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Australian Art

Charles Conder, born Tottenham, Middlesex, Britain 1868, died Virginia Water, Surrey, Britain 1909, A holiday at Mentone, 1888, Melbourne, oil on canvas, 46.2 x 60.8 cm; South Australian Government Grant with the assistance of Bond Corporation Holdings Limited through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation to mark the Gallery's Centenary 1981, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Australian Art

Our Australian collection presents a comprehensive survey of Australian art, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, from around 1800 to the present. Among its strengths are its nineteenth-century works (including Australian Impressionist paintings and colonial silverware and furniture), its twentieth-century Modernist collection (which includes a renowned selection of works by female artists) and the work by South Australian artists. The Australian Prints, Drawings and Photographs collection includes 2,000 drawings by Hans Heysen, bequeathed by the artist, and the R.J. Noye collection of 6,000 early South Australian photographs.

In 1939 the Gallery became the first Australian art museum to acquire a work by an Aboriginal artist and today, the traditional and the contemporary unite a diverse collection which includes desert paintings on canvas, bark paintings in ochre, photography, video, textiles, ceramics, glass and sculpture. Highlights of the contemporary Australian collection include Lindy Lee’s Life of Stars at the Gallery entrance and the Kulata Tjuta collaboration, made by Aṉangu artists working in the north of the state.

Lidia Groblicka, born Zólkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) 1933, died Adelaide 2012, Portrait of Lidia in a field, 2005, Poland?, type C photograph, 15.1 x 10.1 cm (image & sheet); Gift of Tadeusz Groblicki 2013, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Courtesy of the artist's family, photo: Stewart Adams.

Artist in Focus

Lidia Groblicka

Barbara Hanrahan, born Adelaide 1939, died Adelaide 1991, Flora, 1970, London, pencil & coloured inks, clear varnish on cardboard, 56.0 x 36.2 cm (comp.), 66.0 x 53.5 cm (sheet); Shirley Cameron Wilson Bequest Fund 2007, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Courtesy estate of the artist.

Artist in focus

Barbabra Hanrahan

Photo: Claudia Fitzpatrick.

Artist in Focus

Tracey Moffatt

Albert Namatjira, Western Aranda people, Northern Territory, born Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Northern Territory 1902, died Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory 1959, Rutjipma- Mount Sonder, c 1954, Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Northern Territory?, watercolour on paper, 28.5 x 38.0 cm (sight); Donated in memory of Brian, Madge and Alister Hastings by Alison Hastings through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2018. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency.

Curator's Insight

Albert Namatjira’s radiant landscape depicts an ancestral site on his father's country

Bessie Ellen Davidson, born Adelaide 1879, died Paris 1965, Artist’s paint box with French coastal landscape, c 1930, Guéthary, France, oil on wood panel in wooden paint box, 6.0 x 21.2 x 25.1 cm (closed); Gift of Stella Reeves in memory of her godmother, the artist 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Curator's Insight

The vigorous post-impressionist style of Bessie Davidson is examined by Elle Freak

C Douglas Richardson, born Britain 1853, died Melbourne 1932, On the beach, 1914, Melbourne, white clay low fired, 29.5 cm (height); Gift of Will Abel Smith and Mary Choate through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Curator's Insight

Tracey Lock introduces a new addition to AGSA'S Australian sculpture collection

Sidney Nolan, born Melbourne 1917, died London 1992, Antarctica, 1964, London, oil on composition board, 121.0 x 121.0 cm; Gift of the Gwinnett Family, Helen Bowden, Ross Adler AC, The Hon. Justice Mark Livesey, Peggy Barker, Elspeth Doman OAM, Tom Pearce, Lady Potter AC, Dick Whitington QC and David and Jennifer Hallett, through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Sidney Nolan Appeal 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Estate of Sidney Nolan/Copyright Agency.

Curator's Insight

Ben Quilty, Australia, born 1973, Khodayar Amini, 2017, Southern Highlands, New

South Wales, oil on linen, 130.0 x 110.0 cm; Gift of Paul Walker and Patricia Mason in

memory of Khodayar Amini through the Art Gallery of South Australia Contemporary

Collectors 2018. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program ,

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Courtesy the artist, photo: Brenton

McGeachie.

Curator's Insight

Delve into Ben Quilty's series of paintings dedicated to the lost lives of asylum seekers

Margaret Dodd, born Berri, South Australia 1941, Holden with hair curlers, from the series This Woman is Not a Car, c 1977, St Peters, South Australia, earthenware, 20.5 x 40.0 x 18.0 cm; Catherine G. Brown Bequest 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Margaret Dodd/Copyright Agency, photo: Saul Steed.

Curator's Insight

Leigh Robb celebrates Margaret Dodd, a South Australian icon

Ethel Carrick Fox, born Uxbridge, Middlesex, England 1872, died Melbourne 1952, Sur la plage, c 1910, France, oil on wood panel, 26.5 x 35.0 cm; Gift of Aldridge Family Endowment, Frank Choate, Susan Cocks, Dr Michael Drew, Emeritus Professor Anne Edwards AO, Dr Michael Hayes, Lipman Karas, Edward Mansfield, Jacqui McGill, Jane McGregor, David Urry, Peter and Pamela McKee, Dr Joe Verco AM, Dick Whitington QC, Peter Wilson and Zena Winser through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Curator's Insight

A look at two paintings by artist Ethel Carrick Fox

Trevor Nickolls, Ngarrindjeri people, South Australia, born Adelaide 8 June 1949, died Adelaide 29 September 2012, Brush with the Lore, 2010, Adelaide, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 119.5 x 182.5 x 2.0 cm; Acquisition through Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art supported by BHP 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Estate of Trevor Nickolls/Copyright Agency.

Curator's Insight

A look at a new acquisition by Ngarrindjeri artist Trevor Nickolls

Photo: Carl Warner.

Curator's Insight

AGSA's acquisition of two paintings by Judy Watson from Tarnanthi 2019

image: Ali Gumillya Baker, Mirning people, Nullarbor Plain, South Australia, born 1975, Rose Park, South Australia, Sovereign Fleet (red) Faye Rosas Blanch (performer), 2013-2016, Adelaide, pigment print on paper, 147.5 x 106.5 cm (framed); Gift of the artist 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Ali Gumillya Baker (the artist), photo: DENYS FINNEY VISUAL MEDIA.

Assistant Director's Insight

Dr Lisa Slade discusses Aboriginal sovereignty featured by Ali Gumillya Baker

Doreen Goodchild, born Adelaide 1900, 1998, The girl in the yellow hat, 1946, Adelaide, oil on board, 39.0 x 34.7 cm; Gift of David McKee AO through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Estate of Doreen Goodchild.

Curator's Insight

Tracey Lock examines Goodchild’s charming portrait

Dorrit Black, born Adelaide 23 December 1891, died Adelaide 1951, Still life - interior, c 1930, Sydney, oil on board, 60.0 x 45.0 cm; Lorraine Hossack Fund through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Curator's Insight

Dorrit Black’s critically transformative period is discussed by Tracey Lock

Schulim Krimper, born Sereth, Romania 1893, died St Kilda, Victoria 1971, Cocktail Cabinet, c 1965, Melbourne, teak, 158.0 x 101.5 x 43.0 cm; Gift of William J. S. Boyle, Mary Choate, Kathy Crosby, Dr Peter Dobson, Barbara Fargher, Shane Le Plastrier, Joan Lyons, David McKee AO and Tom Pearce through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, photo: Sotheby’s Australia.

Curator's Insight

Gloria Strzelecki shares a major acquisition by Schulim Krimper

Curator's Insight

Leanne Santoro writes on six acquisitions of South Australian woodcarver Maud Baillie (née Golley)

Gareth Sansom, born Melbourne 1939, Wittgenstein’s brush with Vorticism, 2016, Sorrento, Victoria, oil and enamel paint on canvas, 213.4 x 274.3 cm; Australian Art Donations Fund 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Gareth Sansom, photo: Andrew Curtis.

Assistant Director's Insight

Lisa Slade looks at the work Wittgenstein’s brush with vorticism by Gareth Sansom

H. J. Johnstone, born Birmingham, England 1835, died London, England 1907, Evening shadows, backwater of the Murray, South Australia, 1880, London, oil on canvas, 120.6 x 184.1 cm; Gift of Mr Henry Yorke Sparks 1881, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Curator's Insight

Tracey Lock celebrates the Evening Shadows Phenomenon

James Oatley, 1770, 1839, Longcase clock, 1820, Sydney, Australian cedar, casuarina, 213.0 x 56.0 x 27.0 cm; Gift of Alastair Hunter OAM in memory of his grandparents Alexander and Annie (Bowden) Hunter, and Charles and Muriel (Day) Perry through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Curator's Insight

Tracey Lock discusses a rare, early example of a domestic longcase clock