John McDonald
John McDonald is an art critic for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Line, space, repeat: The divine madness in this artist’s abstract patterns
At 82, Australian abstract artist Lesley Dumbrell’s retrospective, Thrum, is long overdue.
- by John McDonald
Latest
Take a trip through time in this stunning photo exhibition
There’s deep complexity to the deceptively simple photos of Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto at the MCA.
- by John McDonald
At this year’s arts awards in Darwin, a star was born
Darwin at the beginning of August is an essential moment on the local art calendar.
- by John McDonald
At Australia’s richest landscape prize, art conquered politics
This year’s $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize offered a range of ways of seeing our wildest terrain.
- by John McDonald
It’s a great year for ancient Egypt – but mummies make museums nervous
The National Museum of Australia’s Discovering Ancient Egypt exhibition, one of three big shows in Australia, has cautionary signs for those who might be upset by human remains.
- by John McDonald
The best way to understand Australian landscape art? Go feral in the remote wild
Of all the art events I’ve attended over the past decade, my trips to Newhaven have proven the most valuable.
- by John McDonald
Arthur Boyd’s renowned landscape paintings shown together for the first time
The artist’s suite of large-scale landscape paintings will be shown in the place they were made.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Review
A critic’s pick of the best and worst of the Archibald Prize portraits
A handful of works stand out from a selection that seems to have been made for variety rather than quality.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Review
When was the last time a soap ad gave you spiritual pleasure?
Alphonse Mucha made the bold claim that his posters turned the street in “open-air art exhibitions”.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Review
Master or monster: The artist equally loathed and revered
Call it charisma, presence or personal magnetism. Paul Gauguin had it in abundance.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Review
Do we care about the Archibald Prize too much?
The best interpretation one may put upon this phenomenon is that it’s a bit of fun, but it is a worrisome trend because the prize becomes the public standard by which art is judged.
- by John McDonald
Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/by/john-mcdonald-p4yvrc