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The Spirit of the land
17 August – 11 November 2012
Sydney Long is Australia’s foremost Art Nouveau painter, whose work is much loved. His art flourished in the imaginatively stimulating atmosphere in Sydney in the 1890s and 1900s, when he achieved early success with one of his best-known works, By tranquil waters 1894. It was a precursor to the paintings in which he peopled the Australian bush with mythological figures, painted in an Art Nouveau style.
Sydney Long Flamingoes c.1905-06 (detail) oil on canvas
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Acquired with the assistance of the Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2006
Reproduced with the kind permission of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia.
Indian painting
1 September – 11 November 2012
Divine worlds brings together masterpieces of Indian painting from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Dating from the 16th to the 20th century, the paintings range from exquisite intimate miniatures to vast hunting scenes, monumental pilgrimage maps and brilliantly coloured devotional shrine hangings.
Kota school, Rajasthan, India, Krishna's fluting summons the entranced gopis for Autumn Moon festival [Sharad purnima]; shrine hanging [pichhavai] c. 1840, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Purchased 2005
Infinite Horizons
Fred Williams is one of Australia’s greatest painters. He created a highly original and distinctive way of seeing the Australian landscape and was passionate about the painting process itself. This is the first major retrospective of Williams’ work in over 25 years.
Venues
Fred Williams Beachscape, Erith Island I 1974, (detail)
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra,
Purchased from Gallery admission charges 1983
© estate of Fred Williams
Australian portraits 1880–1960
This exhibition takes a fresh look at portraits from the National Gallery of Australia from the period 1880 to 1960. It includes works of 34 leading Australian painters of the period, including Tom Roberts, E Phillips Fox, Hugh Ramsay, George W Lambert, Max Meldrum, Rupert Bunny, Violet Teague, Margaret Preston, Stella Bowen, Napier Waller, Albert Tucker, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Roy de Maistre, Russell Drysdale and John Brack.
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Venues
Rupert Bunny Femme au chapeau brun (Woman in a brown hat) c 1917
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 1976
2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial
11 May – 22 July 2012
From May to July 2012, the National Gallery will inaugurate the second National Indigenous Art Triennial, unDisclosed. Over autumn and winter, Gallery visitors will have the opportunity to experience the dynamic visual expression of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. From across the country, 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists have been selected to represented Indigenous arts today.
Michael Cook Broken Dreams #3 2010 (detail) Inkjet print,
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2011
Nature revealed
27 April – 15 July 2012
Eugene von Guérard (1811–1901) is arguably Australia’s, and certainly Victoria’s, most important colonial landscape painter. Born in Vienna and trained as a painter in the European art centres of Rome, Naples and Düsseldorf; von Guérard migrated to Australia in 1852.
Eugene von Guerard Lake Wakatipu with Mount Earnslaw, Middle Island, New Zealand (1877–79) (detail) oil on canvas Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1971
4 February – 24 June 2012 | Childrens gallery
Play embraces painting, photography, prints and sculpture from across the National Gallery of Australia’s remarkable collection. This exhibition reminds us of the importance of play in an artist’s practice, and in our lives.
Richard Tipping Sing 2004 print
Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, 2008
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
15th & 16th Century Italian Paintings
from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
9 December 2011 – 9 April 2012 | CANBERRA ONLY
This unique exhibition offers audiences an unparalleled chance to see Early and High Renaissance paintings by some of the greatest European artists. Raphael, Botticelli, Bellini and Titian are represented among an amazing gamut of talent and creative splendour. More than 70 works on canvas and panel will be on display, made between 1400 and 1600 by painters in northern and central Italy.
Carlo Crivelli Madonna and Child c. 1482–83 (detail), Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
Art of Western Australia from the national collection
8 July 2011 – 1 April 2012
Out of the West is the first exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia to present a large sample of artists living and working in Western Australia. It takes a unique look at the art from Western Australia from pre-settlement until today.
James W.R. LINTON Falls Road, late evening, 1926 (detail) Perth, Purchased 1980
Photographs of Antarctica 1910–2010
23 December 2011 – 25 March 2012 | Photography Gallery
Antarctica has long been a region that has fascinated and captivated imaginations, a place that is high in our national consciousness. The stories of the almost incomprehensively heroic and at times tragic early explorations have become the stuff of legends. The South Pole
Frank Hurley Penguins on the beach at The Nuggets and the remains of The Gratitude 1911(detail) Photograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Photographic artist
25 August 2012 – 28 January 2013 | Project Gallery
Carol Jerrems's gritty, poetic and elusive images show people trying to find a new way of life and action in the 1970s. Her images have come to define a decade in Australia's history.
Carol Jerrems Judy Morris 2005 (detail) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems, 1981. © Ken Jerrems and the Estate of Lance Jerrems
7 July 2012 – 10 February 2013 | Childrens Gallery
A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. Since the early 20th century when Picasso and Braque made their radical breakthrough with Cubism, there has been a flourishing of modern and contemporary art produced with text at its core. Alphabets with their infinite potential for words; the visual form of letters; the art of printmaking with its origins in typography; and the artists’ book are some of the themes explored in this exhibition.
Brook Andrew, Wiradjuri people I see you 2005 (detail) Print, stencil National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of the artist, donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2012
14 July 2012 – 20 January 2013
Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, as was the second-generation Abstract Expressionist Morris Louis. To mark these anniversaries, the Gallery is showcasing its holdings of important paintings, drawings and prints.
Jackson Pollock Totem lesson 2 1945 (detail) oil on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1986 © Pollock/Krasner Foundation/ARS. Licensed by Viscopy
Paris & the Moulin Rouge
14 December 2012 – 2 April 2013 | Temporary Exhibitions Gallery
Toulouse-Lautrec is the National Gallery of Australia’s next summer exhibition and will run from 14 December 2012 to 2 April 2013. The Australian public have never before had the opportunity to see a major retrospective exhibition devoted to the art of French 19th century artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in painting, drawing, posters and prints.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge (La Goulue entrant au Moulin-Rouge) 1891-92 (detail) oil on cardboard, 79.4 x 59.0 cm The Museum of Modern Art, New York Gift of Mrs David M. Levy