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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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++One time use++Very High fees apply++Portrait of Australian singer songwriter Colin Hay. Must Credit Paul Mobley

Historic honour for a man still at work

Colin Hay has earned global recognition for his ‘distinguished’ services to Australian music.

Andrew McMillen

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David StrachanThe old wall Bricherasio 1959oil on canvas on hardboard 91.0 x 106.5cmMargaet Hannah Olley Art Trust 1997Art Gallery of New South Wales

Through the eyes of Olley

Margaret Olley’s legacy as a champion of her peers and generous benefactor is something to be celebrated.

Christopher Allen

Review

Lloyd Rees, Law Courts North Quay, 1915, pencil on paper. City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane. Photo: Carl Warner.

Shaded by the genius of Rees

An exhibition of Lloyd Rees’s drawings contrasts with a century of work created by Brisbane’s leading ladies of art.

Christopher Allen

Review

Japan Supernatural Art Gallery of NSWUtagawa Kuniyoshi'Mitsukuni defies the skeleton spectreconjured up by Princess Takiyasha'1845–46woodblock print; ink and colour on papertriptych 36.9 x 74.2 cmBritish Museum, donated by AmericanFriends of the British Museum fromthe collection of Prof Arthur R Miller2008.3037.20106Photo: © The Trustees of the BritishMuseum

Japanese story lost in telling

Building is at last beginning on the Art Gallery of NSW’s much-criticised extension.

Christopher Allen

reviewReview

Shirin NeshatSarah 2016 (still)single-channel video installationduration: 12 min, 55 secCourtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels© Shirin Neshat

Persians persist in surreal logic

Iran has once again been in the news in the most dramatic way and yet remains a nation very poorly understood in the West.

Christopher Allen

Review

Hugh Ramsay Two girls in white 1904, also known as The sisters, oil on canvas on hardboard, 125.7 x 144.8 cm, Purchased 1921, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Photo: Ray Woodbury, AGNSW

Heir to lost visual language

Hugh Ramsay practised a tradition that predated the modernist fracturing of painting styles.

Christopher Allen

Visual Arts

National Gallery of Australia's James Mollison with their new work

Collector who worked tirelessly

James Mollison is, with Edmund Capon, one of the two most significant Australian public gallery directors of recent decades.

Christopher Allen

Review

Henri Matisse Reclining odalisque [Odalisque couchée] 1926, oil on canvas, 38.4 x 54.9 cm, Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, © Succession H Matisse / Copyright Agency

Spirit of artistic rivalry

Painting or sculpture, narrative or symbolism, yin or yang: this exhibition explores an age-old and ongoing debate.

Christopher Allen

ReviewReview

Roger KempAustralia 1908–87Music forms 1938–41enamel paint on cardboard86.3 x 111.8 cmNational Gallery of Victoria, MelbournePresented by the Kemp Trust through theAustralian Government's Cultural Gifts Program,2014© Kemp estate

Cast in a whole new light

The National Gallery of Victoria has gone to considerable lengths to highlight the work of Roger Kemp, in some cases quite literally.

Christopher Allen

Review

Words of distinction

A fierce and ongoing promotional campaign has over-estimated the significance of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art.

Christopher Allen

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/christopher-allen/page/30