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 somewh
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 ren
‘Tom Roberts is the finest artist Australia has ever produced.’ This justifiably bold assertion is how Brian Finemore, then curator of Australian paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria, began a lecture at the University of Melbourne in the mid-1960s.1 Undoubtedly, Roberts w
Norman Lindsay turned to the medium of watercolour painting relatively late in his career, having exhausted the possibilities of pen drawing and engraving. Up until this time, he had been primarily concerned with drawing technique however it was Blamire Young (1862-1931) who first taug
Shown wearing little more than a headdress and silk slippers, Iris is an embodiment of sensuality and mystique. As with many of Norman Lindsay’s nudes, the sitter’s lack of attire does not imply her vulnerability - rather, Iris appears emboldened by the viewer’s gaze, assuming an ai
Even by today’s standards, Ethel Carrick Fox would be considered a thoroughly modern woman; independent, adventurous and determined. She was a naturally gifted artist who early on decided to fulfil her ambition and in 1887 enrolled at the Slade Art School in London. Rejecting the domestic li
Jeffrey Smart’s move to Italy in 1965 summoned his full flowering as an artist. In the ancient city of Rome, nearby port harbour of Ostia and the adjacent airfields of Fiumicino, Smart found the crisp, urban forms, dramatic contrasts of colour and light and intricately patinated surfaces tha
Charles Blackman’s Red Dress and Yellow Jonquils, c.1958, combines strong graphic elements with wonderful, bright and life-affirming colours. It was produced following the famous Alice in Wonderland series of paintings and continued the theme of depicting single figure
Acorn was created in 2006, the final year of Bronwyn Oliver’s tragically short life. During this year, Oliver spent much of her day working exhaustively on the group of works that would be included in the exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 planned for August that year. After months of &nbs
Solly Elenberg often admiringly recounted how Joel, his much-loved younger brother, thought nothing of regularly sauntering into the decidedly swish Delmonico’s clothing store, just up the road from his Jewish family home in Carlton’s Lygon Street, to buy the most expensive Italian suits and