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Christopher Allen has been The Australian’s national art critic since 2008. He is an art historian and educator, teaching classical Greek and Latin. He has written an edited several books including Art in Australia and believes that the history of art in this country is often underestimated.

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Review

The windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede by Jacob van Ruisdael*oil on canvas *83 x 101 cm *ca. 1668 - ca. 1670 Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_van_Ruisdael#/media/File:The_Windmill_at_Wijk_bij_Duurstede_1670_Ruisdael.jpg From Classical to Romantic landscape

A shifting landscape

The popularity of landscape artists waxed and waned throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, but many are now rightly revered for their craft.

Christopher Allen

artReview

Landscape with Rest on the flight into Egypt (oil painting) by Claude Lorrain Rise of Landscape

Views of landscape’s peak

It is fair to consider the history of landscape in the West as divided into two parts; before and after Claude Lorrain.

Christopher Allen

Review

Naked progression laid bare

The history of figure painting shows a fascinating transformation of how painters have inculcated nudity through their art.

Christopher Allen

Review

The Peasant Wedding by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566-69Public domain:

Eye for the everyday

Art imitates life in re-creating visual stories of how ordinary folk lived and passed their time centuries ago

Christopher Allen

Review

Detail of Nicolas Poussin - Et in Arcadia Ego (1637-38)

Heart on the sleeve

Expression in painting has been used to convey not only emotions for their own sake but also to convey narrative meaning.

Christopher Allen

Review

Penn’s Treaty with the Indians by Benjamin West

Figures define painted moment

The human shape is central to historical pictures.

Christopher Allen

booksReview

All the tome in the world

This is the year to have a crack at those literary masterpieces or art monographs we’ve promised ourselves we’d read one day.

Christopher Allen

artReview

Well I knew that 1988 charcoal and watercolour on paper 57 x 76cm Peter Kingston ExhibitionFirst Light: the Art of Peter KingstonSH Ervin GalleryCourtesy of The Beagle Press

A ferry for his thoughts

The most appealing aspect of Peter Kingston’s work is its openness, going beyond the ego to the living world around him.

Christopher Allen

Virtual exploringReview

3d rendering of with virtual reality glasses, headset on pink background. Surreal futuristic concept.

Far from the madding crowd

There was a time when an art lover needed to travel abroad to peek inside Milan’s Galleria d’Arts Moderna or New York’s Museum of Modern Art or the Rijksmuseum. Not anymore.

Ashleigh Wilson

artsReview

The Mahi-Mahi by Rob PalmerWINNER NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHICPORTRAIT PRIZE 2020The National PhotographicPortrait PrizeJosh Niland, head chef and owner of Saint Peter restaurant, isreinventing what can be done with fish, and – most importantly– with every part of the fish, in a huge effort to drastically reduce wastage

Rare portraits cut through dross

Painted portraits have a long history, which we can follow continuously since their reappearance in the Renaissance.

Christopher Allen

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/christopher-allen/page/28