Royal seal of approval for Australian works

PRINCE Charles has been named as the patron of the Royal Academy's survey of Australian art, a show that will feature works spanning 200 years.

PRINCE Charles has been named as the patron of the Royal Academy's survey of Australian art, a landmark show that will feature works spanning 200 years of Australian art.

In London last night the academy revealed some of the artists and artworks that have been selected for the exhibition, Australia , which opens on September 21.

John Glover and Eugene von Guerard will be represented alongside Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Charles Conder and Frederick McCubbin. Others include Margaret Preston, Grace Cossington Smith, Roy de Maistre, Rosalie Gascoigne, Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley and Sidney Nolan.

Many of these artists made a particular mark in London in the 1960s, when Australian art was featured in sweeping surveys at the Tate and Whitechapel galleries.

Contemporary figures include Bill Henson, Gordon Bennett, Tracey Moffatt, Fiona Hall, Shaun Gladwell, Christian Thompson and Simryn Gill, Australia's representative at the upcoming Venice Biennale. Indigenous art will be represented by the likes of Albert Namatjira, Rover Thomas, Emily Kame Kngwarreye and artists from Papunya Tula.

While the full list of works has yet to be released, the academy has revealed the names of some highlights. These include McCubbin's The Pioneer (1904), four paintings from Nolan's Ned Kelly series, Cyclone Tracy (1991) by Thomas, Kngwarreye's Big Yam Dreaming (1995) and Gladwell's 2007 video Approach to Mundi Mundi.

Queensland artist Judy Watson has been commissioned to create a sculpture for the academy courtyard that will resonate with "the themes of the exhibition and with the context of its British setting".