Landscapes in Sets and Series: Australian Prints 1960s-1990s.

Title

Landscapes in Sets and Series: Australian Prints 1960s-1990s.

Collective title

National Gallery of Australia touring exhibition

Venues

National Gallery Of Australia (31 July 1999 – 19 November 1999)

QUT Art Museum (19 July 2001 – 16 September 2001)

Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery [2]. (29 September 2001 – 11 November 2001)

Gippsland Art Gallery (24 November 2001 – 13 January 2002)

Albury Regional Art Centre (2 February 2002 – 17 March 2002)

Bendigo Art Gallery (23 March 2002 – 12 May 2002)

Plimsoll Gallery (7 June 2002 – 30 June 2002)

Date

(1999 – 2002)

Summary

Multi-artist exhibition. Located: Australia. Prints.

Curator

Roger Butler, Senior Curator Australian Prints, National Gallery of Australia.

Documentation

Catalogue

Web address

http://nga.gov.au/landscapes/

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

The landscape has been the prime subject matter for Australian artists, both indigenous and those who have come to Australia since 1788. Paintings and prints by artists such as John Glover, Eugene von Guerrard, Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Sidney Nolan, John Olsen and Fred Williams have formed the popular conception of the Australian landscape. It is only in recent years that the importance of Aboriginal depictions of the landscape has been acknowledged and their images have become part of the popular imagination.

Landscapes in sets and series focuses on prints produced by Australian artists from 1960s to the 1990s. As well as presenting prints of the Australian landscape the exhibition also represents the work of two artists - Janet Dawson and Salvatore Zofrea, who have found their subject matter in foreign landscapes.

In the 1960s Australian printmaking came to maturity. Tertiary institutions added printmaking to the curriculum, private and publicly financed print workshops were established, and Master Printers and specialist print publishers began to operate. During these years artists extended the possibilities of printmaking by producing sets and series of prints.

In the work of Mike Parr or John Wolseley, images on individual sheets are hung to form one work. For other artists, producing sets allows them to examine a theme from different perspectives or times.

Judy Watson, an urban Aboriginal, returns the exhibition to the beginning - the depiction of the landscape through Aboriginal eyes. Together, these works demonstrate the continued interest in representing the landscape and the contributions that different printmakers have made to our rethinking of it.

The exhibition celebrates ten years of acquisitions from the Gordon Darling Australasian Print Fund.