Australian Art

The Art Gallery of South Australia's display of Australian art offers visitors an in-depth chronological view of the development of our nation's visual culture and includes paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. A particular strength lies in the 19th century collection, which is the most balanced and comprehensive anywhere. In the heritage Elder Wing of Australian art the Colonial art of New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia is followed by the art of the later 19th century, including works by the famous Australian impressionists Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder and Frederick McCubbin.

Moving into the 20th century the Gallery holds a fine collection of Edwardian art. The collection of Australian modernism of the 1930s and 1940s, dominated by women artists, is exceptional.

Beyond the Elder Wing in Gallery 6 the art of the 1960s through to the 1980s shows the development of Australian art towards the 1990s through expressive and lyrical abstraction, hard-edge painting, landscapes and figurative art.
The Gallery owns what is probably the most important survey collection of dot paintings of the Western Desert. The Gallery owns a significant collection of Australian Aboriginal art and this is displayed in the Atrium of the West Wing. Here visitors are able to view dot paintings from the Central Desert, sculptures and bark paintings from Arnhem Land and work from the Kimberley region. Aboriginal art is also shown among the chronological displays, including the most contemporary art. Galleries 8 to 11 also house the permanent collection of Australian art of the 1990s. This includes paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, prints, videos and decorative arts by Australia's leading contemporary artists.

Australian Prints, Drawings and Photographs

The Gallery also has an extensive collection of Australian prints, drawings and photographs with special emphasis on South Australian works, including a collection of 2000 Hans Heysen drawings which were bequeathed to the Gallery by the artist. The Gallery’s Australian prints and drawings reflect the strength of the paintings collection with strong holdings of colonial and modernist works as well as some fine examples of contemporary printmaking. Also to be found among the Australian works on paper are over 200 of Lionel Lindsay’s prints and drawings and a similar number of prints by Adelaide artist Barbara Hanrahan.

n 1922 the Gallery was the first in Australia to begin collecting photographs as fine art with acquisitions being made throughout the 1920s and 30s. Since the 1970s the photography collection has been continuously strengthened, with an emphasis on South Australian photography as well as excellent examples of contemporary photographic media. In 2004 the Gallery acquired the R.J. Noye collection of early South Australian photography comprising some several thousand items. This collection is of immense significance to South Australia with highlights such as extensive holdings of photographs and glass plate negatives by H.H. Tilbrook (1848-1937) and Paul Foelsche (1831-1914). The collection also includes R.J. Noye’s trial website, Photohistory SA, which has been archived by the Gallery and can be accessed from the link below.

source:
http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au /content-collections.html