Decades of under-funding have left many Australian art schools in a perilous state. And the present political and intellectual hostility to the creative arts is threatening their very existence.
Albert Namatjira’s Hermannsburg (c.1951)
National Gallery of Australia/Namatjira Legacy Trust
Asking Australians about their favourite art and artists reveals divides between those who like traditional versus contemporary forms. But Indigenous art transcends such categories.
Nestled in the heart of Melbourne’s city laneways, Leonardo Art Shop - also known as Nibbi’s - provided inspiration and education to a generation of young artists.
Vincent Namatjira, Western Arrernte people, Northern Territory, born 1983, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Close Contact, 2018, Indulkana, South Australia, synthetic polymer paint on plywood; Gift of the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation for the Ramsay Art Prize 2019.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, photo: Grant Hancock
Artists have always created monsters to embody human fears. In this year’s Adelaide Biennial, Australian contemporary artists bring our past demons and current fears to life.
The first director of the National Gallery of Australia has died at 88.
The biggest ever display of Islamic art at the Art Gallery of South Australia holds breathtaking masterpieces, and important lessons for all.
Art Gallery of South Australia/Saul Steed
No god but God at the Art Gallery of South Australia looks at over 1000 years of Islamic art, from Indonesia to Spain. It is a magnificent and necessary exhibition.
The cast of The Golden Shield by Anchuli Felicia King, currently on at Melbourne Theatre Company, shows faces too rarely seen on stage.
Jeff Busby/MTC
New research shows less than 10% of Australia’s artistic directors come from culturally diverse backgrounds – but many didn’t want the research to be done at all.
Ben Quilty, Australia, born 1973. Margaret Olley 2011. Oil on linen / 170.0 x 150.0 cm.
Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist. Photograph: Mim Stirling
Margaret Olley was known not only for her paintings, but her generosity. An exhibition of her work is currently on in Brisbane, alongside a survey of the work of Ben Quilty, her mentee and friend.
Detail from Fiona Foley Native Blood Type C photograph x cm Edition copy.
Fiona Foley
Art historians argue that the life of the artist should be viewed independently of their art but, for most Aboriginal artists, art is a cultural expression that encompasses their lives.
Rosslynd Piggott’s artworks explore an uncanny, dream-like state. A new exhibition of her objects, installations and paintings is a memorable reflection of a major Australian artist.
Sam Cranstoun, Utopia, The National, Carriageworks.
Zan Wimberley
The ambitiously named exhibition, The National: New Australian Art, lives up to its title as a visual examination of Australia in an age of uncertainty.
Artist Janet Laurence is ferocious and uncompromising in her work.
Jacquie Manning
Nora Heysen was the first woman to be awarded the Archibald Prize, but for most of her life she was defined not by her art, but by her relationship to her famous father, the artist Hans Heysen.
Kathleen Petyarre looking across Atnangker country, Northern Territory, December 2000.
Photograph Ian North; courtesy Wakefield Press
Dorrit Black, Grace Cossington Smith and Grace Crowley were some of many talented modernist women artists. But only with the advent of second wave feminism in the 1970s was their work properly acknowledged.
Visitors look at Blue poles (1952) during its trip to London for an abstract expressionism exhibition in 2016.
Andy Rains/EPA
The 1973 purchase of Jackson Pollock’s abstract expressionist painting – at a record price for the time – was a controversial moment in Australian art. Was it worth it?
S.T. Gill, Kangaroo Hunting, The Death, from his Australian Sketchbook (1865). Colonial hunting clubs were established across Australia in the 1830s and 1840s.
National Library of Australia
In the mid 19th century, kangaroo hunting was a sport. Colonial hunting clubs were established across Australia and everyone from Charles Darwin to Anthony Trollope tried their hand at shooting roos.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne