Lecture: Michael Varcoe-Cocks ‘The Science of Landscape: Technical Research into the Paintings of Eugene von Guerard’
Friends of the Gallery Library Lecture
Michael Varcoe-Cocks (Conservator of Paintings 1850 - 1950)
The Science of Landscape: Technical Research into the Paintings of Eugene von Guérard
Eugene von Guerard, 'Mount Langi from Pleasant Creek', 1871. Oil on canvas, 34 x 51.8. P NGV (acc no. 1302-6). Purchased 1963.
Eugene von Guérard was Australia’s most sophisticated colonial landscape painter. His intricate depictions (that varied from remote wilderness to the grazing pastures of the western district Victoria), portrayed the specificity of Australia’s geology and fauna through a considered observation of nature that was informed by scientific principles.
In April 2011 the NGV will hold the first exhibition to celebrate this artist’s work in more than 20 years. This lecture will discuss the technical research and conservation treatments currently being undertaken on paintings held in the NGV’s collection. Evidence-based research has informed questions of originality, aesthetic priority, framing choices and the ideology at the centre of von Guérard’s artistic practise. The circumstances and manufacture of individual paintings has also been better understood as well as the supply and availability of artists’ materials in Melbourne during the 1850-1860s.
Date: Wednesday, 8 December 2010, 6pm for 6.30pm
Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd (enter North entrance, via the Arts Centre forecourt)
Cost: Friends of the Gallery Library - Free; Guest: $15 (includes refreshments on arrival)
Bookings Essential
Ph 03 8620 2258
Email jessemyn.schippers@ngv.vic.gov.au
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National Gallery of Victoria
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