The Art Gallery of NSW, surrounded by parkland near Sydney’s Harbour, opposite the Domain and the Botanical Gardens, is probably one of the most visitor-friendly art museums in existence. The original…
- Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
Gough Whitlam, Labor prime minister from 1972 to 1975, has died aged 98. A giant of modern Australian politics, his passing triggered a flood of tributes on Tuesday morning. In a statement, current Labor…
If there is one painting that shows the dilemma at the heart of For Auld Lang Syne, an exhibition devoted to images of Scottish Australia currently showing at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, it is John Glover’s…
Even before the announcement of the 2014 budget by Australian Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey tonight, there were “budget bad news” leaks flying around in the media. So what do we know now? The as-yet-unspecified…
In 2014 it is hard to remember how isolated research on art in Australia used to be. Before the web, when we were all in hard copy, it used to be almost impossible to find information on Australian art…
Over its 41-year history the recipe for a successful Biennale of Sydney has remained remarkably consistent. There are three ingredients and all three need to work in harmony for the exhibition to properly…
The Biennale of Sydney, which begins on March 21, has announced it will sever ties with its founding partner Transfield, following weeks of pressure from artists angered by the company’s links to Australia’s…
This is the exhibition we have been waiting for. This is contemporary art as it was meant to be – warning that we are experiencing the dark night of the national soul. The country that once thought of…
The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Joanna Mendelssohn examines the links between Indigenous art and class. The great…
Opening this week, Art Gallery NSW’s latest exhibition, Australian Vernacular Photography, explores the Australian photographic landscape of the late 20th century. Hal Missingham, photographer and director…
The tributes have been flowing in from friends and art critics for Martin Sharp, who died this week aged 71. The common thread linking all the tributes, all the memories, is that the artist was never alone…
As you’ve no doubt noticed, celebrations are underway to mark the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House – and that’s as it should be. But this year marks a few other “40ths” that have had a tremendous…
There was a moment of silence in the courtyard of the College of Fine Arts when the winner of this year’s Blake Prize was announced last week. The A$25,000 prize is awarded annually for a work of religious…
When Australian artist Lionel Lindsay wrote Addled Art, his polemic against modernism, he found one aspect of the new brash art world worth valuing. The way some artists had liberated colour was so enticing…
When visitors come to the Turner from the Tate exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, the experience is to travel through time and space to early 19th century Britain. It was a time of social…
One of my favourite paintings in the Art Gallery of New South Wales is Emanuel Phillips Fox’s Art Students. It’s particularly notable because all the Melbourne Art School students pictured are women. In…
It was the 1960s when a curator – who shall remain nameless – was ordered to hang Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira’s work in his gallery. He hung the painting next to the ladies toilet with a vase of…
The entire editorial board of a US academic journal has resigned in protest over restrictions that would require scholars to wait up to 18 months before making their published research more widely available…
UPDATE: Del Kathryn Barton has won the 2013 Archibald Prize for her portrait of Hugo Weaving. This is the second time Barton has won the prize, her last winner was in 2008. The only other woman to win…
Britain’s National Portrait Gallery has opened up its image database to allow free downloads for non-commercial and academic uses, in a move welcomed by art historians. “This is very welcome, and increasingly…
Archibald Prize-winning artist Adam Cullen died at his Blue Mountains home over the weekend. The 47 year old had been seriously ill for some time. Academics say Cullen will be remembered for his distinctive…
La Trobe university’s art history department is set to be abolished, with a consultation period over the changes to the university’s humanities program to end this month. While one art history department…
UPDATE: Tim Storrier has won the 2012 Archibald prize for his self-portrait, The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch). Shortly after noon today, Steven Lowy, president of the trustees of the Art Gallery of…
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