A gift that keeps on giving
The collection of 154 pieces of art given by Melbourne art dealer Joseph Brown to the National Gallery of Victoria reveals a taste that was open and even eclectic.
Visual Arts
Wilde ballet will challenge audiences
The Australian Ballet is breaking new ground with Oscar, a ballet about the flamboyant life and romantic loves of Oscar Wilde.
Beyond the cliche of the flawed genius
For all his personal and creative faults, artist Paul Gauguin remains a focus of attention.
Enigmatic artist’s journey from the sensual to spiritual
Mystery surrounds the transformation of Mervyn Napier Waller from painter of seductive nudes to leading religious artist.
Bookstore turns page with daring display
A new Vernon Ah Kee mural celebrates Brisbane writers as it wraps around independent bookstore Avid Reader.
Descent into genre folie a deux
Grace Crowley seems to have drawn by Ralph Balson into genre so incompatible with her sensibility that it extinguished her inspiration.
Paul Gauguin a pedophile? Let’s be clear about the facts
This important survey of the French post-impressionist’s work is mercifully free of irrelevant ideological posturing.
‘It’s a gift’: popular independent theatre set to be given away
After 36 years, Gail Wiltshire is offering her theatre, and its legacy, to the people – much to the frustration of developers.
Children of the Sun
Carl Sagan, the great American astronomer, was fond of pointing out that our bodies are “made of star-stuff”. It’s literally true.
‘First contact’ artist wins $100k prize
An artist who was one of Australia’s last traditional hunter-gatherers has won the $100,000 Telstra Art Award, the nation’s most prestigious prize for Indigenous artists.
How you can ‘party like its 1599’ at the Illuminate festival
The festival’s eclectic program this year will involve almost 150 artists who draw on everything from deepfake technology to 3D NASA photographs and the primal power of fire.
Gauguin exhibition begins at his lonely end
The National Gallery of Australia’s Gauguin blockbuster is the first exhibition to focus on the French master’s Oceania period.
Raising the temperature
Melbourne’s Rising festival of art, music and performance has plenty to amuse and provoke.
How to deter art vandals? Punish them properly
It’s time to weight fines on gallery vandals with the significance of their targets.
Portrait prize landed as owl gives wings to ‘Archibald reject’
One art competition’s reject turned into another’s treasure for veteran painter Noel McKenna – with a slight rework to claim the top gong.
‘Journey of a lifetime’ over for artist’s $14m masterpiece
Built like a spaceship, an ancient symbol of a self-consuming snake lands on the lawns of the National Gallery, and to Lindy Lee, the career-defining masterpiece is simply ‘magical’.
Behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ of art’s greatest illustrator
As the NSW Art Gallery prepares to unveil the largest collection of Alphonse Mucha’s work seen in Australia, we delve into the illustrations that created a blueprint for modern poster art, hidden in the wake of Nazi Occupation and Communist rule.
Is art the key to a circular economy?
Artist Nicholas Mangan’s new exhibition A World Undone at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia explores a time before consciousness and life itself.
‘Absolutely incredible’: record local showing of Egyptian treasures
More than 500 artefacts from the British Museum will go on show at the National Gallery of Victoria on Friday aimed at a ‘new generation’ and the curator is still making discoveries.
After losing her voice, Jenny Morris found her heart
Her chart-topping music career was cruelly cut short but a decade after she stopped performing this pop star has carved out a new creative life – one that changes lives.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts