Art Gallery of New South Wales
Encyclopedia
The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), located in The Domain in Sydney
, New South Wales
, Australia
, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia. Admission is free to the general exhibition space, which features Australian (from settlement to contemporary), European and Asian art.
The fine arts display at the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879-1880
became the nucleus of a government collection administered by the Royal Art Society of New South Wales. However, most of the collection was destroyed in the Garden Palace Fire
of 1882, and the Art Society along with the trustees for the Academy of Art (formed in 1871) spent the next thirteen years debating with the state government, the press and the public, the need for a permanent gallery, its site, and the architect to build it. The Academy of Art trustees preferred a private architect, whereas the government want the assignment to be given to the Colonial Architect
.
The first two picture galleries were opened in 1897 and a further two in 1899. A watercolour gallery was added in 1901 and in 1902 the Grand Oval Lobby was completed. Outside the building, the names of old grand masters are emblazoned upon the front façade. In the panels beneath, bronze relief sculptures symbolise the contribution to art by four civilisations - Roman, Greek, Assyrian and Egyptian. On the main façade two remain empty, on the others all are empty.
In 1958, the gallery was renamed The Art Gallery of New South Wales under a new act of that name.
, entitled A Cavalier (Self Portrait), was stolen from the gallery. The painting had been donated by John Fairfax
and was valued at over $1 million. The theft raised questions about need for increased security at the gallery.
had retired and the new Colonial Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon
(1846–1914), was given the assignment. As a temporary measure, John Horbury Hunt, a private architect, had designed a small brick structure to temporarily house the collection, which was built in 1885. This building was dwarfed by the new gallery when it opened in 1897 and remained to the rear of the new gallery until it was demolished in 1969 to make way for new extensions. Although the majority of Vernon's buildings are in the Arts and Crafts style
, the 1897 building was built in the classical tradition. The gallery's design was conservative and was the penultimate example of the neo-Greek temple as a portico for a major public institution in Sydney.
The design of the vestibule, by James Barnet, is reportedly "derived from Raphael's Villa Madama in Rome (c. 1520). Here it is an especially fine and unusual example of design and detailing using Saunders' yellowblock, for instance, in its cornices and arches."
In 1968, the New South Wales Government decided that the gallery would be extended and form a major part of the Captain Cook Bicentenary celebrations. As a result, the "Captain Cook wing" was built and opened to public in November 1970. New gallery space was provided in five storeys behind the original classical façade, increasing the racking space to 1.25 linear kilometres, with a new café, a sculpture courtyard and administrative offices. Grey-toned rough concrete was used to blend the new construction with the sandstone of the old building. The extensions were designed by Andrew Andersons of PTW Architects
.
More recently, as part of the "Open Museum" project, sculptures have been positioned along the entry road. On 23 October 2003 a new Asian Arts wing was opened. It was designed by Sydney architect Richard Johnson and included alterations to the original Asian gallery, a new temporary exhibition space above the Art Gallery’s entrance foyer, new conservation studios, a café, a restaurant and dedicated function area. In 2003 the gallery also extended its opening hours until 9pm on Wednesday nights.
's Chaucer at the Court of Edward III. Later they bought work from Australian artists such as Streeton's 1891 Fire's On, Roberts' 1894 The Golden Fleece
and McCubbin's 1896 On the Wallaby Track
.
The gallery holds works by many Australian artists, including 19th-century Australian artists such as John Glover
, Arthur Streeton
, Eugene von Guerard
, John Russell
, Tom Roberts
, David Davies
, Charles Conder
, W. C. Piguenit, E. Phillips Fox
, Frederick McCubbin
, Sydney Long
and George W. Lambert.
20th-century Australian artists represented include Hugh Ramsay, Rupert Bunny
, Grace Cossington Smith
, Roland Wakelin
, Margaret Preston
, William Dobell
, Sidney Nolan
, Russell Drysdale
, James Gleeson
, Arthur Boyd
, Lloyd Rees
, John Olsen
, Fred Williams
, Brett Whiteley
and Imants Tillers
.
44 works held at the gallery were included in the 1973 edition of 100 masterpieces of Australian painting.
The gallery has an extensive collection of British Victorian art, such as Lord Frederic Leighton
and Sir Edward John Poynter
; smaller holdings of Dutch, French and Italian painters of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Canaletto
, Agnolo Bronzino, Domenico Beccafumi
and Niccolò dell'Abbate
; collections of European modernists such as Pierre Bonnard
, Georges Braque
, Pablo Picasso
, Auguste Rodin
, Claude Monet
, Paul Cézanne
and Camille Pissarro
, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
, Alberto Giacometti
and Giorgio Morandi
as well as modern British masters.
, the most prominent Australian art prize, along with the Sulman Prize}Sulman, Wynne
and Dobell
art prizes, among others. It also exhibits Artexpress, a yearly showcase of Higher School Certificate Visual Arts Examination artworks from across New South Wales.
, Hugh Grant walks past paintings in the Art Gallery of NSW, including Spring Frost by Elioth Gruner
, The Golden Fleece
(1894) by Tom Roberts
, Still Glides the Stream and Shall Forever Glide (1890) by Arthur Streeton
, Bailed Up
(1895) by Tom Roberts
, and Chaucer at the Court of Edward III (1847–51) by Ford Madox Brown
.
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia. Admission is free to the general exhibition space, which features Australian (from settlement to contemporary), European and Asian art.
History
On 24 April 1871, a public meeting was convened to establish an Academy of Art 'for the purpose of promoting the fine arts through lectures, art classes and regular exhibitions.' From 1872 until 1879 the Academy's main activity was the organisation of annual art exhibitions. On the 11 November 1880, at its 9th Annual Meeting, the Academy dissolved itself, stating that its aims had been realised in the foundation of a public Gallery. The Gallery at this time was known simply as The Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 1883 its name was changed to The National Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Gallery was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1899. The Library and Art Gallery Act 1899 provided for the general control and management of the Gallery.Garden Palace
thumb|300px|Sydney's Garden Palace; an architectural drawing from the 1870s.The Garden Palace was a large purpose-built exhibition building constructed to house the Sydney International Exhibition ...
became the nucleus of a government collection administered by the Royal Art Society of New South Wales. However, most of the collection was destroyed in the Garden Palace Fire
Garden Palace
thumb|300px|Sydney's Garden Palace; an architectural drawing from the 1870s.The Garden Palace was a large purpose-built exhibition building constructed to house the Sydney International Exhibition ...
of 1882, and the Art Society along with the trustees for the Academy of Art (formed in 1871) spent the next thirteen years debating with the state government, the press and the public, the need for a permanent gallery, its site, and the architect to build it. The Academy of Art trustees preferred a private architect, whereas the government want the assignment to be given to the Colonial Architect
New South Wales Government Architect
The New South Wales Government Architect is an officer of the New South Wales government. Historically, the government architect was in charge of the state government's public building projects....
.
The first two picture galleries were opened in 1897 and a further two in 1899. A watercolour gallery was added in 1901 and in 1902 the Grand Oval Lobby was completed. Outside the building, the names of old grand masters are emblazoned upon the front façade. In the panels beneath, bronze relief sculptures symbolise the contribution to art by four civilisations - Roman, Greek, Assyrian and Egyptian. On the main façade two remain empty, on the others all are empty.
In 1958, the gallery was renamed The Art Gallery of New South Wales under a new act of that name.
2007 Art theft
On 10 June 2007, a 17th-century work by Frans van MierisFrans van Mieris
Frans van Mieris is the name of:* Frans van Mieris, Sr., Dutch painter* Frans van Mieris, Jr., his grandson, Dutch painter...
, entitled A Cavalier (Self Portrait), was stolen from the gallery. The painting had been donated by John Fairfax
John Fairfax
John Fairfax , English-born journalist, is notable for the incorporation of the major newspapers of modern day Australia.-Early life:...
and was valued at over $1 million. The theft raised questions about need for increased security at the gallery.
Building
By the time the site was agreed upon in 1895, James BarnetJames Barnet
James Johnstone Barnet was the Colonial Architect for New South Wales from 1862 - 1890.-Life and career:Barnet was born at Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland. The son of a builder, he was educated at the local high school...
had retired and the new Colonial Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon
Walter Liberty Vernon
Walter Liberty Vernon was an English architect who migrated to the state of New South Wales, Australia and pursued his career as an architect in Sydney...
(1846–1914), was given the assignment. As a temporary measure, John Horbury Hunt, a private architect, had designed a small brick structure to temporarily house the collection, which was built in 1885. This building was dwarfed by the new gallery when it opened in 1897 and remained to the rear of the new gallery until it was demolished in 1969 to make way for new extensions. Although the majority of Vernon's buildings are in the Arts and Crafts style
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
, the 1897 building was built in the classical tradition. The gallery's design was conservative and was the penultimate example of the neo-Greek temple as a portico for a major public institution in Sydney.
The design of the vestibule, by James Barnet, is reportedly "derived from Raphael's Villa Madama in Rome (c. 1520). Here it is an especially fine and unusual example of design and detailing using Saunders' yellowblock, for instance, in its cornices and arches."
In 1968, the New South Wales Government decided that the gallery would be extended and form a major part of the Captain Cook Bicentenary celebrations. As a result, the "Captain Cook wing" was built and opened to public in November 1970. New gallery space was provided in five storeys behind the original classical façade, increasing the racking space to 1.25 linear kilometres, with a new café, a sculpture courtyard and administrative offices. Grey-toned rough concrete was used to blend the new construction with the sandstone of the old building. The extensions were designed by Andrew Andersons of PTW Architects
PTW Architects
PTW Architects is an Australian architecture firm founded in Sydney in 1889.-Selected works:*AMP Place, Brisbane *National Gallery of Australia Extension *The Toaster Building...
.
More recently, as part of the "Open Museum" project, sculptures have been positioned along the entry road. On 23 October 2003 a new Asian Arts wing was opened. It was designed by Sydney architect Richard Johnson and included alterations to the original Asian gallery, a new temporary exhibition space above the Art Gallery’s entrance foyer, new conservation studios, a café, a restaurant and dedicated function area. In 2003 the gallery also extended its opening hours until 9pm on Wednesday nights.
Chief executive officers
- 1892 - 1894 Eliezer Montefiore (Director)
- 1895 - 1905 George LaytonGeorge LaytonGeorge Layton is an English actor, director, screenwriter and author. He was educated at Belle Vue Boys' Grammar School in Bradford and later studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where he won the Emile Littler award. He went on to leading parts at Coventry and Nottingham and...
(Secretary and Superintendent) - 1905 - 1929 Gother Mann CBEGother Victor Fyers MannGother Victor Fyers Mann, CBE, also known as G. V. F. Mann, was an Australian architect and painter....
(Secretary and Superintendent 1905-1912; Director and Secretary 1912-1929) - 1929 - 1937 James MacDonaldJames MacDonald-Politics:*James David Macdonald , City of Calgary alderman and author of Grand Cayman's tax haven law*James Ramsay MacDonald, British Prime Minister*James MacDonald , Secretary of the London Trades Council...
(Director and Secretary) - 1937 - 1945 Sir John AshtonWill AshtonSir John William "Will" Ashton OBE, ROI was a British-Australian artist and Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1937 to 1945.-Early life:...
OBE ROI (Director and Secretary) - 1945 - 1971 Hal MissinghamHal MissinghamHarold "Hal" Missingham AO was an Australian artist, Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1945 to 1971,. and president of the Australian Watercolour Institute from 1952 to 1955.-Biography:...
AO (Director and Secretary) - 1971 - 1978 Peter Laverty (Director)
- 1978 - 2011 Edmund CaponEdmund CaponEdmund George Capon AM, OBE, is an art scholar specialising in Chinese art. He has been director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1978...
AO OBE (Director)
Collection
Established in 1871, the Academy of Arts early on bought some large works from Europe such as Ford Madox BrownFord Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...
's Chaucer at the Court of Edward III. Later they bought work from Australian artists such as Streeton's 1891 Fire's On, Roberts' 1894 The Golden Fleece
The Golden Fleece (painting)
The Golden Fleece, originally known as Shearing at Newstead, is an 1894 painting by the Australian artist Tom Roberts. The painting depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed at Newstead North, a sheep station near Inverell on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales...
and McCubbin's 1896 On the Wallaby Track
On the wallaby track
On the wallaby track is a 1896 painting by the Australian artist Frederick McCubbin. The painting depicts a itinerant family; a woman with her child on her lap and a man boiling a billy for tea. The painting's name comes from the colloquial Australian term "On the wallaby track" used to describe...
.
The gallery holds works by many Australian artists, including 19th-century Australian artists such as John Glover
John Glover (artist)
John Glover was an English/Australian artist in what is known as the early colonial period of Australian art. In Australia he has been dubbed the father of Australian landscape painting.-Life in Europe:...
, Arthur Streeton
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...
, Eugene von Guerard
Eugene von Guerard
Johann Joseph Eugene von GuérardHis first name is variously spelled "Eugen", "Eugene", "Eugène", one source mentions "Jean" ; his surname is spelled "Guerard" or "Guérard". The most frequent combination is that used by the National Gallery of Australia: "Eugene von Guérard"...
, John Russell
John Peter Russell
John Peter Russell was an Australian impressionist painter.-Life and work:John Peter Russell was born at the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, the eldest of four children of John Russell, a Scottish engineer, his wife Charlotte Elizabeth, née Nicholl, from London. J. P. Russell was a nephew of Sir...
, Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
, David Davies
David Davies
-Politics:*David Davies , also known as David Davies Llandinam, MP for Cardigan, 1874–1885, and Cardiganshire, 1885–1886*David Sanders Davies , Liberal politician, MP for Denbigh 1918–1922...
, Charles Conder
Charles Conder
Charles Edward Conder was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australian tradition in Western art.-Early life:Conder was born in Tottenham, Middlesex, the second son,...
, W. C. Piguenit, E. Phillips Fox
E. Phillips Fox
- Education :Fox was born on 12 March 1865 to Alexander Fox and Rosetta Phillips at 12 Victoria Parade in Fitzroy, Melbourne, into a legal family whose firm, DLA Phillips Fox, still exists. He studied art at the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1878 until 1886 under G. F...
, Frederick McCubbin
Frederick McCubbin
Frederick McCubbin was an Australian painter who was prominent in the Heidelberg School, one of the more important periods in Australia's visual arts history....
, Sydney Long
Sydney Long
Sydney Long was an Australian Artist.Born on 20 August 1871 at Ifield, Goulburn, New South Wales, Sydney Long began formal art classes at the New South Wales Art Society in 1890. in 1894 his Heidelberg School-influenced painting 'By Tranquil Waters' caused a small scandal, but was purchased by the...
and George W. Lambert.
20th-century Australian artists represented include Hugh Ramsay, Rupert Bunny
Rupert Bunny
Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny was an Australian painter, born in St Kilda, Victoria. He achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in fin-de-siècle Paris....
, Grace Cossington Smith
Grace Cossington Smith
Grace Cossington Smith AO OBE was an Australian artist and pioneer of modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country...
, Roland Wakelin
Roland Wakelin
Roland Shakespeare Wakelin was an Australian painter and teacher, born in Greytown, New Zealand, who with Roy de Maistre and Grace Cossington Smith are regarded as founding the modern movement in Sydney....
, Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston was a well-known Australian artist. She was highly influential during the 1920s to 1940s for her modernist works as a painter and printmaker and for introducing Aboriginal motifs into contemporary art.-Early life:...
, William Dobell
William Dobell
Sir William Dobell, OBE was an Australian artist .The electoral Division of Dobell is named after him.- Life :...
, Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, Russell Drysdale
Russell Drysdale
Sir George Russell Drysdale, AC was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for Sofala in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954...
, James Gleeson
James Gleeson
James Timothy Gleeson was Australia's foremost artist. He was also a poet, critic, writer and curator. He played a significant role in the Australian art scene, including serving on the board of the National Gallery of Australia.-Early life:Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby and he...
, Arthur Boyd
Arthur Boyd
Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
, Lloyd Rees
Lloyd Rees
Lloyd Frederic Rees AC CMG was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings....
, John Olsen
John Olsen (artist)
John Henry Olsen, AO, OBE is an Australian artist. Olsen's primary subject of work is landscape.-Biography:John Olsen was born in Newcastle on 21 January 1928 and moved to Bondi Beach with his family in 1935, which began his lifelong fascination with Sydney Harbour...
, Fred Williams
Fred Williams
Frederick Ronald Williams OBE was an Australian painter and printmaker. He was one of Australia’s most important artists, and one of the twentieth century’s major painters of the landscape...
, Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley, AO was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize...
and Imants Tillers
Imants Tillers
Imants Tillers is an Australian visual art artist, curator and writer. Born in Sydney in 1950, Tillers currently lives and works in Cooma, New South Wales. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture , and the University Medal...
.
44 works held at the gallery were included in the 1973 edition of 100 masterpieces of Australian painting.
The gallery has an extensive collection of British Victorian art, such as Lord Frederic Leighton
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA , known as Sir Frederic Leighton, Bt, between 1886 and 1896, was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter...
and Sir Edward John Poynter
Edward Poynter
Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman who served as President of the Royal Academy.-Life:...
; smaller holdings of Dutch, French and Italian painters of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Canaletto
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal better known as Canaletto , was a Venetian painter famous for his landscapes, or vedute, of Venice. He was also an important printmaker in etching.- Early career :...
, Agnolo Bronzino, Domenico Beccafumi
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.-Biography:...
and Niccolò dell'Abbate
Niccolò dell'Abbate
Nicolò dell' Abate, sometimes Niccolò, was an Italian painter and decorator. He was of the Emilian school, and was part of the staff of artists called the School of Fontainebleau that introduced the Italianate Renaissance to France.-Biography:Niccolò dell'Abbate was born in Modena, the son of a...
; collections of European modernists such as Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.-Biography:...
, Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
and Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th century art. He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a...
, Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
and Giorgio Morandi
Giorgio Morandi
Giorgio Morandi was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting apparently simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, bowls, flowers, and landscapes.-Biography:Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna...
as well as modern British masters.
Temporary exhibitions
The gallery hosts the long running Archibald PrizeArchibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
, the most prominent Australian art prize, along with the Sulman Prize}Sulman, Wynne
Wynne Prize
The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. One of Australia's longest running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne...
and Dobell
Dobell Prize
Dobell Prize for drawing, Australian art prize held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales the highest prize for drawing in Australia. The prize had previously been held in conjunction with the Archibald Prize, Sulman Prize, Wynne Prize, around the early part of the year, but was moved in 2003 to...
art prizes, among others. It also exhibits Artexpress, a yearly showcase of Higher School Certificate Visual Arts Examination artworks from across New South Wales.
Popular culture
At the start of the movie, SirensSirens (film)
Sirens is a 1993 film, written and directed by John Duigan, and set in Australia between the two World Wars.Sirens, along with Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bitter Moon—all released in the U.S...
, Hugh Grant walks past paintings in the Art Gallery of NSW, including Spring Frost by Elioth Gruner
Elioth Gruner
Elioth Lauritz Leganyer Gruner, early anglicised from Grüner , was an Australian painter, winner of the Wynne Prize seven times.-Early life:...
, The Golden Fleece
The Golden Fleece (painting)
The Golden Fleece, originally known as Shearing at Newstead, is an 1894 painting by the Australian artist Tom Roberts. The painting depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed at Newstead North, a sheep station near Inverell on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales...
(1894) by Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
, Still Glides the Stream and Shall Forever Glide (1890) by Arthur Streeton
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...
, Bailed Up
Bailed Up
Bailed Up is a 1895 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. The painting depicts a stage coach being held up by bushrangers in an isolated, forested section of a back road...
(1895) by Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
, and Chaucer at the Court of Edward III (1847–51) by Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...
.