation28 July – 26 November 2006

as gradations from light to dark: the greater the density,

the higher the absorption, resulting in a lighter image.

Metallic elements absorb radiation more than non-

metallic materials. X-radiography provides conservators

with detailed information about the concealed structure

of works of art, including changes made to paint layers,

armatures inside costumes or other internal supports.

The lively and colourful Futurist puppets, Sandwich

man [L’Homme sandwich] 1926 and Publicity man

[L’Homme reclamé] 1926 by the Russian artist Alexandra

Exter were X-rayed in the conservation laboratory in 1999.

The unique, fully-articulated puppets were originally

designed for a film and personify different types of

advertising. Exter was influenced by the Cubist and

Futurist movements, working mainly in theatre set and

costume design and on illustrated children’s books.

The artist used materials that every child has

encountered and often incorporated into their own art. The

skeleton is made of wood and cotton reels and is covered

with an outer skin of painted card, collage, fabric, string

and sequins. The X-rays identify the presence of random

metallic nails, screws and eyelets in the arm, leg and head

structures. These images show the location of inherent

weaknesses in the construction of the puppets, revealing

that the suspension of the marionettes depends on delicate

string and fabric to carry the full weight of the object.

This information enabled conservators to make minor

modifications that keep the puppets safe for handling,

display and storage.


Ultraviolet light is high energy light that literally

translates as ‘beyond violet’, violet being the shortest

wavelength we can see. Ultraviolet illumination exposes

a secret world of fluorescing patterns not visible in

normal light. Certain materials absorb ultraviolet light and

fluoresce to a lesser or greater degree in a wide range of

colours. Conservators can use this information to identify

pigments, paint media and varnishes, as well as old

repairs and restorations. Art dealers also use ultraviolet to

authenticate collectibles.

The Han dynasty Saddled horse from China in the

Asian Art collection is fairly representative of the extensive

restoration found in similar funerary ceramics from

Chinese burial sites. Large areas of ceramic loss have

been so skilfully restored that the most experienced eye

would find it difficult to differentiate repaired and original

areas. Under ultraviolet light the restored areas become

apparent immediately because they fluoresce dramatically

in contrast to the surrounding areas. An awareness of

the location of previous restoration can be crucial for

conservators when assessing works of art for treatment,

storage, transport or display.

Infrared reflectography relies on the capacity of

carbon-based materials to absorb energy in the infrared

region. Images of pencil or charcoal underdrawing lying

beneath layers of paint and varnish can be captured using

infrared lamps, photographic filters and computer software.

Preparatory sketches can add to curatorial knowledge of

an artist’s technique and underdrawing found on paintings

by William Strutt and Eric Wilson demonstrate two very

different approaches to the construction of a painting.

Alexandra Exter Sandwich man [L’homme sandwich] 1926 watercolour and collage on cardboard with wood, cotton, string, book cloth, copper, sequins, steel tacks, bridge nails, steel wire and eyelets National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

(Detail) X-ray of Sandwich man highlighting areas held together with tacks

Han dynasty, China Saddled horse (206 BCE – 220 CE) earthenware Gift of Mr TT Tsui JP through the NGA Foundation, 1994National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Ultraviolet image of the Saddled horse, Han dynasty, revealing locations of repairs and restorations


In Domestic interior 1935, Wilson used a grid system

to methodically transfer a preparatory sketch to his canvas.

The original drawing was probably highly finished and

composed to fit a circular format. Wilson’s execution is

assured and there is no indication that the artist made any

compositional changes during painting. The stillness and

peace of the domestic circle, presided over by the artist’s

mother and confirmed and punctuated by the comfortable

cat in the foreground, imply that this is a close family living

securely within a well-defined social framework. Everything

about this painting speaks of planning, method and order;

the discovery of the pencilled grid supports this view.

William Strutt, in his companion works from 1889,

Cultivating an acquaintance and A warm response, created

two charming paintings that record a flurry of action. His

underdrawing is spontaneous and loose. The difficulties

he encountered during the execution of his vignette can

be seen in the changes he made at the preparatory stages

and later as he was laying down the paint. Strutt provided

himself with several pencilled alternatives for the position

of the curious puppy’s tail and he repainted the position

of the head several times. In the second painting the artist

rearranged the puppy’s howling jaw in both pencil and

paint. Infrared imaging also shows that he completed

the lobster claw in the foreground, but subsequently

remodelled it.

Microscopy is one of the most frequently used

diagnostic tools in the conservation laboratory. Coupled

with sophisticated analytical techniques, including

polarised light, reactive staining, fluorescence and

chemical spot-testing, it can be used to comprehensively

identify textiles and paper fibres, paint media and

pigments. Employed routinely to magnify surface detail

on works of art, microscopy provides information about

material content and structure, artist’s techniques and

the condition of component materials. For example,

magnification can show how well a flaking pigment is

adhered to the underlying support or it may reveal an

unexpected intricacy in the structure of a decorative textile

thread. Conservation treatments are often carried out

under magnification to assist with detailed work, such as

the consolidation of friable ochre on a bark painting, or

repairs to fragile textiles requiring tiny stitches sewn in

very fine thread.

Pair of woman’s slippers worn by members of

the Peranakan Chinese community in Malaysia, in

Abracadabra, has such delicate and tiny ornamentation

that microscopic examination was necessary to evaluate

the materials and establish the methods of manufacture.

The base cream-coloured fabric is silk velvet. Satin stitch

embroidery in very fine silk thread has been laid over

padded formwork to create sheen of a high lustre.

Eric Wilson Domestic interior 1935

oil on canvas on plywood National Gallery of Australia,

Canberra

(Detail) Infrared image of Domestic interior showing

pencil grid lines in the centre of the painting


The metallic thread was constructed from extremely fine

strips of gold-plated, beaten copper wrapped around a

silk core. Very fine copper wire was formed into circles,

beaten flat and gold-plated to produce tiny sequins which

are secured to the velvet by coiled, gold-plated copper

wire held tight by silk thread. White glass beads, the size

of a pinhead, nestle in the embroidery and the toe of the

slipper is edged with woven purple braid. The scale and

finesse of this work is breathtaking.

Conclusion

The focus of Abracadabra is on the visually exciting

imagery produced when conservation science meets a

work of art. It is designed primarily for children from

five to twelve years, with several exhibits offering

interactive opportunities that use or simulate conservation

procedures. We hope the exhibition will intrigue and

delight children and adults alike.

Sheridan Roberts, Jaishree Srinivasan, Fiona Kemp and Stefanie Woodruff Conservation Department

Peranakan Chinese community, Malaysia Pair of woman’s slippers (detail) early 20th century velvet, leather, canvas support, metal nails, silk, metallic thread, laminated paper, sequins, beads; embroidery, appliqué From the Alice Smith collection 1992National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

(detail) Photomicrograph of Pair of woman’s slippers showing the fine construction of its decorative elements; metallic thread, sequin, bead and embroidery

William Strutt Cultivating an acquaintance 1889 oil on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

(Detail) Infrared image of Cultivating an acquaintance showing preparatory drawing for the puppy’s tail

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tr ibute

Gela Nga-Mirraitja Fordham c. 1935–2006

Inimitable Rembarrnga artist Nga-Mirraitja Fordham

died in June. He was of the Dhuwa moiety, Gela skin

name, and Mirraitja clan of southern central Arnhem Land.

Rembarrnga country is arid, inland stone country

marked by rocky outcrops, sweeping grassy plains

and sandy stretches as the landscape gives way to the

sandstone escarpment of western Arnhem Land. The

Rembarrnga traditionally inhabited the basin flanking the

Wilton River.

Fordham was born at remote Bamdibu, north of

Bulman, in c. 1935 and grew up living a traditional bush

life, going through ceremonial teachings under his father’s

tutelage. The war years brought upheaval and regular

movement for Aboriginal people of the area. The young

Fordham worked as a stockman on stations to the south

and west of his homelands. In the 1960s and 70s he spent

Gela Nga-Mirraitja Fordham, Rembarrnga

people Freshwater Yalk Yalk 2003 graphite on Arches paper National Gallery of

Australia, Canberra

time working in Maningrida on the Arnhem coast. There

he worked driving a grader, helping establish an outstation

at the time of the burgeoning homelands movement,

before returning to his birthplace, where he attempted

to establish his own outstation. He spent over ten years

at Wugularr (Beswick) where he started painting for the

marketplace and moved into Katherine around 1990.

Fordham would not begin to paint on bark for sale in

any big way until the early 1980s and by the late ‘80s was

prolific and unparalleled. The Rembarrnga live at a cultural

divide between eastern and western Arnhem Land. Due

to the country’s relative isolation and inaccessibility,

Rembarrnga clans have developed art traditions and styles

quite separate from each other and quite distinct from

other groups in Arnhem Land. Crosshatching is largely

dispensed with in favour of bold, painterly white on black.

This characteristic graphic style in Fordham’s art

worked well across a number of mediums. His love of

drawing is evident in the many and varied works, where

one can see the immediacy of crayon on the lithography

stone, or the grainy fluid pigment on the organic bark

or knotted hollow log where he allowed the materials

at hand to determine his mark-making. Fordham was

as accomplished making sculptures, carving distinctive

representations of Balangjarlngalayn spirit figures and

mimis from meandering trunks with vigour.

Fordham has been described as a narrative painter,

a natural storyteller. In his art he conveyed the personal

and the political, producing numerous images of

Rembarrnga creation ancestors (water and stone country

spirits, rainbow serpents) in the ‘old style’ and also

offering, in many of his works, an alternative Indigenous

view of history and current affairs, including those that

commented on colonisation, the Second World War,

welfare, government and land rights.

His diversity and skill made his work of great interest

to collectors and curators. Fordham is represented in

key Australian and overseas state, national, university

and corporate collections. He was a regular art prize

entrant and was rewarded with National Aboriginal Art

Award prizes on three occasions (in different media),


including the major prize in 1993 for a bark painting. His

work was included in numerous exhibitions, including

Tyerbarrbowaryaou: I shall never become a white man (I

and II) (1992 & 1994) for the Museum of Contemporary

Art, Sydney, and with the National Gallery of Australia,

Aratjara (1993), Flash pictures (1991) and Aboriginal art:

the continuing tradition (1989).

The breadth of approach is indicative of Fordham’s

whole output, which was immense, diverse, monumental,

spirited. Among the significant outputs of his prolific

career was his contribution to The Aboriginal Memorial

1987–88 of twenty-four magnificent hollow logs in the

Rembarrnga group of thirty-five logs.

Fordham’s logs are distinguished by their tall,

meandering, knotted forms with black backgrounds and

bold figurative elements in white. The menacing imagery

is concerned with the epic encounters and great upheavals

of ancestors by which the features of the landscape were

created. The country is inhabited by spirits and malevolent

beings, particularly rainbow serpents in various guises, and

spirit figures. Themes of regurgitation, metamorphosis and

renewal are prevalent. Rainbow serpents are a key theme

in western Arnhem Land painting and for the Rembarrnga.

At times the two approaches in Fordham’s art – the

ancestral and the political – converged, making Fordham

an artist who defied categorisation but who had found a

perfect vehicle in art for his message. For the opening of

The Memorial at the Biennale of Sydney in 1988 Fordham

sang-in the work with Ramingining artists and gave

a speech concentrating mostly on the tradition of the

hollow log. His culminating remarks confirmed that The

Memorial was a gesture for all Aboriginal people:

I’ll explain about this, coffin box.

In Arnhem Land, Northern Territory …

This we singing today

Coast Arnhem Land

Top Arnhem Land

All this group here, got coffin box …

… This coffin box. Lorrkun we call them

Lorrkun, Dupun or Coffin Box

For everyone in Australia

Another senior Ramingining artist also died in

June, Tom Djumpurpur (1920–2006) a Djinba man and

contributor to The Memorial.

Susan Jenkins

Susan Jenkins is a curator, editor, lecturer, valuer and writer based in Adelaide. She was a curator in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art, National Gallery of Australia 1995–2005. This tribute was written with the assistance of Chips Mackinolty, a long-time friend of the artist.

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Gela Nga-Mirraitja FordhamThe Aboriginal Memorial1987–88 featuring Fordham’s contribution of twenty-four hollow logs in the Rembarrnga group of thirty-five logs


Senior ceremonial lawman and artist Micky D passed

away in June. He is now known as Micky Garrawurra,

a connecting reference for clan members not unlike a

surname. He was of the Dhuwa moiety Liya-gawumirr

Buyu’yukulmirr saltwater people, whose country sits in

the Crocodile Islands archipelago off central Arnhem

Land. Garrawurra’s homeland is Gariyak in Hutchison

Strait, south of Langarra (Howard Island).

Most records give circa 1940 as Garrawurra’s birth

date, reflecting the anomaly in records of Aboriginal

people in the area at this time. Bush births, sporadic

residence in missions and the Second World War all

contributed to the disruption to administration and local

lives.

As a young man, Garrawurra worked as a fisherman

out of Galiwin’ku (Elcho Island) on Yolngu-owned boats,

including a boat called the Djirrpadi, netting around

Milingimbi, Langarra and the Glyde River. In adulthood

he resided intermittently in Darwin, Milingimbi,

Ramingining, Galiwin’ku, Langarra and Gariyak, living a

traditional Yolngu way of life, fishing and hunting. Like

many of his peers, Garrawurra went through lots of

ceremonies, gaining cultural authority, leading singing

and dancing. This significant background and knowledge

saw him become an artist as well as a ceremony man.

tribute

Micky Garrawurra 1940–2006

Garrawurra’s key subject in ceremony and art is the

Djan’kawu at Gariyak. The Djan’kawu are important

creation ancestors for Dhuwa moiety clans across

Arnhem Land. Their significance to the Buyu’yukulmirr

lies in their actions in this country. Travelling west with

the sun, they crossed from the mainland to Galiwin’ku

by canoe and then to Langarra and Gariyak where they

ended their travels by canoe before moving on westward

to the lands of other clans. At Gariyak, near the shoreline,

they made a string of freshwater wells with the plunge

of their sacred digging sticks. They gave this place to the

Buyu’yukulmirr, and its associated songs, dances, sacred

objects and clan patterns.

The Buyu’yukulmirr have two main Djan’kawu

designs. The sacred waterholes design – an aerial

landscape – incorporating vertical, diagonal and

horizontal radiating bands suggests the sun’s rays and

the traces of their journey between sites. The second

design, a horizontal structure, is distinctive for the

parallel bands in red, white and yellow and the absence

of cross-hatching. As an emerging painter Garrawurra

would paint the sacred waterholes design on barks for

sale. While banded designs have roots in ceremony

(painted on body and objects), Garrawurra translated

them to the medium of bark painting in the early 1990s,


Micky Garrawurra Buyu’yukulmirr/Liya-gawumirr people untitled2001 natural pigments on paper Gift of Nigel Lendon, 2005 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

representing a significant shift in his artistic practice as a

growing ceremonial and artistic authority.

According to curator Djon Mundine, a former art

adviser at Ramingining and Milingimbi, ‘Micky … placed

this design boldly onto the flat regular surface of a piece

of bark. Its visual effect was stunning … A number of

works along the same line followed. Though similar,

each was a fine work – individual, and elaborated in a

varied manner’. Garrawurra would develop this genre of

painting throughout the next decade. In some instances

the minimalism of the paintings helped their appreciation

as contemporary art; in others they were rejected for

looking too modern.

The banded works became Garrawurra’s signature,

and were collected at a time when he was also

contributing to art awards and exhibitions before the

key turning point in his painting journey, the exhibition

Yolngu science: objects and representations from

Raminginging, Arnhem Land curated by Mundine for

the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, in 2000, for

which Garrawurra completed a site-specific wall painting

of the Djirrididi (kingfisher) body design. The alternating

horizontal bands of red, white and yellow that normally

graced barks and hollow logs were painted around the

walls and columns of the gallery from floor to ceiling to

dramatic effect.

His growing facility in the construction of paintings

was perhaps a result of painting in different contexts,

mediums and scales. Garrawurra continued to produce a

range of complex Djan’kawu related works on bark and

paper in his senior years.

While the Gallery has several Djan’kawu works by

Dhuwa artists, including designs on hollow logs for The

Aboriginal Memorial, Garrawurra’s late works represent

well his achievements as a painter. In this suite of works

from 2001 the components of a Mululu [native cherry

tree] body design are positioned across three paintings,

contributing to a whole. The artist seems to have

‘unpacked’ the pictorial elements, continually pushing

the boundaries in painting, while providing proof of

the ownership and responsibilities of his inheritance

– Gariyak in Buyu’yukulmirr country.

Susan Jenkins

Susan Jenkins is a curator, editor, lecturer, valuer and writer based in Adelaide. She was a curator in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art, National Gallery of Australia, 1995–2005. This tribute was prepared in consultation with Bula’bula Arts, Ramingining.

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development office

Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2006

We would like to thank all donors who assisted the

Gallery in achieving our target to purchase the Sydney

Long oil painting Flamingoes, c. 1906. The acquisition

of this splendid painting was made possible through the

generous contributions of many Gallery and Foundation

Members to our Masterpieces for the Nation 2006

appeal. Flamingoes is an important addition to the

permanent collection of Australian art.

A celebration of the launch of Flamingoes was held on

1 August, and the Director was delighted to meet new

donors to the Gallery and renew acquaintances with

established donors. It was also a wonderful opportunity

for me to meet donors.

The acquisition of Flamingoes is extremely timely

and will complement the recent acquisition of a major

nineteenth-century symbolist painting by Charles

Conder, Hot wind 1889, which was purchased with the

generous assistance of the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Family

Foundation. a

National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund

The National Gallery of Australia Council initiated the

National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund.

This exciting initiative will be used to provide financial

assistance to selected exhibitions. Michael Riley: sights

unseen and Imants Tillers: one world many visions are

the first exhibitions to be supported by the Fund.

Treasure a Textile

Treasure a Textile is a wonderful initiative that supports

the conservation of the Gallery’s extraordinary collection

of Southeast Asian textiles. Donors receive information

on how their donation has assisted restoring the fragile

works in our collection and are invited to visit the Gallery’s

conservation area once it has been restored. Donors

receive acknowledgement for their assistance. There are

many textiles awaiting a sponsor, so please contact the

Development Office on 6240 6454 if you would like to

receive a brochure or more information about this initiative.

Annalisa MillarSponsorship and Development Co-ordinator

(left to right) Jenine Westerburg, Peter Barclay,

Simon McGill, Ron Radford AM, Rosemary Thompson,

Joy Warren OAM, The Hon. Gough Whitlam AC, Lady Kathleen Kingsland, Sir Richard Kingsland AO,

Dorothy Barclay.


The National Gallery of Australia has received one of a

number of awards given to cultural and other community-

based organisations for their efforts to promote access

for blind and vision-impaired visitors. The Making a

Difference Award for ‘Supporting people who are blind

or vision-impaired to be able to access and fully participate

in every part of life they choose’ is an initiative of Vision

Australia, Canberra. Each award winner was introduced

by a member of the blind and vision impaired community.

Rodney Stephenson, a one-time volunteer in Conservation

with a passion for the visual arts, was eloquent in his

praise of the Gallery and the importance of access to it as a

sighted and now as a vision-impaired visitor.

The Gallery offers a range of Special Access Tours for

people with disabilities, including Auslan sign-interpreted

tours, descriptive and touch tours for people with vision

impairment, and special events for carers (including an art

appreciation group). Tours for Carers are among the regular

events the Gallery provides to meet the needs of particular

special access focus groups.

The Gallery has worked with Vision Australia to train

voluntary guides and education staff to deliver descriptive

tours. Descriptive tours require specialised training. To ‘say

what you see’ is a deceptively complex process. The guide

needs to ascertain how much sight the participant has, and

how much visual memory. This will affect the descriptive

choices made, especially in relation to colour. In a descriptive

tour the guide must be aware of not only how to safely

and respectfully guide participants through Gallery spaces,

but also how to describe works of art to convey size, scale,

texture, techniques, composition, content and the spaces in

which they are hung. Descriptive tours are conducted with

small groups to facilitate discussion.

access services

Making a difference

Touch tours are another wonderful way for blind and

vision-impaired visitors to interact with works of art. These

tours are always planned in conjunction with Conservation

and follow stringent guidelines. Suitable artworks are

identified by conservators, nitrile gloves are provided

and assistance from trained guides and education staff is

necessary. As one participant, Adam Doblinger, described

his experience, ‘I really enjoyed the touching part of the

tour. By touching the sculptures I could form a picture in my

head, I could understand better what was being described

… I could feel the details before you started talking.’

Tactile Information booklets are always available at

the front desk for individuals visiting the Gallery. These

Braille and tactile map booklets are based on works in the

Sculpture Garden and paintings and sculpture from the

permanent collection.

In October the Gallery will mark Art beyond Sight

Awareness Month, an initiative from the US to promote

access to galleries and museums. A touch tour for children

organised by Education and Conservation will be held in the

Small Theatre on Sunday 22 October during International

Children’s Week and a descriptive tour for families will be

held on Sunday 29 October. These two events focus on

special access for children and families.

Adriane BoagEducator, Youth and Community Programs

Further information at nga.gov.au/calendar and nga.gov.au/Access or by phoning 6240 6632.

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Ruth Patterson, Assistant Director Marketing and Merchandising, accepting the Making a Difference Award on behalf of the NGA with Ashley Wood, Corporate Communications Manager, Vision Australia, and Rodney Stephenson

Lisa Addison, Preventative Conservator, and Margie Enfield, Voluntary Guide, guiding Adam Doblinger during a touch tour in Asian Art

B A R T O N

Carnival the world on show, Floriade 2006. The Brassey of Canberra has Deluxe

Accommodation Packages from

$164.00 Per room, per night.

including a sumptuous buffet breakfast, a complimentary Floriade program, free parking

and complimentary entry to Old Parliament House.

Call the Package Hotline1800 659 191

Belmore Gardens & Macquarie Street,Barton ACT 2600

the bell gallery presents ‘works on paper’ and the release of ‘a winter in new york’ a folio of nineetchings by peter hickey beginning 10th september


1 2

3 4 5

8 9

6

7

faces in view

10 11

12 13 14

15

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1 Members’ viewing of Imants Tillers: one world many visions and Michael Riley: sights unseen

2 Ian and Austra Hart at the members’ viewing of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 3 Jennifer Slatyer,

Saskia, Isidore and Imants Tillers at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 4 Pamela and Ron

Walker in front of Imants Tillers’ Nature speaks 1998–2006 5 Isidore and Saskia Tillers performing

at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 6 Imants Tillers, Olivia Sophia, Deborah Hart

and Michael Jagamara Nelson at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 7 Leon Paroissien

and Gene Sherman at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 8 Wendy Hockley (nee Riley)

at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 9 Linda Burney and David Riley at the opening

of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 10 Bernadette Riley and friend at the opening of Imants Tillers

and Michael Riley 11 Linda Burney and Joyce Abraham Riley at the opening of Imants Tillers and

Michael Riley 12 Wiradjuri Echoes performing for NAIDOC Week 13 Brenda L Croft with Megan

Tamati-Quennell and Bernadette Riley at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley 14 Yurry

Craigie, Michael French and Craig Jamieson at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley

15 Wiradjuri Echoes performing for NAIDOC Week 16 Simon Wright, Darrell Sibosada, Stuart

Stark, Brenda L Croft and Daniel Browning at the opening of Imants Tillers and Michael Riley

Indigenous arts and craftbooks and cataloguescalendars and diariesprints and postersgiftsjewelleryfine art cardsaccessoriesdesirable objectstoysjigsaws

Gallery Shop open 7 days 10am–5pm Phone 02 6240 6420 ngashop.com.au Product enquiries 1800 808 337

mobile glass decoration, exclusively designed by Sharon Peters for the Gallery shop, $89.95.

the art of shoppingngashop

Become one of 16 students to participate in the National Gallery of Australia and Sony Foundation Australia Summer Scholarship in 2007.

Come and join the National Gallery of Australia team for a week, discover the collection, find out why works of art are acquired, how exhibitions take place, and what happens in a gallery behind the scenes. You will participate in workshops and receive expert tuition from Gallery staff and professional artists.

For more information go to nga.gov.au/Summer Scholarship or call Adriane Boag on 02 6240 6632

14 – 20 January 2007

Curator, Artist, Public Relations, Designer

There’s more to a career in the visual arts ...

If you are in Year 11 in 2006, spend a week this summer at the NGA

Applications close Friday 6 October 2006

RILEYMICHAEL UNSEENSIGHTS

nga.gov.au

14 July – 16 October 2006 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Michael Riley Wiradjuri/Kamileroi peoples Untitled from the series cloud [cow] 2000 printed 2005 chromogenic pigment photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Michael Riley, Licensed by VISCOPYImants Tillers installing Terra incognita 2005 at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2005

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Documents

art ew - National Gallery of Australia · textiles and paintings is the largest and most important in our ... Catherine Rossi Harris AO Rotary Belconnen John Schaeffer AO Raphy Star