Title

Migration and modernism: Émigré artists in post-war Australia .

Venues

National Gallery Of Australia (2026 – 2027)

Date

(2026 – 2027)

Summary

Multi-artist exhibition. Located: Australia (ACT). included Prints

Web address

https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/migration-and-mode…

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

'For me, everything comes down to the land. To talk about people is to talk about land and to talk about land is to talk about people.'

Stanislava Pinchuk

Communities from across the globe have helped shape Australia as we know it today. Migration and modernism considers the role migrants to Australia have played in the development of modern art and life from the mid-20th century to the present.
Drawn from the national collection, this display presents work by artists who chose to make Australia home, as well as those for whom Australia was the only option of escape from conflict or persecution. It includes postwar European émigrés, migrants representing the Asian diaspora, and those displaced by more recent conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries.
While shaped by different personal circumstances, these artists share many of the same artistic concerns. As products of two cultures, they merged the traditions and memories of homes left behind with new experiences, often finding inspiration in the light and landscape of the Australian urban and natural environments. Some energised the local art scene through establishing communities, networks and sharing recent developments in modern European art and design. Others relished the new freedom afforded to them through aesthetic, material or technical innovation. In a time of unprecedented migration across oceans and borders, the works in this display highlight some of the ways migrants have continued to enrich Australia’s culturally diverse landscape —including in the Kamberri/Canberra region.

[National Gallery of Australia media, 2026].

Last Updated

01 Oct 2026