"AUSTRALIA", Royal Academy of Arts, London

A reminder about this unmissable exhibition

21 September—8 December 2013

In the Main Galleries

Organised with the National Gallery of Australia

Australian Art on the move (YouTube)

BBC, On the exhibition

Marking the first major survey of Australian art in the UK for 50 years, this exhibition will span more than 200 years from 1800 to the present day and seeks to uncover the fascinating social and cultural evolution of a nation through its art.

Book Early

Ron Radford lecture, 30 September

Land and Landscape: The Colonial Encounter
Free Lunchtime Lecture


Tim Winton talk, 15 November

The Island Seen and Felt; Some Thoughts about Landscape

AUSTRALIA: LAND AND LANDSCAPE SYMPOSIUM

25 September

SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME

Wednesday 25 September 2013 9.30 am – 5.30 pm

LOCATION

Downer Room, Australia House,

Strand, London WC2B 4LA, United Kingdom

BOOKINGS

The symposium is FREE but, to ensure you obtain a seat,
please register before attending.

To register, please go to australialandscape.eventbrite.co.uk

or for enquiries charmane.head@nga.gov.au

Australia: Land and Landscape symposium is a collaboration between the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London, the Australian High Commission, London, and the National Gallery
of Australia, Canberra. This event is organised in conjunction with the exhibition Australia at the Royal Academy of Arts, London



PROGRAMME

9.30 Welcome

Andrew Todd, Australian Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

9.35 Keynote talk – Australia: land and landscape – an Australian perspective

Ron Radford, Director, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

10.30 Morning tea

10.55 Session 1/ Australian art 1800 to today

Intro: Professor Carl Bridge, Head of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London

11.00 Australian sublime

Andrew Wilton, former keeper of the British

Collection, Tate, London

11.30 Australian Impressionists as Symbolists

Anne Gray, Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

12.00 Modern women: Margaret Preston, Grace Cossington Smith, Dorrit Black, Bea Maddock

Daniel Thomas, Emeritus Director, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

12.30 Longing belonging: Hossein Valamanesh and Imants Tillers

Sarah Thomas, Lecturer, Kingston College, London,

and former curator of paintings, Art Gallery of South

Australia, Adelaide

1.00–1.55 Lunch

1.55 Session 2/ Australian Aboriginal art

Intro: Helen Idle, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London

2.00 Country: Aboriginal art

Franchesca Cubillo, Senior Advisor, Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

2.30 Rediscovering a rare 19th-century bark painting

Philip Jones, Senior Curator, Department of Anthropology, South Australian Museum, Adelaide

3.00 Afternoon tea

3.25 Session 3/ Artist talks

Intro: Ian Henderson, Menzies Centre for Australian

Studies, King’s College London

3.30 Glyphs and the Australian landscape

GW Bot, artist

4.00 Constructed landscapes and capital complexes

Callum Morton, artist and Professor and Head of Fine Arts, Monash University, Melbourne

4.30 Abstracted and idealised landscapes: minimalism and the memorial

Kathy Temin, artist and Associate Professor of Fine Arts, Monash University, Melbourne

5.00 Closing discussion

5.30 Drinks

***


For what seems a rather mean-spirited and blinkered review of the exhibition, here's Adrian Searle in The Guardian. Searle is a former painter and former curator, now chief art critic of The Guardian. He makes some observations that certainly deserve discussion at the symposium. But as he admits, "I am no expert on Australian art"; he is not interested "in what might constitute some sort of Australian artistic identity, because I doubt there is one". Personally, I can't wait to see the exhibition. Seize this rare opportunity to see the paintings of Glover, Roberts, Nolan, Rover Thomas, Ian Fairweather and Queenie Mckenzie, amonsgt other icons of Australian art.

I am only sorry there is nothing by Garry Shead (from the D.H. Lawrence or The Queen series; more Lawrence series images here) or  by  H J (Harry) Wedge (died 2012). See "Captain Cook Con Man" here (page 48, pdf file)

More positive review in The Telegraph

An expert's view: The oldest civilisation on show: Jeremy Eccles, Arts Desk

Barrie Humphries in The Spectator

Katherine Tyrrell, Making a Mark blog

Apart from the exhibition catalogue, another relevant book dealing with the social and cultural evolution of Australia over 200 years  is "Literary Links" by Roslyn Russell