The Impressionists were obsessed with the science of colour, which is celebrated in a new exhibition in Adelaide. At least 50 of the paintings have never previously been exhibited in Australia.
Articles on Visual art
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Part human, part animal, Patricia Piccinini’s sculptures are uncannily familiar, yet alarmingly other. A major new exhibition creates a parallel universe in which viewers can encounter her work.
Artists have long tackled global issues, from war to human rights. While Picasso’s celebrated Guernica may not have stopped the Spanish Civil War (or any war), art still holds value, as witness and as truth teller.
In 1497 Girolamo Savonarola burned books and art in Florence in the most infamous act of European cultural desecration. A year later, he met the same fate.
The 21st Sydney Biennale is the first to be directed by a curator of non-Western heritage. While the number of artists is modest, lost quantity is made up by quality.
Today, beauty counts for little in the judgement of works of art. But our felt experience of beauty connects us with an object’s maker, revealing a pure moment of humanity.
Women with AIDS were excluded from the US definition of the syndrome until 1993. What’s changed?
Australian artist Elizabeth Durack became infamous for her use of an Aboriginal nom de plume in 1990s. But in the 1960s, when the country was striving for independence from Australia, she portrayed Papuan women with sensitivity.
The beguiling works on display in an exhibition by Muslim Australian artists are grounded in the realities of their daily lives.
The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, woven around 1500, have been called the ‘Mona Lisa of the Middle Ages’. While they make for breathtaking viewing, their threads are encoded with much meaning.
While it may have a reputation for narcissism, Instagram is being embraced by the art world, with Insta-friendly works and exhibitions.
Listeners often describe the music presented at Tasmania’s Mofo festival as ‘weird’. But to do so sells the experience short.
How is it that contemporary painting has dug its heels in, so to speak, and refuses to look like a painting anymore?
Gender bias is an ongoing problem in the visual arts. Change is needed at every level to tackle it.
Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’ is estimated to have led to more than 13,000 killings. Artists - both in the Philippines and beyond - are helping communities work through their trauma.
The paintings in Del Kathryn Barton’s new show at NGV Australia are visually stunning and painstakingly executed. But the women depicted are often de-personalised objects or headless cauldrons of destructive passion.
Rembrandt & the Dutch Golden Age, a major new exhibition, is the first of its kind to visit Sydney. The title is something of a misnomer – the centrepiece is a stunning work by Vermeer.
The wildflowers that WWI soldiers encountered in Europe become symbols of remembrance and the fragility of life. The red poppy in particular is a powerful motif in Australian war art and photography.
Yayoi Kusama, arguably Japan’s most famous living artist, has been making art for 65 years. A new exhibition traces her output: from her dazzling mirror and polka-dot infused installations to paintings and sculptures.
For centuries, women with dwarfism were depicted in art as comic or grotesque fairytale beings. But artists are challenging these portrayals and notions of beauty and physical difference.
Top contributors
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Joanna Mendelssohn is a Friend of The Conversation.Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Professor, Edith Cowan University
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Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
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Professor in Art, Curtin University
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Senior Lecturer of Art History, Griffith University
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Emerita Professor, Art History and Curatorship, Adelaide University
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Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University
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Honorary Lecturer, School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University
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Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University
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Lecturer and Researcher in Plant Humanities, UNSW
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Senior Research Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor at UNSW Art & Design, UNSW
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Visiting Researcher in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
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Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Creative Practice, University of Tasmania
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Associate Professor, School of Art, RMIT University