Camera Work 1903–1917
13 December 2003 – 15 February 2004

This year marks the centenary of the launch of the journal Camera Work. Created by the legendary American photographer Alfred Stieglitz, its aims were to promote and support the work of the newly formed American Photo-Secession movement of art photographers.

detail: Alfred Stieglitz 'Two towers - New York' 1913 Collection of the National Gallery of Australia

Hard edge
geometry in design
15 November 2003 – 11 January 2004

Hard edge: geometry in design, shows how geometry has been used by designers and makers of furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery, textiles and costume since the advent of the Modern movement of the late 19th century to the present. It draws from the Gallery’s extensive collection of Australian and international craft and design and has been selected to stimulate younger visitors, offering insights into the ways that designers have used geometry to extend their ideas and to link their work to the wider worlds of architecture and science.

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French Paintings
from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier
7 November 2003 – 15 February 2004

French Paintings from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier is an exhibition of 84 outstanding masterpieces never before seen in this country. Covering three centuries of French art the exhibition features works by great artists such as Nicolas Poussin, Laurent de la Hyre, Simon Vouet, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille. The exhibition brings together an exceptional array of iconic paintings covering all artistic movements from 1600 to 1900, including Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism and Impressionism.

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detail: Gustave Courbet 'The Seashore, Palavas [Le bord de mer à Palavas]' 1854 Bruyas Donation 1868 Musée Fabre, Montpellier

Home Sweet Home
Works from the Peter Fay collection
11 October 2003 – 18 January 2004

This exhibition of works from the Peter Fay collection reveals the passions of a collector who, since the 1980s, has supported emerging artists from Australia and New Zealand and has watched their careers develop. It shows how the Peter Fay collection has broadened from paintings to include diverse media such as object-based works, as well as ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ art, illustrating the dialogues between the two.

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detail: Rosalie Gascoigne 'Down to the silver sea' 1981–82 Gift of Peter Fay© Rosalie Gascoigne 1981–82. Licensed by VISCOPY Sydney

After image
screenprints of Andy Warhol
6 September 2003 – 4 April 2004

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) was a key figure from the early 1960s in the Pop Art movement that emerged in America. He took his themes from the familiar, the famous and the everyday. Well-known icons were a favourite – Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Chairman Mao, Muhammad Ali and Mick Jagger all appeared in his art. So too the ever-present products in daily life, such as the humble can of Campbell’s soup (which the artist had eaten for lunch). Warhol also frequently borrowed from sources such as the photographs in sensational tabloids or pulp magazines.

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detail: Andy Warhol 'no. 5 from Mao Tse–Tung' 1972 Collection of the National Gallery of Australia © Andy Warhol Foundation, 1972/ARS  Licensed by VISCOPY Sydney Australia 2004

Jump!
Photographers get off the ground

23 August – 2 November 2003

Bouncing on a trampoline, speeding through the air on a snowboard, jumping off the highest platform at the pool, riding the waves, diving out of a plane, bungee-jumping into a ravine: the thrill and appeal of being free from gravity and in a state far from an everyday earth-bound one is undeniable. So too have many photographers been fascinated with working out how to best capture on film the body hurtling through space. This exhibition explores this preoccupation through the work of International and Australian photographers from the 1880s to the present.

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detail: Rosemary Laing 'Flight research #6' 1999 Collection of the National Gallery of Australia

Sari to Sarong
500 years of Indian + Indonesian textile exchange
11 July – 6 October 2003

Sari to Sarong brings together some of the greatest surviving examples of traditional Indonesian and Indian textiles to demonstrate the remarkable exchanges of ideas, materials, designs and imagery – royal and religious – between the two great cultures over the last one thousand years. The exhibition shows not only the great variety and beauty of the cloths but shows the many sources of inspiration carried across the Indian Ocean – by sailors and merchants, priest and warriors.

Drawn from the famous Asian textiles collection of the Gallery, the silks and cotton, batiks and gold brocades, tie-dyes and embroideries display Ramayana epics, elephant and camel processions, trading ships and floral designs drawn from Indian chintz.

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detail: Kain panjang skirtcloth, Lasem, Java, Indonesia – with chintz inspired design

Tactility
two centuries of indigenous objects, textiles and fibre
7 June – 14 September 2003

Tactility will provide an overview of the diversity of Indigenous three-dimensional and textile objects over two centuries, covering the range of traditional objects, through to transitional works and recent conceptual and politically-charged artworks.

Media covered will include sculpture, decorative arts, ceramics, textiles, weaving, ceremonial objects and conceptual artworks, covering two centuries on Indigenous art and cultural practices, drawn from all regions of Australia.

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image: Artist Unknown, Jirrbal people? 'Jawun (Bicornual basket)'

First Impressions
The early history of lithography – a comparative survey
3 May – 24 August 2003

This exhibition will draw on the impressive volume of work that forms part of the Gallery's Felix Man Collection, much of which has never been on display before. The exhibition includes early works by Aloys Senefelder (the inventor of the technique) and works such as Goya's The Division of the arena 1825, Daumier's images from La caricature, and images by key practitioners of the 20th century such as Picasso. Also included will be classic examples of the commercial use of lithography, such as Roger Soubie's movie poster Lolita 1962 and Leonetto Cappiello's famous poster Nitrolian 1929.

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In the box
28 March – 10 August 2003

In the box is an activity-based exhibition linking touch and sight – designed to engage young visitors with art by introducing them to a range of paintings from the Gallery's Australian art collection. Ten paintings about people have been selected for their strong narrative and rich detail. A chronological range of styles is displayed, conveying the idea of change in artmaking practice. An object represented in each painting is hidden inside a box. Children are asked to guess what the object is by making a connection between details in the painting and what they feel in the box. Questions and a trail provide additional clues and levels of interaction.

National Sculpture Prize
& Exhibition
21 March – 9 June 2003

The National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition has been established as a partnership between the National Gallery of Australia and Macquarie Bank. Its aim is to promote and support sculpture in Australia and to recognise outstanding works.

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Matthew Harding 'Phyllotaxis' 2002-2003, spun mirror-polished stainless steel

Pierre Bonnard
Observing Nature
7 March – 9 June 2003

This exhibition of 60 paintings, with an additional selection of drawings and prints, focussed on a broad selection of the artist’s mature and late work from 1900 until his death in 1947. It included a group of erotic works from the turn of the century and a number of large decorative paintings, as well as works from the 1920s, 30s and 40s – landscapes, late nudes and self-portraits. The Gallery’s painting, Woman in Front of a Mirror 1908 and its holdings of his lithographs was also included.

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detail: Pierre Bonnard 'Sweetpeas [Les Pois de senteur]' 1912 Villa Flora, Winterthur Dauberville 703 © Pierre Bonnard, 1912/ADAGP Licensed by VISCOPY Sydney 2003

The good, the great & the gifted
Camera portraits by Yousuf Karsh and Athol Shmith
7 February 2003 – 21 March 2004

Though separated across the globe and in their relative international fame, both Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002) of Ottawa and Athol Shmith (1914–1990) of Melbourne are 20th-century examples of portrait photographers who continued and excelled in the field of providing the public with glorified and glamourised portraits of public figures.

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detail: Athol Shmith  'Vivien Leigh' 1948 Collection of the National Gallery of Australia

The Spread of Time
The photography of David Moore
25 January – 25 May 2003

As a schoolboy David Moore’s favourite subject was geography and his hobby photography – interests well served by his long and distinguished career as a photographer from the late 1940s to the present day, both in Australia and internationally. This exhibition, marking Moore’s 75^th year, draws on the Gallery’s unique collection of over 300 works. Moore first gained international recognition as a photojournalist when he was based in London from 1951-57. After returning to Australia in 1958, Moore continued with assignments at home and abroad as well as developing a large body of personal work.

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