Tag Archive for National Gallery of Australia

News | NGA releases report on their Asian Art Provenance project

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Image of Goddess Durga statue

Last week the NGA published the results of their independent review of their Asian Art Provenance Project. The review followed the scandal over the 12th century Shiva statue that was revealed to be part of a cache of art looted from a temple and sold by now-disgraced New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor. The review has turned up a 22 objects with questionable provenance (including the already returned Shiva and the soon-to-be-returned Seated Buddha). The NGA director Gerard Vaughan said ‘I welcome Mrs Crennan’s independent assessment which clarifies the legal and ethical framework in which the NGA’s collecting should take place; this will prove invaluable for ongoing provenance-checking and comparative risk assessment. The review provides a clear set of guidelines which the NGA can incorporate into…

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News | Kirsten Paisley appointed Deputy Director of the National Gallery of Australia

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Kirsten-Paisley-1

News that Kirsten Paisley has been appointed as the new Deputy Director at the National Gallery of Australia. She has been at the Shepparton Art Museum as Director since 2007 and led the organisation through a period of change and growth. She has previously worked at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and The Art Gallery of Ballarat. SAM stated that they were ‘very proud (and sad) to share the news’ of her new appointment. From the NGA: “Kirsten brings significant expertise in arts management and a successful career in fundraising and we are very pleased to be welcoming her to the NGA in Canberra,” said Gerard Vaughan, NGA Director. “I am excited about the opportunity I have been afforded, and…

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Symposium | The Known World: The Eighth Australian Print Symposium | National Gallery of Australia

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Alison Alder, The known world 2015, screenprint, printed in nine colour inks, from two photo-stencils, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2015.

Prints were once the prime means of communicating information about the unknown world, but how does print production operate today? This three-day symposium will explore various strategies that contemporary print artists have adopted to make sense of our world. Symposium Convenor: Roger Butler AM, Senior Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Australia Keynote address: Dr Ann Stephen, Senior Curator, University Art Gallery, The University of Sydney, will launch the symposium with a reflection on the impact of the visionary Bauhaus model on the circulation and production of prints by Australian artists who explore the spaces between present knowledge and future possibilities. Speakers include: Chris de Rosa, Brian Robinson, Patsy Payne, Lonnie Hutchinson, Jake Holmes & Cassie Alvey [Tooth…

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News | Provenance projects at the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia

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One of the works to be researched. Chola dynasty (9th-13th centuries)India, The sacred bull Nandi, vehicle of Shiva11th-12th centuryTamil Nadu, Indiasculptures, graniteTechnique: granite80.5 h x 110.5 w x 55.0 d cm ; weight 545 kgPurchased with the assistance of Roslyn Packer AO 2009Accession No: NGA 2009.56

The National Gallery of Australia has announced an independent review into its Asian Art Collection to address issues of provenance. From the NGA The Asian art collection holds approximately 5,000 items. A preliminary internal assessment has identified 54 significant South Asian works which are now public on its website, for which further information and documentation is sought. None of these works is subject to claim. Through the initiatives announced today, the NGA will pursue thorough and detailed research into the provenance of its Asian collection working with appropriate experts and authorities. The Gallery will also work with relevant donors. It is expected that the detailed research of this kind will take several years to complete. ‘The NGA acknowledges that there are…

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News | Gerard Vaughan confirmed as new director of the National Gallery of Australia

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Gerard Vaughan, photo via NGV website

After a few weeks of rumours it has been confirmed that Gerard Vaughan is to take over from Ron Radford as the next director of the National Gallery of Australia. Vaughan will finish his position at the Australian Institute of Art History at the University of Melbourne and begin the new role on November 10th. From the press release (full version here) Professor Vaughan is a recognised international scholar and has had a distinguished career in the museum and galleries sector. He has an outstanding record of leadership, stakeholder engagement, fundraising and cultural diplomacy. Professor Vaughan has extensive knowledge of the arts sector gained in his thirteen years as Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, as Director of the…

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Exhibition Review | Atua: sacred gods from Polynesia | David Hansen

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Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia Stone figure 19th century, Musée du quai Branly, Paris © 2013. Musée du quai Branly photograph: Hughes Dubois/Scala, Florence

  This is a ‘pre-print’ version of a review to be published by the University of Hawai’i Press in The Contemporary Pacific (vol. 17 no.1) in early 2015. Atua: sacred gods from Polynesia is on at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra from 23 May – 3 August 2020 As you pass between the split-text panels at the entrance to Atua: sacred gods from Polynesia, your first encounter is with two semi-abstract totemic figures from a ritual sanctuary or marae, carved by contemporary Cook Island artist Eruera Nia. Embedded in a low, square, grey plinth, these silver-weathered woodenarabesques or parentheses are at once descriptive and abstract, hieratic and dynamic, leaping up into vision and consciousness in a manner comparable to that of…

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News, Writing and Reviews on Art and Art History | March 21st 2014

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Is that a cockatoo I see? Andrea Mantegna,1496, Tempera on canvas, Louvre Museum, Paris

News, Writing and Reviews on Art and Art History Katrina Grant Ron Radford, director of the National Gallery of Australia, has announced his plans to retire. He will step down from the role in September. He has been director since 2005. More here. An article in The Guardian about the work of Heather Dalton from the University of Melbourne that proposes that there is a sulphur-crested cockatoo in Mantegna’s Madonna della Vittoria (1496). I think I am keeping my sceptical hat on for this one – though I am intrigued and would like to read the full research. One commenter on The Guardian seems to have solved it though saying – “All this proves, is that the Italian cockatoo is extinct.”…

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Internship | Gordon Darling Graduate Intern at the National Gallery of Australia

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NGA Level 4 | Position No. 5040 | $61,706 – $67,075 pa The Gordon Darling Graduate Intern will be engaged in the areas of cataloguing,  acquisition documents and assisting with exhibition development and with an emphasis on web-based delivery of information on the Collection. Suitable applicants will have relevant tertiary qualifications or equivalent and a demonstrated interest and knowledge of Australian Prints with a commitment to a career in print curatorship. Sound research skills, experience with database entry and a demonstrated knowledge of collection management databases, preferably KE EMu. This is a full time non-ongoing employment opportunity available for a period of 12 months from May 2014. Further information is available by contacting Roger Butler on(02) 6240 6414.  Information regarding…

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Symposium | Sculpture: Place and Space

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David_Jensz_Life_Cycle

 Sculpture: Place and Space Australian National University, Research School of Humanities and the Arts, the ANU School of Art and the National Gallery of Australia National Gallery of Australia, May 10 – 12, 2013 The symposium is a highlight of the 2013 Centenary of Canberra program TOUCH: Sculpture and the Land that has been designed to celebrate sculpture in all its forms. TOUCH: Sculpture and the Land is taking place in venues across Canberra in May 2013 and includes special exhibitions at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery and School of Art Gallery, various activities and events at ACT Galleries and Art Centres, artists in residence, walks, talks and tours of sculpture collections on the ANU Campus and International Sculpture Park and…

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