Tag: Museum History

Duldig Sculpture Lecture | Sculpture and the Museum: From Fortunate Son to Runaway Child - Christopher Marshall | University of Melbourne

Image: Interior view, Gipsoteca canoviano, Possagno (Treviso)

In 2005, the Director of the National Gallery, London, signalled the long-standing eclipse of sculpture in favour of painting when he noted that “sculpture is what you fall over when you step back from the paintings”. The expanded field of contemporary sculptural practice, including installations, conceptual art and commissioned artist interventions, has nonetheless re-energised and revitalised the potential of sculpture to engage with the historical, institutional and even commercial dimensions of the museum. This lecture will consider the long and complex development from the Renaissance to today with a particular focus on the key role played by sculpture in communicating powerful ideas and associations when placed in dynamic museum exhibition environments. Date: 1 September 2016, 6:15-7:15 Venue: Forum Theatre, Level 1, Arts West Building, University of Melbourne Free to attend but registration required online: https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/7318-sculpture-and-the-museum-from-fortunate-son-to-runaway-child Lecture introduced by Ken Scarlett OAM, Writer…

Melbourne Portrait Group Seminar | Alison Inglis: Portraiture and the colonial collection

Associate Professor Alison Inglis | ‘Portraiture and the Colonial Collection: Searching for Portraits in the National Gallery of Victoria in the Nineteenth Century This paper will investigate the significance of the portrait during the early years of the National Gallery of Victoria by reconstructing this aspect of the collection prior to Federation. To what extent did the Trustees of Victoria’s leading colonial institution (consisting of the Public Library, Museum and National Gallery combined) seek to fulfill the role of a national portrait gallery by adopting such traditions as ‘the hall of fame’? Furthermore, can the contemporary perception of portraiture and its role in the Gallery be ascertained by examining such initiatives as the NGV Travelling Scholarship (which started in 1887)? This paper will seek to provide fresh insights into the contribution of portraiture to the construction of colonial cultural identity…

Public Lecture | Wreckage and Reclamation: Politics and Art in Brisbane 1987-1997 | Doug Hall

“The greatest thing that could happen to this State - and the Nation - is when we can get rid of the media. Then we could live in peace and tranquility, and no one would know anything.”  Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, former Queensland Premier, the Spectator, London, 12 December 1987. “This, December 2, 1989, is the end of the Bjelke-Petersen era.” Wayne Goss, election victory speech, 2 December, 1989. The one-liner, ‘it could only happen in Queensland’, is now but a well-worn and a meaningless cliché. The conduct that it supposedly represents has now become established as a trans-state phenomenon. Queensland has long-struggled to shake off its reputation as a haven for vulgar hedonism, being intellectually thin, culturally remote with an inglorious history of political corruption, often underpinned by the obligatory acquiescence of its public institutions. This lecture is a personal…

Reminder | Seats still available for the Dean’s Lecture tomorrow (Wed) on The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge: a case study in the evolution of the art museum – Duncan Robinson

The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge: a case study in the evolution of the art museum Dean’s Lecture | Duncan Robinson The Fitzwilliam Museum was founded in 1816 by the bequest made to the University of Cambridge by a wealthy alumnus, Richard Viscount Fitzwilliam. In this lecture, Duncan Robinson traces its development, reflected in its architecture, from the private collection of an 18th Century aristocrat to its position today as one of Britain’s foremost art museums in which full, public access is combined with objects-based research, conservation facilities and teaching at all levels in order to fulfil its founder’s commitment to ‘the increase of learning.’ Duncan Robinson, CBE, FSA, was, until his retirement in 2012, the Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, and a Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is a graduate of both Cambridge and Yale Universities and a former…

Lecture | The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge: a case study in the evolution of the art museum - Duncan Robinson

The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge: a case study in the evolution of the art museum Dean’s Lecture | Duncan Robinson The Fitzwilliam Museum was founded in 1816 by the bequest made to the University of Cambridge by a wealthy alumnus, Richard Viscount Fitzwilliam. In this lecture, Duncan Robinson traces its development, reflected in its architecture, from the private collection of an 18th Century aristocrat to its position today as one of Britain’s foremost art museums in which full, public access is combined with objects-based research, conservation facilities and teaching at all levels in order to fulfil its founder’s commitment to ‘the increase of learning.’ Duncan Robinson, CBE, FSA, was, until his retirement in 2012, the Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, and a Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is a graduate of both Cambridge and Yale Universities and a former…

Lecture | From Titian to Tartan – The National Galleries of Scotland, Michael Clarke

From Titian to Tartan – The National Galleries of Scotland Michael Clarke, Director, National Galleries of Scotland  Founded in 1850, the National Galleries of Scotland is now one of the leading galleries in Europe, embracing art from the early Renaissance to the present day. Their collection of fine art is amongst the best in the world. This lecture recounts that history, set against the background of Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh, the ‘Athens of the North’. This event is presented in association with the Friends of the Gallery Library (NGV). Michael Clarke has been Keeper and then Director of the Scottish National Gallery since 1987. He was educated at Manchester University and, prior to joining the National Galleries of Scotland, worked at the British Museum and Manchester University. His numerous publications include The Tempting Prospect: a social history of English watercolours…

NGV Lecture: The history of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and presentation of modern art, from 1870 to the present

NGV Programs presents: The history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and presentation of modern art, from 1870 to the present Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Chairman, Nineteenth Century, Modern and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Join us for an evening lecture on twentieth century art by the 2011 Australian International Cultural Foundation Visiting Scholar and discover how The Met’s collecting practices aided in the creation of other New York institutions such as MoMA and the Whitney. This lecture is generously supported by the Australian International Cultural Foundation, an affiliate of Art Exhibitions Australia. Date: Thursday 24th March, 6pm. Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV International (enter North Entrance, via Arts Centre forecourt), NGV International. Cost: Free. Bookings not essential but seats are limited.

Call for Papers - Travel in the Nineteenth Century: Narratives, Histories and Collections

Call for papers Travel in the Nineteenth Century: Narratives, Histories and Collections Lincoln, UK, 14-15 July 2011 Closing date for proposals: 15 February 2021 In the nineteenth century, railways made distant locations ever more accessible, the Grand Tour became more and more a pastime of the middle classes and British imperial expansion brought exotic locales and non-Western cultures ever closer to home.  New ways of thinking about and communicating experiences of travel and of interactions with other cultures held a significant influence in various areas of nineteenth-century culture.  This period saw an enormous expansion in museums and popular exhibition culture, technological innovations such as photography and film, as well as the vast growth of a popular press that served to deliver these experiences, images and objects to an increasingly literate public.  This public in turn seemed to possess an insatiable…