Art Gallery of New South Wales
Author of This Other Eden: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art
About the Author
Image credit: photo of the New South Wales Art Gallery
Works by Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Chinese exhibition: A selection of recent archaeological finds of the People's Republic of China (1976) — Host Institution — 47 copies
Camille Pissarro [cat. exp., Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 19 Nov 2005 - 19 February 2006; Melbourne,… (1999) 35 copies
Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age (cat. exp., Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Nov.11,2017-Feb 18, 2018) (2017) 12 copies
Hermitage and Tretiakov: Master drawings and watercolours : 27 October/13 December 1978, National Gallery of Victoria,… (1978) 12 copies
Origins originality beyond: 16 May-6 July 1986, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, Sydney, PIER 2/3… (1986) 4 copies
Art Gallery of new South Wales Collections (AGNSW): Australian Art, European Art;Asian Art;Contemporary Practice (1994) 3 copies
The readymade boomerang: Certain relations in 20th century art : Art Gallery of New South Wales, Bond Stores 3/4,… (1990) 3 copies
Melanesian art — Corporate Author — 2 copies
J. J. Hilder and Contemporaries : Watercolours from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1982) 2 copies
A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1875-1952 2 copies
The poetic mandarin : Chinese calligraphy from the James Hayes collection = Huan hai mo yun : Xu Shu cang Zhongguo Qing… (2005) 2 copies
THE BRITISH SHOW 2 copies
Salon and Academie: The charm of tradition, a catalogue of nineteenth century European salon works 1 copy
Charles Conder: Bohemian Spirit, Australian Impressionist, 14 June - 17 August 2003 (event summary) 1 copy
Tony Tuckson: Guide to the papers of Tony Tuckson (1921-1973) : in the archive of the Art Gallery of New South Wales… (1999) 1 copy
Country culture community : an education kit for the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander collection (2009) 1 copy
My city of Sydney 1 copy
Roland Wakelin retrospective 1 copy
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- Works
- 70
- Members
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- Rating
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- ISBNs
- 51
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The greatest limitation on these reproductions is that they are contained in a page size of 7.75 x 9 inches, while many of the artworks are two or more metres tall. I remember vividly going into the Gallery in Sydney and standing in front of a series of a dozen similar paintings that were at least two metres tall. When the notes to a reproduction say that a piece is 185 x 465 cm, I have to imagine the impact of a piece on that scale. And many of them are very large in scale. I asked at the Sydney gallery shop if there were reproductions of the lobby paintings, and was told that there were not. I bought this book as a consolation, and it is a great one.
The book does not try to explain too much, but leaves it to the art pieces to tell their story. The pieces are worth slow contemplative exploration. It is an excellent parallel read to David Day’s Claiming a Continent. Day’s book gives the history of the sometimes brutal Australian efforts to end the Aboriginal presence in Australia. This book shows the strength, diversity and depth of the Aboriginal culture, as well as the impact of colonial practices on them. Many of the paintings and artefacts are representations of homelands and their importance to various Aboriginal peoples. Sometimes they are places remembered or places in traditional stories, but often they are real places represented in an abstracted style, like the formal maps that we recognize in Euro-American cultures.
In spite of the limited text, the stories of the artists’ lives frequently refer to their being displaced from traditional territories, their alienation in an unwelcome environment, their economic struggles to survive with their families, substance use issues, etc. Many of the artists reconnected with their communities and their stories through artists’ collectives, learning to express their connections to land, tradition and community through new media. Several artists are respected keepers of traditional knowledge and ceremony, and used their art to preserve and share their culture. Some also use it in an activist way to advance land claims and traditional rights, and to point criticisms at Australia’s colonial past and present. Interestingly, the book notes that it was often the commercial media for which markets developed that shaped the public expression of these arts, so what we see most reflects what sells as much as the forms that the artists chose to use.
I learned also that many of the designs that appear abstract have very distinct and clear meanings to the artists and their communities. The dots and striped patterns, for example, may be taken from ceremonial patterns or body painting styles that have been practiced for many generations, and they refer to specific things, such as the patterns of grasses or bushes that grow in the desert. Some represent dream scapes and celestial stories. These patterns sometimes hold secret meanings that belong to one family and cannot be revealed outside of the initiated. They are reinterpreted by contemporary artists, sometimes simply through the use of new media and sometimes through the development of new treatments that break away from tradition. I can only imagine the work of applying paint in little dabs across such the large scale of many of these canvases.
I spent several months going through the few hundred pages in this book, and hope to spend more time with the images. They also led me to several websites where gorgeous reproductions can be found. Happily, it’s been one of the more rewarding books I’ve read recently.… (more)