René Magritte is renowned for his humorous yet enigmatic art, foremost of which is the iconic bowler-hatted man. But despite his significant contribution to Surrealism – and the fame of his works – the evolution of his artistic practice isn’t widely known. By Victoria Souliman, University of Sydney.
First Nations peoples have been present on the Australian continent for more than 65,000 years. During this time, they have managed to develop and maintain continuous, unbroken connections with the land, water and sky. By Joshua Waters, Deakin University.
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Sometime around 100 AD, the Roman lawyer and aristocrat Pliny sent a letter to his third wife, Calpurnia – who was staying in a different part of Italy – to express how much he loved and missed her. By Konstantine Panegyres, The University of Melbourne.
Alphonse Mucha’s body of work is full of contradictions. By Will Visconti, University of Sydney.
There have been many exhibitions of ancient Egyptian art held in Australia. Pharaoh, at the National Gallery of Victoria, is outstanding for its scope, scale and presentation. By Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
In awarding this year’s Archibald Prize to Laura Jones’ portrait of the writer Tim Winton, the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales are doing what they do best: catapulting a relatively unknown artist to instant fame and possible fortune. By Joanna Mendelssohn, The University of Melbourne.
Wayne Tunnicliffe, head of Australian art at the Art Gallery of NSW, has a sense of humour. The main entrance to this year’s Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize exhibition features a giant black and white photograph of a student demonstration from 1953. At the time the gallery trustees, who are named in Archibald’s will as the judges of the prize, were actively hostile to any idea of modern art. By Joanna Mendelssohn, The University of Melbourne.
It looks as if many people are “seeing red” when it comes to the first official portrait of King Charles III. Reactions to Jonathan Yeo’s monumental portrait have certainly been mixed. By Gabriele Neher, University of Nottingham.
Imagine seeing the face of Helen of Troy staring back at you, from within the ashes of a 2,000-year-old city. But these aren’t the burned walls of Troy. By Emily Hauser, University of Exeter.
Have you ever entered a gallery, cathedral or grand old ballroom and drawn breath with surprise? Usually, it is opulence, vastness or one stunning painting or sculpture that evokes this response — think Michelangelo’s David, or Chartres Cathedral or the hall of mirrors at Versailles. By Mary Voice, The University of Melbourne.
Fairy Tales, the latest exhibition at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), gives off the pleasurable hum of remix culture, artists riffing on a core theme in numerous ways. By Wes Hill, Southern Cross University.
What the previous two National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Triennials have taught us is that the visitor should be prepared to be surprised, amazed and challenged. NGV Triennial 2023 does this in spades. By Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a pioneer of abstract art. His work and theories on art profoundly influenced the School of Paris, the American Abstract Expressionists, as well as the expressionist painters working in Australia. By Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
Photography is almost 200 years old and Photography: Real and Imagined at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) can be interpreted as an attempt to make sense of its history. By Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
In June 2020, three months after South Africa entered the first of a series of hard lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID, the country’s president Cyril Ramaphosa described men’s violence against women as a “second pandemic”. By Puleng Segalo, University of South Africa.
Frida Kahlo devotees, this is your show. There are her paintings aplenty, photographs of her by Imogen Cunningham through to Edward Weston, and film imagery of Kahlo and Rivera as the happy couple. By Catherine Speck, University of Adelaide.
Pierre Bonnard, unlike his older contemporary, Paul Gauguin, never visited Australia, yet Bonnard’s influence on Australian art is pervasive and profound. By Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
Christie's London sale Three Private Collections: Belgravia, Berkshire and Guernsey, includes 300 lots with works from the 17th to 21st century and different genres, with estimates ranging from £300 to £250,000. Collectors and enthusiasts have the opportunity to own a piece of the past and admire the exceptional skill and artistry of some of the most celebrated craftsmen and artists of the time, reports Antonio Visconti.
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Enter the world of the Rossettis, a family of rebels who challenged Victorian society with their radical approaches to art, love, and life. Dante Gabriel, Christina, and Elizabeth were pioneers of the Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movements. London's Tate Britain has a new exhibition of paintings and drawings of all three siblings, writes Isabella Lancellotti.
Review: Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria. By Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
Prepare to be transported through time and space to a world of exquisite decorative arts as we explore The Frick Collection's latest exhibition. The Gregory Gift, a bequest from the collection of Alexis Gregory, is a beautifully curated show of twenty-eight objects rich in historical and cultural significance. Among them are fifteen Limoges enamels, two clocks, and two ewers, to name just a few. The collection echoes the Kunstkammers created by princes during the Renaissance, where they would display a variety of precious objects, opening new areas of research, writes Antonio Visconti.
Review: Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York, HOTA Gallery, Gold Coast, Australia. By Chari Larsson, Griffith University.
It couldn’t have been a case of better timing. Egyptologists celebrating the centenary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, now have a promising new archaeological discovery that appears to have been made in Egypt. Excavators have discovered a tunnel under the Taposiris Magna temple, west of the ancient city of Alexandria, which they have suggested could lead to the tomb of Queen Cleopatra. By Jane Draycott, Lecturer, Classics, University of Glasgow.
The Sydney Modern Project had the odds stacked against it since its inception in 2013. It has surely been the most controversial state gallery extension to be built in Australia. Sasha Grishin, Australian National University.
On November 4 1922, a young Egyptian “water boy” on an archaeological dig is said to have accidentally stumbled on a stone that turned out to be the top of a flight of steps cut into the limestone bedrock.
In 1972, when the Art Gallery of New South Wales opened its first modern building, it was rightly praised for its innovative design. Architect Andrew Andersons incorporated the latest aspects of museum architecture. The egg crate ceilings were designed to reduce noise for people walking on its marble floors. There were moveable screens that looked like walls and adjustable light levels for fragile art.
A major new exhibition of the superlative Renaissance artist, Raphael, has opened at the National Gallery. Painter, architect, designer and archaeologist, the show has 90 exhibits of his work from celebrated paintings and drawings to lesser-known poetry and designs for sculpture, tapestry, prints and the applied arts. Antonio Visconti reports from London.
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This month, London's Tate Modern will launch a reconceived version of Trisha Brown’s ground-breaking 1983 postmodern dance Set and Reset with the original music by Laurie Anderson and stage-set and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg. In March, the renowned Candoco Dance Company and Rambert will form part of the installation, Isabella Lancellotti reports.
A major new exhibition about Gabrielle Chanel has opened at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. This is the first show in Australia about the renowned French designer and her contribution to 20th century fashion. More than 230 garments, accessories and jewellery are on display, drawn from major public and private collections, reports Antonio Visconti.
A nimble row of bamboo grows between the street and the grounds of the Nezu Museum in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo. The softly murmuring greenery gently ushers you along the side of the museum, beneath its overarching eaves, to the entrance, writes Olivia Meehan.
Few artists have defined an era as much as William Hogarth, whose vivid, satirical depictions of 18th century England still capture the imagination. In London, Tate Britain’s major new exhibition Hogarth and Europe, will present his work in a fresh light, seen for the first time alongside works by his continental contemporaries. It will explore the parallels and exchanges that crossed borders and the cosmopolitan character of Hogarth’s art, reports Antonio Visconti.
Melbourne's extended lockdown has delayed the opening of the National Gallery of Victoria's major new exhibition of French Impressionism from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts collection. The show will feature works by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Mary Cassatt, including paintings that have never been exhibited in Australia, reports Isabelle Lante Della Rovere.
New York's Frick Collection is now housed at Marcel Breuer's signature Mid-Century Brutalist building. Called Frick Madison, it is the museum's temporary home for the next two years while the historic Gilded Age mansion undergoes an extensive renovation, reports Antonio Visconti.
The National Gallery of Victoria's exciting new Triennial exhibition in Melbourne shows a panoply of international contemporary art, design and architecture. The exhibition has a huge “wow” factor with a mix of major household names as well as completely unexpected, quirky discoveries, writes Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University.
Pompeii is famed for plaster-cast bodies, ruins, frescoes and the rare snapshot it provides of a rather typical ancient Roman city. But less famous is its evidence of viticulture, writes Emlyn Dodd.
Artemisia Gentileschi: An Artist For Our Time
An enthralling exhibition of Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi's work is now on at London's National Gallery. Simply called Artemisia, many of the show's paintings have never been seen in the United Kingdom. Working in Rome, Florence, Venice, London and Naples, Artemisia was a rare professional woman artist in the 1600s. The launch of this ground-breaking show was delayed due to Covid-19 and then closed due to the pandemic. It has just reopened this week. Story by Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
Tate Britain's new landmark exhibition of artist Joseph Mallord William Turner's drawings, watercolours and oil paintings will open next month. The show brings together 160 major works, capturing events of the painter's era, from the impact of technology to the modernisation of society. Antonio Visconti reports.
The Royal Academy of Arts’ Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Ordrupgaard Collection is the first major show to open in London after the four-month lockdown due to Covid-19. Many of the works have never been exhibited in the United Kingdom, including masterpieces from Manet and Monet to Corot and Courbet, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
Watch the new DAM documentary that takes you on a fascinating and insightful journey through the latest expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York with architect Charles Renfro.
A new exhibition about Salvador Dalí and René Magritte has opened at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Works from forty different museum and private collections around the world have been brought together for the show. The relationship between these two great artists of the Surrealist movement are explored through painting, drawing, sculpture, film and photography, writes Grania Connors.
Opening in New York, the luminous new expansion of the Museum of Modern Art. Glenn D. Lowry, the director of MoMA, talks to us about the ideas and philosophy behind the creation of the new galleries and art installations and why connecting the museum back to Midtown Manhattan was so important.
The Museum of Modern Art announces Engineer, Agitator, Constructor: The Artist Reinvented, a major exhibition that will present the political engagement, fearless and groundbreaking visual experimentation, and utopian aspirations of artists in the early 20th century, writes Antonio Visconti.
A magnificient portrait of James Adam, a member of the great eighteenth century Scottish architectural dynasty, by Italian artist Antonio Zucchi, has been purchased by the National Galleries of Scotland and the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is now on show at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, writes Antonio Visconti. Additional reporting by Isabella Lancellotti.
A major exhibition of Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Battista Moroni's work has opened at The Frick in New York. It brings together Moroni’s most arresting and best known portraits, exploring the experimentation and innovation of these works. They are shown alongside jewellery, textiles, arms and armour that bring to life Moroni's 16th Century world, writes Antonio Visconti with additional reporting by Isabella Lancellotti
Venetian glass is famous throughout the world for its vibrant colour and crystalline clarity, elaborate design and unmatched craftsmanship, honed over hundreds of years by local artisans on the island of Murano in Venice, Italy, writes Isabella James
Known as the man who made sculpture move, Alexander Calder was one of the most influential and pioneering figures of modern art in the 20th century. Revered for his ingenuity, inventiveness and innovation, Calder will be celebrated in his first retrospective at an Australian public institution, exhibiting an impressive display of Calder’s most iconic works, those famous suspended mobiles, writes Isabella James.
Now on at the Frick Collection in New York is a groundbreaking exhibition of the work of Roman designer Luigi Valadier, one of the greatest gold and silversmiths in 18th Century Italy. The show exhibits works made for Popes, royalty and aristocrats, from Rome to Russia. Never before has an American museum shown so many of Valadier's creations, with loans coming from public institutions and private collections across Europe and the United States, Antonio Visconti reports.
A new exhibition at the Frick Collection, Tiepolo in Milan: The Lost Frescoes of Palazzo Archinto, will reunite preparatory paintings and drawings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo for the first time. As the Frick does not loan works purchased by the institution’s founder, the New York City museum is the only place where these paintings and drawings can be seen together next April, Isabelle James reports.
A major new exhibition opens at the National Gallery of Victoria, featuring key works from New York's Museum of Modern Art, from Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo to Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman plus drawings, sculpture and furniture. Many have never been to Australia or left MoMA. We speak to Glenn D. Lowry, Director of MoMA and Tony Ellwood, Director of the NGV. Story by our Special Correspondent in Melbourne Sally Holdsworth.
A new hub for Brussels' fashion and design has opened in the heart of the city's Dansaert district. Called MAD, mode and design, the centre is part of revitalising this rapidly changing area. The MAD headquarters will function as a cultural space supporting the design and fashion industry. The recently completed building was launched amid contemporary art and design fairs across the city last month. The opening exhibition features six designers all showing projects made in Brussels, reports Elli Ioannou.
Few people know that Dutch Modern master Vincent van Gogh, was an avid collector. More than that, Melbourne academic Dr Vincent Alessi discovered that the painter learnt to draw by studying his own collection of black and white illustrations. We take a look at the prints in the artist's collection, some of which can now be seen at the new exhibition Van Gogh and the Seasons at the National Gallery of Victoria, Geoffrey Maslen reports.
Brussels Burgeons with New Art Museums and Exhibitions
10 Question Column: American Photographer Tammy Ruggles
Tammy Ruggles is a legally blind photographer who lives in Northern Kentucky. While most people struggle to take a decent looking artistic photograph, Tammy manages to capture the world beautifully with almost total loss of her eyesight, Paul McDonnell reports.
Spanish painter Pedro Paricio's new exhibition has opened at London's Halcyon Gallery. The show presents a fresh body of work, exploring the painter's ruminations on self-reflection, the subconscious and the transcendental possibilities of art. Our correspondent in London Lissandra Hemilton asks the painter our Ten Questions about his life & work.
Venice Biennale 2016: Art, Ethics and Architecture
Venice Biennale: an exhausting, beautiful attempt to relinquish architecture. By William Feuerman, University of Technology Sydney.
Ernesto Cánovas' new exhibition Multiplied opens today at Halycon Gallery in London's Mayfair. Lissandra Hemilton talks to the Spanish artist about his life and elegiac work that mixes different mediums such as printmaking, photography and painting to create an evanescent sense of memory and a disconcerting wistfulness.
NYC Dance Project by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory
American photographers Deborah Ory and Ken Browar created the NYC Dance Project to shoot contemporary and classical dancers in New York, capturing their dynamism and beauty, Antonio Visconti reports.
Illustrator Dana Avni and the Blue Oranges
Our fashion correspondent in London, Limor Helfgott, speaks to talented young illustrator Dana Avni about her new work, studies and plans for the future.
Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese began her career as an actress working with New Wave directors like Francois Truffaut, Ken Russell and Jean-Luc Godard before she went on to become a successful artist. Her recent exhibitions in Australia and Singapore include vividly-coloured paintings, subtle drawings & fine etchings of Rome and Venice.
Finnish Photographer Konsta Leppänen
Konsta Leppänen is a talented photographer from Finland, a member of the 11 Collective and he has won the biggest Finnish photojournalism prize, the Patricia Seppälä Foundation Award. Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento ask the hipster and intellectual 10 Questions about his life and work.
Artist America Martin's New Show in Los Angeles
Los Angeles-based painter and sculptor America Martin’s new exhibition How the Sun Goes has opened at the JoAnne Artman Gallery, Jeanne-Marie Cilento & Raphael West report.
Robert De Niro has produced a documentary about his artist father's life and work during the celebrated 1940s and 50s New York School. The American actor visited Rome for its European premiere and to talk about his relationship with Robert De Niro Senior and his oeuvre, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Additional reporting by Raphael West & Antonio Visconti
10 Questions: Artist Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese
An exhibition of Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese’s in Singapore. Although she began her career as an actress working with New Wave directors such as Francois Truffaut, Ken Russell and Jean-Luc Godard, she went on to become a successful artist. Her latest show includes vividly coloured paintings, subtle drawings and exquisite etchings of Rome and Venice, Jeanne-Marie Cilento reports.
Californian Cool: New Exhibitions of Dennis Hopper Photographs
Rome’s Gagosian Gallery opens its first major exhibition of American actor and director Dennis Hopper's photographs. The show offers a vivid and spontaneous glimpse of the sixties and seventies that mixes Californian cool, political idealism and a sense of optimism, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
Italian contemporary artist Cristiano Petrucci answers Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento’s 10 Questions and sits for his portrait at his laboratory-like studio in the Italian capital.
10 Question Column: Finnish Photographer Konsta Leppänen
Konsta Leppänen is a talented young photographer from Finland and a member of the 11 Collective who won the biggest Finnish photojournalism prize last year, the Patricia Seppälä Foundation Award. Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento ask the hipster and intellectual 10 Questions about his life and work.
American artist Davyd Whaley’s new solo exhibition Subconscious Tendencies has opened at Galerie Michael in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. He talks to Jeanne-Marie Cilento about the show and his method of working in our 10 Question Column.
Italian Artist Agostino Iacurci's New Exhibition Opens in Rome
Italian artist Agostino Iacurci’s new exhibition Small Wheel, Big Wheel is at Wunderkammern Gallery in Rome. Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento talk to the artist about his latest works and what inspires him.
10 Question Column: Artist America Martin in Los Angeles
America Martin's three different series of paintings Native Americans, Bathers and Still Life are inspired by her travels in Taos and Aix-en-Provence. The artist answers Jeanne-Marie Cilento's 10 Questions about her life and work.
Ginevra Marini works fast with strong movements and her brushes seem to attack the canvas when she paints. Andreas Romagnoli & Jeanne-Marie Cilento ask the young artist about her life and work in Rome.
10 Questions Column: Canadian Painter Jen Mann
Exciting young Canadian artist Jen Mann's latest figurative paintings in vivid, saturated colour illuminated her new solo show Strange Beauties. Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento asked her 10 questions about her life and work.
Taking the art world by storm, LA-based British artist Thomas Houseago creates hulking sculptures in plaster, hemp, iron and bronze. Inspired by African art and Modern masters from Rodin to Picasso, the figurative sculptures are full of brute emotive power. Houseago's new exhibition Roman Figures opens in Rome at the Gagosian Gallery, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
10 Questions Column: Australian Conceptual Artist Kristin McIver
From graphic designer to award-winning visual artist in just five years, Kristin McIver is quietly conquering the hearts and minds of conceptual art lovers around the world, writes Ruth Borgobello.
American artist Dan Witz’s exhibition has just opened as part of the Public and Confidential project at Wunderkammern Gallery in Rome. Renowned as a pioneer of Street Art, the artist answers Jeanne-Marie Cilento’s ten questions and sits for a photo shoot with Andreas Romagnoli during the installation of his new show in the Italian capital.
10 Questions Column: French Street Artist C215
French Street Artist C215, real name Christian Guémy, answers Jeanne-Marie Cilento’s 10 Questions about his extraordinary life, his exhibition now showing at Wunderkammern gallery in Rome and the new book C215 by Sabina de Gregori. Andreas Romagnoli did an exclusive photo shoot with the artist just before his show opened.
Artist and designer Benedetta Borrometi tells Jeanne-Marie Cilento what drives her creative work and her new exhibition. Borrometi has a law degree but moved to London to study fine art at Central Saint Martins College of Art. Her career has encompassed working as a designer at Italian television network Mediaset to collaborating with textile designer Tsumori Chisato in Tokyo and illustrating the French magazine Plume Voyage. Today, she lives between Italy and Japan and is married to Japanese photographer Horikiri Kentaro.
David Bowie Is: New Exhibition Opens At The V&A in London
The spectacular new exhibition of David Bowie's life and work has opened at the Victorian and Albert Museum in London, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
Looking across to the United States from a moribund Italy, the life of painter Davyd Whaley seems the embodiment of the American Dream. A journey full of transformative change, renewal and even a happy Hollywood ending. From his airy studio in downtown Los Angeles, the artist talks to Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
Sculptor Constantin Brancusi's Atelier in Paris at the Pompidou
The atelier of Constantin Brancusi shows the culmination of the sculptor's work at the forefront of the French avant-garde, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento from Paris. Atelier Brancusi photographs by Ambrosio De Lauro.
Photographer Andreas Romagnoli travelled to Paris to capture the contemporary art exhibited at two major new gallery shows. Artists from all over the world are represented including emerging talent and France's iconic C215 and England's Banksy, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento.
Design Talk: Commissioning Design to Stimulate Creative Excellence
The Design Museum in London held a special talk about the tradition of commissioning design to stimulate creative excellence, technical innovation and the realization of artistic, non-commercial ideas, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento.