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Christopher AllenColumnist

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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Body Beautiful Body Beautiful Strangford Apollo, parian marble statue of a boy. Said to be from Anaphe,Cyclades, Greece, about 490 BC. The Trustees of the British Museum From theexhibition: The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece Presented by the BritishMuseum in collaboration with Bendigo Art Gallery 2 August - 9 November 2014To be used with exhibition only RIGHT: Jess Hart in Seafolly

Body of knowledge

THE modern concept of human beauty can be traced back to Ancient Greek sculptors discovering the torso.

Christopher Allen

Repetitive gestures

Repetitive gestures

A CENTURY ago, almost to the day, Australia seized the northern part of what is now Papua New Guinea from Germany.

Christopher Allen

Zen there’s swordplay

Zen there’s swordplay

THE samurai arose in a period that represented a cultural high point and left an indelible mark on Japanese literature and arts.

Christopher Allen

MUST CREDIT: SUPPLIED... Mortimer Menpes, Britain/Australia, 1855 1938, Waiting for the rickshaw, 1887 88, Japan or London, oil on panel (original frame), 26.0 x 19.7 cm, Collection of John E. Parkerson, United States, Image courtesy Parkerson Gallery From the exhibition: THE WORLD OF MORTIMER MENPES Art Gallery of South Australia Uuntil 7 September 2014. To be used in conjunction with exhibition only; not to be cropped, overprinted; must credit Picture: Supplied

Elephant in the picture

MORTIMER Menpes deserves to be considered on the fringes of Australian art history, but his story is still an interesting one.

Christopher Allen

MUST CREDIT: SUPPLIED...ONE TIME USE... Imants Tillers Skullbone Plains, 2013 acrylic & gouache on 24 canvas boards 152 x 142cm Courtesy: Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney Arc One Gallery, Melbourne Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide Jan Manton Art, Brisbane From the exhibition: The Skullbone Experiment UNSW Galleries until 30 August. To be used in conjunction with exhibition only; must credit; not to be cropped, overprinted, altered Picture: Supplied

Encounters with nature

TWO exhibitions show our changing relationship with the landscape around us.

Christopher Allen

MUST CREDIT: SUPPLIED... Dorrit Black, Australia, 1891-1951 The Bridge, 1930, Sydney, oil on canvas laid on board, 60.0 x 81.0 cm, bequest of the artist 1951, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide From the exhibition: Dorrit Black: unseen forces Art Gallery of South Australia To be used in conjunction with exhibition only Images must be reproduced in full with no cropping, overprinting or distortion. Images must be accompanied by the full caption in the format shown below including the copyright credit line. Picture: Supplied

Powers of restraint

DORRIT Black’s career is being surveyed in a welcome retrospective at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Christopher Allen

Eugène Devéria, Victor Hugo, 1829, Oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo, ‘Les Misérables’, vol. 1, Paris, 1927, State Library of Victoria. Part of the Library's Les Miserables - From Page to Stage.

Road to redemption

VICTOR Hugo’s Les Miserables (1862) is both a monumental historical drama and a series of stories with the immediate appeal of the parable.

Christopher Allen

What’s the point when joke falls flat?

What’s the point when joke falls flat?

THE real question is what large public art commissions are actually for.

Christopher Allen and comment

MUST CREDIT: SUPPLIED... Sue Ford Australia 1943 2009 No title (Woman in window) 1961, printed 1982 gelatin silver photograph 30.5 x 33.5 cm Sue Ford Archive, Melbourne Sue Ford Archive, Melbourne From the exhibition: Sue Ford 17 Apr 2014 24 Aug 2014 The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square To be used in conjunction with exhibition only; must credit; not to be cropped, overprinted or altered Picture: Supplied

Time, life and lines

PHOTOGRAPHER Sue Ford was attuned to certain aspects of the sensibility of her time, and particularly to the contemporary experience of women.

Christopher Allen

MUST CREDIT: Supplied... Kyogen mask Oto, Edo period, 18th century. National Noh Theatre ***This image may only be used in conjunction with editorial coverage of the Theatre of dreams, theatre of play no and kyogen in Japan, 14 Jun 27 Jul 2014, 31 Jul 14 Sep 2014, exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This image may not be cropped or overwritten. Prior approval in writing required for use as a cover. Caption details must accompany reproduction of the image.*** Media contact: Susanne Briggs Susanne.Briggs@ag.nsw.gov.au *** Local Caption *** ***This image may only be used in conjunction with editorial coverage of the Theatre of dreams, theatre of play no and kyogen in Japan, 14 Jun 27 Jul 2014, 31 Jul 14 Sep 2014, exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This image may not be cropped or overwritten. Prior approval in writing required for use as a cover. Caption details must accompany reproduction of the image.*** Media contact: Susanne Briggs Susanne.Briggs@ag.nsw.gov.au Picture: Supplied

Theatrical expressions

THE dark magical world of ritual found in one exhibition at the AGNSW serves as a suggestive foil to another, devoted to the Japanese Noh theatre.

Christopher Allen

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/christopher-allen/page/62