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Rover Thomas at National Museum of Australia
A masterwork by the iconic Kimberley artist Rover Thomas has been donated to the National Museum of Australia in honour of Lauraine Diggins OAM. The large-scale painting Jabanunga depicts the Rainbow Serpent penetrating the earth following a subterranean journey in the wake of Cyclone Tracey’s destruction of Darwin. Lauraine was a strong supporter of Indigenous […]
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Jessie Scarvell
The S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney recently posted this video with Director Jane Watters highlighting their holdings of artworks by Jessie Scarvell, which were gifted by her daughter. Scarvell (1862 – 1950) was an exponent of Australian Impressionism who exhibited over 60 of her plein air landscapes at the Art Society of NSW throughout the […]
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Nora Heysen
The Fierce Girls podcast series on the ABC recently featured artist NORA HEYSEN – first female artist to win the coveted Archibald Prize in 1938 and first woman to be appointed an official war artist. Nora Heysen’s talent was recognised early by her father, the acclaimed artist Hans Heysen. As he noted in a letter […]
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In the Spotlight: Sophie Steffanoni
Sophie Steffanoni had been consigned to the ranks of overlooked women artists of the turn of the twentieth century until a cache of her artwork and correspondence were discovered in 1987, leading to an exhibition of her work at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1996. Steffanoni was a professional artist, working for the family embroidery business […]
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MARIAN ELLIS ROWAN – Blue Flowers
Ellis Rowan blurred the lines between fine art and natural history illustration with artworks characterised not only by their detailed accuracy but also her own compositional charm and touches of dramatic interest.
(Blue Flowers, possibly Scaevola Basedowii) depicts a centrally placed display of the spidery network of branches juxtaposed with the delicate small blue flowers…
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MARIAN ELLIS ROWAN August – September 2021
Marian Ellis Rowan (1848 – 1922) was a remarkable woman who travelled around the world to capture exotic flora in her elegant paintings. First inspired by the gardens of her youth at Mount Macedon, Victoria and family connections to government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, she became a celebrated artist known for depicting wildflowers and birdlife, recording numerous botanical species throughout remote Australia; New Zealand; the United Kingdom; the United States of America and Papua New Guinea…..
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In The Spotlight…Robert Dickerson
Dickerson’s reputation as an artist was established during the 1950s with the support of John Reed and Rudy Komon with whom he exhibited from 1959. His figurative work portrays individuals in both urban and rural settings with an overriding emotional mood and psychological insight, all conveyed in his unique and recognisable visual language, one he continued with throughout his artistic practice.
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In The Spotlight…Charles Conder
This small, rapidly painted sketch belongs to Conder’s Melbourne years (1888-90) and is typical of his en plein air style. This was a style, developed in the ateliers of Paris and in the summer painting ‘camps’ of rural France in the 1870s that involved the artist capturing and holding the essence of the moment and the scene as he or she stood in […]
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A Closer Look At… John Dent large-scale paintings
This is the final week to view our current exhibition John Dent: Between Two Countries and we invite you to take A Closer Look At… John Dent’s larger paintings in the exhibition. The subject matter of the larger paintings crosses a broad range: landscapes; interiors; figures; still lifes – all themes with a long tradition […]
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A Closer Look At… John Dent in Paris
In our next A Closer Look At… we examine the paintings of Paris by John Dent which are redolent with atmosphere, indicative of his ability to absorb the sense of place he discovered there. Mostly, these are quiet introspective moments, a captured snapshot in time. The street scenes take the viewer on a promenade with […]