It is indeed a simple image made by a famous painter; one that situates the dilemma of all painters as they reach out into the world. Is it a mask that they hide behind? In Face 1979, Sidney Nolan toys with his lifelong image of the Ned Kelly mask. He moves it from the stuff of myth, to...
Slide Show
Art Reviews
By menzies
28 May 2019
In 1970 Arthur Boyd had completed the Nebuchadnezzar series, one of the defining groups of paintings in this distinguished artist’s career. These large brightly coloured and fundamentally literary works sharply contrast with equally important landscapes, some with figures, which Boyd produced in...
By Timothy Abdallah BA
27 Feb 2019
Although the various well known localities on the fringes of Melbourne, such as Templestowe and the Yarra Valley, had been subjects for Streeton since his earliest days as a painter, his extended series of paintings of the hilly, timbered scenery of the Dandenongs, particularly Olinda, began in...
By Timothy Abdallah BA
27 Feb 2019
In 1897, an accomplished artist, confident of his own abilities, and yet frustrated by the limitations of Australia, Arthur Streeton set sail for England. Streeton knew that to progress in his work he needed to see with his own eyes the famous masterpieces he had heard about and seen in books....
By Gavin Fry
27 Feb 2019
Visitors to Maitland in the Hunter Valley will see stretched across the prominent façade of the public library huge images taken from Norman Lindsay’s iconic childrens’ book The Magic Pudding. Without text or commentary, the images are a reminder, if one was needed, of the enduring...
By Timothy Abdallah BA
27 Feb 2019
Ray Crooke’s eternal stillness, described by John Henshaw as ‘the perpetual South Seas dream’1 is a unique phenomenon in Australian Modern Art. His career, which spanned more than 65 years began with his exhibition in 1948 at Melbourne’s Kozminsky Gallery. He was still painting a...
By Rodney James BA (Hons.), MA
27 Feb 2019
Some artists rise quickly to make a mark on the art scene; for others it can be a slow burn. Charles Blackman enjoyed a deservedly rapid rise – with adulation for his work increasing over time. This self-taught master of Australian art became recognised for his first solo exhibition, held in...
By Ken Wach
27 Feb 2019
When the Sydney wunderkind Brett Whiteley brought the present painting to Robin Gibson sometime in mid 1983 to be shown in his forthcoming solo exhibition, he stressed that the work be titled Self Portrait at 44.
Upon looking at the painting Gibson was somewhat...
By Catherine Baxendale B Phil Hons
27 Feb 2019
Still-Life 1922-23 dates from a critical phase of Margaret Preston’s early career, when the artist consolidated her reputation as a leading exponent of Australian modernism. Having previously exhibited with the Royal Art Society of New South Wales, Preston switched allegiances in 1923...
By Caroline Jones BA, MA (Art Admin.)
27 Feb 2019
John Peter Russell is also known as the ‘Lost Impressionist’, a name given to the Australian artist who moved to Europe in the early 1880s and enjoyed the height of Impressionism living in the cultural centre of the world. During his lifetime, his French landscapes did not enjoy the same renown...
