club ate: in muva we trust skywhales: every heart …images of friends to brook andrew’s archival...

National Gallery of Australia 2020 Program

National Gallery of Australia nga.gov.au

MediaMarika Lucas-Edwards Head of Communications T. +61 (0) 407 077 102 E. [email protected]

Sandra O’Malley Communications Manager T. +61 (0) 418 897 794 E. [email protected]

FoundationMaryanne Voyazis Head of Development and Executive Director, NGA Foundation T. +61 (0) 2 6240 6691 E. [email protected]

PartnershipsSamantha Jones Head of Partnerships T. +61 (0) 2 6240 6740 E. [email protected]

General EnquiriesT. (02) 6240 6502

Club Ate: In Muva We Trust 28.02.2020–09.03.2020 Skywhales: Every heart sings 07.03.2020–

30.05.2020 XU ZHEN® 14.03.2020– 13.09.2020

Angelica Mesiti: ASSEMBLY 29.02.2020– 13.09.2020 Shock of the New Opens

25.07.2020 Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now 30.05.2020–

13.09.2020 The Body Electric 28.03.2020– 20.09.2020 Tjanpi Desert Weavers 02.05.2020–

04.10.2020 Joan Mitchell: Worlds of Colour 17.10.2020–

04.2021 Jordan Wolfson Opening2021 Botticelli to Van Gogh:

Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London 13.11.2020–14.03.2021 Belonging: Stories of Australian

Australian Art Opens 06.12.2019 Matisse & Picasso 13.12.2019-

13.04.2020 Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Room Ongoing Devotion Nature Time People: Asian Art Ongoing Lichtenstein to Warhol: The Kenneth Tyler CCollection Until

09.03.2020 Hugh Ramsay 30.11.2019–29.03.2020 Urs Fischer: Francesco 12.2019–

26.04.2020 Sidney Nolan: The Ned Kelly Series Touring until

06.2020 Jess Johnson and Simon Ward: Terminus Touring until 08.2021 Art Deco from the

National Collection: The World Turns Modern Touring until 08.2020 First Peoples’ Art of Australia:

ralia: From the Wesfarmers Collection and the National Gallery of Australia 31.07.2020–03.01.2021

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this brochure contains names and images of people who have since passed away.

mailto:[email protected]

↑Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Self Portrait at the Age of 34 1640oil on canvas© The National Gallery, London.Bought, 1861

→ XU ZHEN® European Thousand-Armed Classical Sculpture 2014glass-fibre-reinforced concrete, marble grains, marble, metalWhite Rabbit Collection, SydneyImage courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney

↑Patricia PiccininiSkywhale 2013nylon, polyester, nomex, hyperlast, cableNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraGift of anonymous donor 2019 Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program

← Julie RrapPersona and Shadow: Christ 1984 cibachrome printapprox. 194 x 105 cmEdition of 9Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney© Julie Rrap / Copyright Agency 2019

National Gallery of Australia 2020 Program

The National Gallery of Australia acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the traditional custodians of the Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.

←Jordan WolfsonColored sculpture 2016Mixed mediaImage courtesy of the artists, David Zwirner Gallery and Sadie Coles HQ.Photo: Dan Bradica

Director's Foreword The National Gallery of Australia’s 2020 exhibitions spanmore than 450 years of art – from paintings by Botticelliand Van Gogh to a new animatronic sculpture by artist Jordan Wolfson. There will be a wide range of contemporary solo exhibitions and commissions, including by Club Ate, Patricia Piccinini, XU ZHEN® and the Tjanpi Desert Weavers. At the centre of this year’s program is the Know My Name project. It is a defining moment in the National Gallery's history. We recognise that only a quarter of the works in our Australian art collection are by artists who identify as women. We are committed to ongoing gender equity by increasing the representation of women across our artistic programs and in our collection development. The project includes exhibitions such as Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now, The Body Electric and a new outdoor sculpture by Patricia Piccinini in the form of a hot-air balloon. After its premiere in Canberra, the sculpture will take flight for a two-year tour of Australia. The Gallery’s collection displays present an inclusive view of the world through the work of artists. From Nan Goldin’s images of friends to Brook Andrew’s archival photographs of landscape, the displays explore themes of intimacy, colonisation and culture. In 2020, the Gallery introduces Art Weekends. On the lastweekend of every month, we will stay open late on a Friday for Night Shift, a program of art, performance, music and making. That same weekend the Gallery will introduce Sensory Sunday for those who require a quieter experience, and Super Sunday, a program of art making, storytelling, music and dance for kids, teens and adults. We look forward to sharing our program with you.

Nick Mitzevich Director, National Gallery of Australia

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Know My Name National Art EventA highlight of the Know My Name initiative will be a nationwide out-of-home art event presented in partnership with oOh!media. For six weeks, starting in late February, more than 1300 static and digital locations across metro and regional Australia will feature images of works of art by Australian women in the national collection, reaching more than twelve million Australians.

Know My Name is a new initiative by the National Gallery to increase the representation and participation of artists who identify as women across its collections and programs. Through this initiative, the Gallery aims to enhance the understanding and appreciation of work by Australian women artists. The Gallery is building on the work of groups supporting gender equity across the arts, including Countess, Shiela: A Foundation for Women in the Visual Arts and the #5WomenArtists campaign by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Know My Name is being delivered in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, oOh!media, Wikimedia Australia and cultural partners the Australia Council for the Arts, Countess, National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Australian Ballet. The 2020 program includes vibrant and intergenerational events and exhibitions, along with a major publication featuring the work of 150 Australian women artists.

← Hilda Rix NicholasUne Australienne 1926, oil on canvas Purchased 2014National Gallery of Australia, Canberra© Bronwyn Wright

↓ Rosemary Laingflight research #6 1999–2000Type C photographNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased 2001 © Rosemary Laing

Exhibitions1 Skywhales: Every heart sings

The Balnaves Contemporary Series Leading Australian artist Patricia Piccinini’s new hot-air-balloon sculpture makes its debut in Canberra over the autumn period. Page 6.

2 Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now This exhibition questions the assumption that the story of Australian art has been, and continues to be, male-dominated. Page 12.

3 In Muva We Trust Club Ate’s In Muva We Trust is a digital projection of water and bodies illuminating the facade of the National Gallery as part of Canberra’s Enlighten festival. Page 4.

4 Tjanpi Desert Weavers A new large-scale installation by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers tells the ancestral story of the Seven Sisters Dreaming using sculptural forms woven from tjanpi (the Pitjantjatjara word for grass) and raffia. Page 15.

5 The Body Electric Featuring photographic and video works that explore themes of sex, pleasure and desire by artists such as Polly Borland, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin and Pixy Liao. Page 15.

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↙ Club Ate Ex Nilalang (Balud) 2015 (production still) single-channel HD digital videoNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2017Commissioned by Queensland ArtGallery, Gallery of Modern Art for the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art and co-funded by NAVA’s NSW Artist Grant 2015Image courtesy the artistsPhoto: Gregory Lorenzutti

↓ Club Ate Ex Nilalang (From Creature ~ From Creation) 2017 (still) single-channel HD digital videoNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2017Image courtesy the artists

Exhibition

Club Ate: In Muva We Trust 28.02.2020– 09.03.2020Over eleven nights, water and bodies will flow across the National Gallery’s facade in a monumental video projection by Club Ate. For the 2020 iteration of the Gallery’s annual Enlighten Illuminations commission, Club Ate have created a video projection that tells stories of resistance, transformation and queer futures. Club Ate is a collective led by Sydney-based interdisciplinary artists Bhenji Ra and Justin Shoulder. Drawing on their shared Filipino-Australian heritage, Ra and Shoulder use performance, costume and video to create work about personal myth and stories of the queer Asia–Pacific diaspora. In Muva We Trust animates mythic ancestral beings and landscapes to envision new forms of motherhood, community and ecology. Club Ate asks the question: ‘In the face of an uncertain future, how do we, as queer communities of colour, cultivate hope and create possibility?’ Club Ate’s In Muva We Trust is a Know My Name project. It is also part of Enlighten 2020.

One Night Only

Club Muva07.03.2020A one-night-only event at the Gallery, Club Muva will be an inclusive and intimate celebration of community and connections, through movement, sound and storytelling. Led by Bhenji Ra and Justin Shoulder, Club Muva will feature Club Ate artists as well as Asia–Pacific artists from Sydney and Canberra. Responding to Club Ate’s projected images, landscapes and narrative, this outdoor performance will be an immersive experience between the artists and local community, exploring the transformative power of live performance and the visual arts.

Major Exhibition

Skywhales: Every heart singsThe Balnaves Contemporary Series 07.03.2020– 30.05.2020

↗Patricia PiccininiSkywhale 2013nylon, polyester, nomex,hyperlast, cable National Gallery of Australia, CanberraGift of anonymous donor 2019 Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts ProgramPhoto: Martin Ollman Photography

→Patricia Piccinini Skywhalepapa 2019/20, (artist’s sketch)

Commissioned as part of The Balnaves Contemporary Series, the Gallery presents Patricia Piccinini’s Skywhalepapa, 2020, a monumental sculpture in the form of a hot-air balloon. Skywhalepapa is the new companion piece to Skywhale, 2013, which returns to Canberra after six years touring Australia and the world. Together they form a skywhale family that will be launched near the Gallery and take flight over Canberra eight times during the exhibition period. The sculptures will then float across the skies of Australia as a National Gallery travelling exhibition. Piccinini is an acclaimed Australian artist who uses hyperreal sculpture, photography,

video and installation work to explore the relationship between humanity, nature and technology. The artist is interested in cross-species interaction, biopolitics, and the environment as well as the emotional relationships our bodies have with others. A sensory display in the Tim Fairfax Learning Gallery expands the ideas embodied in Skywhale and Skywhalepapa, including anthropomorphism (or the tendency to ascribe human characteristics and emotions to animals and objects), empathy and the changing definitions of family. Skywhales: Every heart sings is a Know My Name project and the third instalment of The Balnaves Contemporary Series.

The Balnaves Contemporary Series Launched in 2018, and delivered in partnership with The Balnaves Foundation, The Balnaves Contemporary Series enables the commissioning of new work. In late 2020 Australian artist Michael Zavros will develop a new work for the fourth instalment of this series.

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Exhibition

XU ZHEN® 14.03.2020– 13.09.2020XU ZHEN® is one of China’s most significant artists and activists. In 2009, he founded MadeIn Company, and later established himself as the brand XU ZHEN®. His recent work centres on sculptural installations, video and performances that challenge cultural assumptions, question social taboos and comment on the idea of art as a commodity. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Australia. The show includes the performance work In Just a Blink of an Eye 2005/2020, which features four performers impossibly ‘frozen’ in the act of falling over, as well as European Thousand-Armed Classical Sculpture 2014 and other monumental sculptures. XU ZHEN® is presented with the support of Judith Neilson AM and the White Rabbit Collection.

↑Xu Zhen In Just a Blink of an Eye 2005/2014, performance, 14 Rooms, curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist, presented in Basel by Fondation Beyeler, Art Basel, TheaterBasel, 2014Courtesy the artist and Fondation Beyeler Photo: Mark Niedermann

→ Angelica Mesiti ASSEMBLY 2019three-channel video installation in architectural amphitheatre, HD video projections, colour, six- channel mono soundNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased 2019Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Australia, and Galerie Allen, Paris

Exhibition

Angelica Mesiti: ASSEMBLY29.02.2020– 13.09.2020Angelica Mesiti’s videos are portraits that consider how communities are formed through shared movement and communication. The artist recently represented Australia at the 58th Venice Biennale with the three-channel video installation ASSEMBLY 2019. Acquired for the national collection, ASSEMBLY will be presented at the Gallery in Canberra before touring Australia. For the work, Mesiti used a stenographic machine to transpose into shorthand Australian writer David Malouf’s 1976 poem ‘To be written in another tongue’. These notes became the basis of a musical score by Australian composer Max Lyandvert and a dance performance by the Indigenous choreographer Deborah Brown and Mesiti. The score is performed by musicians and dancers who represent the many ancestries that make up contemporary Australia. ASSEMBLY speaks to the importance of individuals coming together to foster democratic participation. As Mesiti writes: ‘In ASSEMBLY, I explore the space where communication moves from verbal and written forms to non-verbal, gestural and musical forms. The latter creates a sort of code upon which meaning, memory and imagination can be overlaid’. ASSEMBLY is a Know My Name project.

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Yinka Shonibare MBERefugee astronaut 2015fibreglass, printed cotton, net, wood, metal and plastic objects, baseplateNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraCourtesy of the artist, James Cohan Gallery, New York, Shanghai

↙ Honoré DaumierRefugees c 1850–52, cast 1862–78 painted plasterNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1974

The influential television series Shock of the new 1980, by Australian-born critic Robert Hughes, presented new forms of art to a broad public. Hughes described the development of modern art in the twentieth century, but his emphasis on European and Anglo-American art traditions omitted the work of many women and artists from other parts of the world. In the four decades since Shock of the new was first broadcast, the story of modern art has become more complex and inclusive. Bringing historical and modern works into conversation with contemporary art, this new display considers Hughes’s ideas and presents alternative narratives. Recent works by artists such as Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Jeff Koons, Kiki Smith and Jessica Stockholder are juxtaposed with classics from the collection, including Kasimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova, Constantin Brancusi and Francis Bacon.

Major Exhibition

Shock of the NewOpens 25.07.2020

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↗Sue FordFaces 1976single-channel moving image, 16 mm film, remastered as digital, black-and-white, silentNational Gallery of Australia Purchased 1984© Sue Ford / Copyright Agency 2019

→Julie Dowling Black Madonna 2004 synthetic polymer paint, red ochre, glitter and metallic, paint on canvas State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia Gift of Brigitte Braun, 2017 © Julie Dowling / Copyright Agency

↓ Grace Crowley Abstract painting 1947 paintings, oil on cardboard National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Major Exhibition

Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now30.05.2020–13.09.2020

Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now showcases art made by women. It brings together more than 150 works, drawn from the Gallery’s collection and other collections from across Australia. This exhibition is part of a series of ongoing initiatives by the National Gallery to increase the representation of artists who identify as women in its artistic program. Featuring lesser-known and leading artists such as Margaret Preston, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Destiny Deacon and Julie Rrap, this exhibition tells a new story of Australian art.

Highlights include a floor-to-ceiling presentation of artists’ portraits in a variety of mediums, the work of pioneering performance artists Bonita Ely and Jill Orr and a complete edition of Tracey Moffatt’s major series of photographs, Something more 1989. Gemma Smith has been commissioned to paint the walls of the galleries. By bringing together artists from different times, places and cultures, this exhibition proposes another history, upending the assumption that modern and contemporary Australian art is a male-dominated narrative.

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Exhibition

The Body Electric28.03.2020– 20.09.2020The Body Electric presents the work of women- identifying artists on the subjects of sex, pleasure and desire. The exhibition features key works by some of the pioneers of photography and video, including Polly Borland’s bodies wrapped in stockings, Nan Goldin’s personal and candid images of friends and a video by Cheryl Donegan examining clichés of women’s sexuality. The images in this exhibition show how sex, love and loss are an animating part of the human experience. The Body Electric includes works by Claire Lamb (Aus), Francesca Woodman (USA), Christine Godden (Aus) Carolee Schneemann (USA), Cheryl Donegan (USA), Collier Schorr (USA), Jo Ann Callis (USA), Petrina Hicks (Aus), Annette Messager (France), Lyndal Walker (Aus). The Body Electric is a Know My Name project and is supported by the Medich Foundation.

Exhibition

Tjanpi Desert Weavers 02.05.2020– 04.10.2020A new commission by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers. This large-scale installation tells the ancestral story of the Seven Sisters Dreaming, using sculptural forms woven from materials such as tjanpi (the Pitjantjatjara word for grass) and raffia. In the Dreaming story, the seven sisters are pursued across the land by a man called Nyiru, or Nyirunya. He chases the sisters up into the sky and down to earth again, intent on marrying the eldest of the women. Eventually, the sisters are transformed into the constellation of Pleiades and Nyiru assumes the form of Orion. The Tjanpi Desert Weavers use native grasses to create contemporary fibre art. The artists represent twenty-six remote communities located on Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) lands in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. A social enterprise of the NPY Women’s Council, the Tjanpi Desert Weavers travel vast distances to weave together, and their work is underpinned by a strong connection to Country, culture and community. The Tjanpi Desert Weavers commission is a Know My Name project and is supported by Wesfarmers Arts.

↑ Petrina Hicks Venus from the series The Shadows 2013 backlit transparent archival film (lightbox) Image courtesy the artist and Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin

↓ Roma Butler and Yangi Yangi Fox, from Irrunytju in Western Australia, with their sculptures, 2017. Photo: Rhett Hammerton

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→ Jordan WolfsonColored sculpture 2016mixed mediaImage courtesy the artist, David Zwirner Gallery and Sadie Coles HQPhoto: Dan Bradica

Exhibition

Jordan Wolfson Opening2021 Jordan Wolfson is one of the most radical artists working with new technologies today. His work provokes a range of emotions, from amusement to fear and disgust. Wolfson works across a range of mediums including animation, video, photography and performance, and his animatronic sculptures, controlled by computers, are his most ambitious and controversial works of art. The National Gallery is the first institution in Australia to acquire a work by Wolfson. The commission follows the artist’s groundbreaking works Female figure 2014 and Colored sculpture 2016.

Exhibition

Joan Mitchell: Worlds of Colour17.10.2020– 04.2021This exhibition presents works on paper produced by the American painter and print-maker Joan Mitchell during the final stage of her career. Born in Chicago, Mitchell emerged in the early 1950s as a leading figure in the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. The artist spent much of her life in France, settling permanently in Vétheuil, near Paris, in 1968, and remained dedicated to Abstract Expressionism throughout her career. Drawn from the Kenneth Tyler Collection, the prints on display highlight Mitchell’s exploration of colour, shape and space, and consider how these elements contributed to her art. Inspired by the natural world, Mitchell’s work references flowers, trees, water and sky.

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Major Exhibition

Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London13.11.2020– 14.03.2021

Spanning 450 years, Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London presents more than sixty paintings by some of Europe’s most revered artists, including Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velázquez, Goya, Turner, Renoir, Cézanne and Gauguin. Exclusive to Canberra, it comprises the largest group of works to travel outside of the United Kingdom in the history of the National Gallery, London. The exhibition explores seven key periods in Western European art history: the Italian Renaissance, Dutch painting of the Golden Age,

Van Dyck and British portraiture, the Grand Tour, Spanish art from the seventeenth century, landscape and the picturesque and the birth of modern art. Highlights include Rembrandt’s Self-portrait at the age of 34 1640, Vermeer’s A young woman seated at a virginal c 1670 and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers 1888. Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London is presented in partnership with Art Exhibitions Australia and the National Gallery, London.

← Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers 1888oil on canvas© The National Gallery, London.Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1924

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Exhibition Continuing in 2020

Belonging: Stories of Australian ArtOpens 06.12.2019

This major collection presentation recasts the story of nineteenth-century Australian art. Informed by the many voices of Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures and communities, the display reconsiders Australia’s history of colonisation. It draws together historical and contemporary work created by more than 170 artists from across Australia. Belonging: Stories of Australian Art reveals different stories and connections between

art, people and Country in its presentation of visual art and culture in Australia before 1900. The display highlights the endurance and resilience of Indigenous cultures and custodianship, as well as the impact and ongoing effects of colonisation. By highlighting how contemporary artists are engaged with the story of colonisation, Belonging shows the extent to which art and history are always being reinterpreted.

→Mervyn Bishop, (Murri people)Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pours soil into hand of traditional landowner Vincent Lingiari, Northern Territory 1975, printed 1994dye destruction photograph© Mervyn Bishop / Courtesy Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney

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←Hugh RamsaySeated girl c 1897oil on canvas on boardThe University of Melbourne Art Collection, MelbourneGift of Melbourne High School to Melbourne Teachers College 1965

→Roy LichtensteinReflections on crash, from the series Reflections 1989–90lithograph, screenprint, woodcut, metalised PVC plastic film, collage and embossingNational Gallery of AustraliaPurchased 1991 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein / Copyright Agency

Exhibitions Continuing in 2020 Lichtenstein to Warhol: The Kenneth Tyler CollectionUntil 09.03.2020This exhibition of prints pays tribute to the collaborations between master printer Kenneth Tyler and some of the century’s most prominent artists, including Anni Albers, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell and Andy Warhol.

Hugh Ramsay 30.11.2019–29.03.2020 This major retrospective, the first in more than twenty-five years, celebrates the legacy of Australian artist Hugh Ramsay (1877–1906), whose portrait paintings achieved success here and in France before his untimely death at the age of twenty-eight. The exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, sketchbooks and letters from collections around the country to celebrate his achievements.

Urs Fischer: Francesco12.2019–26.04.2020Swiss artist Urs Fischer’s Francesco, 2017, is a larger than life-sized wax sculpture of Italian art curator, Francesco Bonami, standing on a refrigerator while looking down at his smartphone, a pose that may come to symbolise our contemporary era. Alight during gallery hours, Fischer’s ‘candle’ slowly melts and breaks down, before being recast by the artist’s studio and ignited for another slow-burn performance.

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Exhibitions Continuing in 2020 Devotion Nature Time People: Asian ArtOngoingFrom Indonesia to Turkey and from 2,500 BCE to now, this collection display explores Asian art across geography, time, religion and culture. Structured by theme, the 174 works on display include Indian paintings and textiles, Chinese funerary goods, Indonesian ancestor figures and Japanese woodblock prints.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Room OngoingThis installation by Yayoi Kusama comprises a vibrant yellow room overrun with black polka dots of various sizes. A mirrored box at its centre houses a dozen illuminated pumpkin sculptures, which are endlessly reflected in the room’s internal mirrors. The combination of dots, pumpkins and mirrors creates an optical illusion of infinite space and colour. This infinity room was made possible with the support of Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett.

←Yayoi Kusama SPIRITS OF THE PUMPKINS DESCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS 2017 National Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased 2018 with the assistance of Andrew and Hiroko GwinnettInstalled at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Yayoi Kusama, courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai

↑Jangarh Singh Shyam Shiv Shesh Nag 1990poster paint on paperNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2019

←Pablo PicassoWoman from Arles (Lee Miller) 1937 oil on canvasPrivate collection© Succession Picasso / Copyright Agency 2019

Matisse & Picasso 13.12.2019–13.04.2020The relationship of Matisse and Picasso is one of the most important stories in modern art. Between them, they set the course of western art history in the first half of the twentieth century. The exhibition features more than sixty paintings and sculptures and many drawings, prints and costumes. This is a tale of rivalry and friendship. Matisse & Picasso will tour to the National Gallery Singapore from 15 May–16 August 2020.

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Body LanguageTouring until 07.2021Body Language reveals the central role language plays in expressing cultural identity. Featuring work by almost thirty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, this travelling exhibition shows how Indigenous art, including body art, can be interpreted as a visual language through its use of symbols.

1. Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, NSW 18 April–14 June 2020

2. Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW 29 August–8 November 2020

Art Deco from the National Collection: The World Turns ModernTouring until 08.2020Art Deco emerged in the early decades of the twentieth century as a style in art, architecture and design. Drawn from the collection, this travelling exhibition comprises work by Australian artists who embraced, adapted and advanced the Art Deco style, as well as select international examples.

1. Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Vic Until 2 February 2020

2. Canberra Museum and Art Gallery, ACT 9 May–20 June 2020

3. Hazelhurst Regional Arts Centre, NSW 26 June–23 August 2020

Jess Johnson and Simon Ward: Terminus Touring until 08.2021Inspired by sci-fi, comics and fantasy movies, Terminus is a virtual-reality installation that transports the viewer into an imaginary landscape of colour and pattern populated by human clones, moving walkways and gateways to new realms. Commissioned with funds provided by The Balnaves Foundation, with funding support for touring from Visions of Australia.

1. Heide Museum of Art, Vic Until 1 March 2020

2. Plimsoll Gallery, Tas 13 March–3 May 2020

3. Academy Gallery, Tas 15 May–21 June 2020

4. Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, SA 25 July–20 September 20205. Anne and Gordon

Samstag Museum of Art, SA 2 October–11 December 2020

Travelling Exhibitions: Australia

Sidney Nolan: The Ned Kelly Series Touring until 06.2020This travelling exhibition showcases Australian artist Sidney Nolan’s series of twenty-six paintings of the nineteenth-century bushranger Ned Kelly. Created in 1946–47, the outlaw’s story is distilled into a visual narrative in which landscape plays a key role.

1. Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, NT Until 23 February 2020

2. Cairns Art Gallery, Qld 6 March–14 June 2020

Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial Touring until 10.2020First shown at the National Gallery in 2017, Defying Empire recognised the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, with artists responding to the impact it had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The exhibition celebrates the ongoing resilience of Australia’s Indigenous people, engaging with issues such as identity, racism, displacement, sovereignty and the Stolen Generations. Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial is supported by Wesfarmers Arts.

1. Australian National Maritime Museum, NSW 23 May–18 October 2020

Reko Rennie (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi people) Royal Flag 201324-carat gold on aluminiumNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased 2013Courtesy of the artist

Jess Johnson and Simon Ward Tumblewych 2018fibre-tip pen, fibre-tip markers and gouache on paperNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2018Courtesy of the artists; Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney; Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland and Jack Hanley Gallery, New York

Jeremiah Bonson (Jinang/Marung peoples)Warrah Bun Bun 2010synthetic polymer paint on woodNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased 2010 © Jeremiah Bonson, licenced by Elcho Island Arts

Sidney NolanSteve Hart dressed as a girl 1947enamel paint on composition boardNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraGift of Sunday Reed 1977

Margaret Preston Flapper 1925oil on canvasNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased with the assistance of the Cooma- Monaro Snowy River Fund 1988© Margaret Rose Preston Estate / Copyright Agency

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https://cs.nga.gov.au/search.cfm?creirn=16008&order_select=1&view_select=4

→Walbidi, Daniel(Mangala/Yulparija peoples)Winnpa 2011synthetic polymer paint on linenThe Wesfarmers Collection, PerthCourtesy the artist and Short St Gallery, Broome

Travelling Exhibitions: International

First Peoples’ Art of Australia: From the Wesfarmers Collection and the National Gallery of AustraliaNational GallerySingapore31.07.2020– 03.01.2021This exhibition surveys the work of Indigenous Australian artists from the late 1800s to today, showcasing the vast diversity of practices from across the country. It includes key works by many of Australia’s greatest artists, drawn from the extensive collections of the National Gallery of Australia and Wesfarmers. Works in the exhibition respond to experiences of invasion, colonialism, dispossession, survival, trade and exchange and globalisation.

They show how Indigenous artists have maintained ancient traditions and developed new social and political identities while adapting to constant change. The exhibition will also draw out selected links with modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art, locating Indigenous Australian art within wider historical, cultural and conceptual flows. First Peoples' Art of Australia is supported by Wesfarmers Arts.

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Events and Programs

Art IRLFreeFeaturing free events and activations for 13–18 year olds, Art IRL (‘in real life’) is the Gallery’s new program connecting young audiences with art, artists and each other. Art IRL is co-produced by the Gallery’s Teen Council and inspired by the art and ideas that shape our exhibitions. Generously supported by Tim Fairfax AC, Art IRL is parent and teacher free, facilitated by Gallery staff, hosts and artist-educators.

Short CoursesJune and NovemberLearn more about art in our Saturday afternoon short courses. Held once a week over four weeks in the newly refurbished James Fairfax Theatre, course content will be delivered by curators and visiting special guests. No prior knowledge needed. Courses: Art that Changed Australia (June) and Art Sisters: Architecture and Design (November).

* Registration fees apply.

ToursFree tours of the collection are offered daily at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm. Tours are led by a Gallery guide. During Art Weekends, the Gallery offers daily tours for people who are deaf or hard of hearing and blind or with low vision.

Group BookingsTours of exhibitions and the collection can be booked for special interest groups, conferences, clubs and tourist groups. Tours can be tailored to specific areas of interest and delivered in languages other than English.

Tim Fairfax Learning StudioFreeThe Tim Fairfax Learning Studio is the Gallery’s new space for hands-on, messy art play and exploration. Visitors can drop into the studio on weekends and school holidays and take part in free art-making activities inspired by the collection and exhibitions. The Mobile Studio takes the fun into the galleries in the form of interactive art carts. During the week, the Tim Fairfax Learning Studio is used by schools, education and community groups taking part in tailored learning experiences.

Art with FriendsFreeThe Gallery’s Art and Dementia program offers tours of the collection and creative making workshops in the Tim Fairfax Learning Studio and the galleries for people living with dementia and their care partners on the first and third Friday of the month, February to November.

Super Sunday Sundays, 11am–3pm FreeBring the whole family to Super Sunday, where leading contemporary Australian artists inspire creatives of all ages. There will be art chats, storytelling, music, dance and art making.

The National Gallery of Australia's learning programs are generously supported by Education Patron Tim Fairfax AC.

Sensory SundaySundays, 8–10amFreeA new program for people with sensory differences, Sensory Sunday offers quieter experiences for people on the autism spectrum and with a range of abilities.

Art WeekendsLast weekend of the monthFree

The final weekend of each month will see the Gallery transform for Art Weekends. It kicks off with Night Shift on a Friday evening when the Gallery stays open late and continues on Saturdays with creative making in the Tim Fairfax Learning Studio and in the galleries. Sensory Sunday mornings and Super Sunday for kids, teens and adults finish off the weekend.

*Admission applies for ticketed exhibitions.

Night Shift Fridays, until 9pm FreeKick off your weekend with Night Shift, the Gallery’s monthly up-late program of talks, music and art making. All gallery spaces are open, and food and drinks can be purchased.

*Admission applies for ticketed exhibitions.

LearningThe Gallery welcomes over 110,000 students and teachers every year to take part in creative learning programs inspired by the collection and exhibition programs, which are aligned with the Australian Curriculum. Tailored programs for all levels engage students creatively and critically as they look at, talk about and make art. The Tim Fairfax Learning Gallery and Studio provide a hub for hands-on education experiences for students and the wider community.

Thursday Art TalksThursdays, 12.45pmFreeThursday Art Talks are given by curators, artists and special guests and include floor talks, panel discussions, in-conversations and storytelling. Each week presents a different topic, providing opportunities to delve deeper into the national collection and our exhibitions. Program information is available online.

Art BabeFreeParents and carers with small children (babies through to school age) are invited to hang out in the Tim Fairfax Learning Studio for free art making, storytelling, dance or sound activities and tours of the collection. Art Babe is held every second and fourth Friday of the month 10am–12pm, January to November.

30 31

AugustFri 07.08Art with Friends, 10.30amArt IRL, 6–9pm

Fri 14.08Art Babe, 10am–12pm

Fri 21.08Art with Friends, 10.30am


Fri 28.08–Sun 30.08Art WeekendNight Shift, Fri 5–9pmSensory Sunday, Sun 8–10amSuper Sunday, Sun 11am–3pm

SeptemberFri 04.09Art with Friends, 10.30am


Sun 13.09 Angelica Mesiti: ASSEMBLY closes, 5pmKnow My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now closes, 5pmXU ZHEN® closes, 5pm


Sun 20.09The Body Electric closes, 5pm



NovemberFri 06.11Art with Friends, 10.30am

Fri 13.11Art Babe, 10am–12pmBotticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London opens, 10am




OctoberFri 02.10Art with Friends, 10.30am

Sun 04.10Tjanpi Desert Weavers closes, 5pm



Sat 17.10Joan Mitchell: Worlds of Colour opens, 10am



Sat 31.10Art IRL, 6–9pm

JuneFri 05.06Art with Friends, 10.30am

Sat 06.06–27.06Short Course: Art that changed Australia, 2–4pm





FebruaryFri 7.02 Art with Friends, 10.30am

Fri 14.02 Art Babe, 10am–12pm

Fri 21.02 Art with Friends, 10.30am



Fri 28.02–Sat 29.02Enlighten Illuminations Club Ate: In Muva We Trust, 8pm

Sat 29.02Angelica Mesiti: ASSEMBLY opens, 10am

MarchSun 01.03–Mon 09.03Enlighten Illuminations Club Ate: In Muva We Trust, 8pm


Sat 07.03Skywhales: Every heart sings, 5.30amOne Night Only Club Muva, 8pm

Mon 09.03Lichtenstein to Warhol closes, 5pm


Sat 14.03 Skywhales: Every heart sings, 5.30amXU ZHEN® opens, 10am


Sat 21.03 Skywhales: Every heart sings, 5.30am


Sat 28.03The Body Electric opens, 10am


Sun 29.03Hugh Ramsay closes, 5pm

2020 Calendar

JanuaryFri 10.01 Art Babe, 10am–12pm

Fri 24.01 Art Babe, 10am–12pm

Fri 24.01–Sun 26.01 Art WeekendNight Shift, Fri 5-9pmSensory Sunday, Sun 8–10amSuper Sunday, Sun 11am–3pm

AprilFri 03.04Art with Friends, 10.30am



Mon 13.04Matisse & Picasso closes, 5pm





JulyFri 03.07Art with Friends, 10.30am





Sat 25.07Shock of the New opens, 10am

MayFri 01.05Art with Friends, 10.30amArt IRL, 6–9pm

Sat 02.05 Skywhales: Every heart sings, 5.30amTjanpi Desert Weavers opens, 10am







Sat 30.05Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now opens, 10am

Xu ZhenIn Just a Blink of an Eye 2005 performanceCourtesy the artist

Club Ate’s Skyworld Launchpad, performed at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 4 May 2018

(front) George Baldessin Pear - version number 2 1972, coren steel, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Purchased 1973

(back) Patricia Piccinini Skywhale 2013, nylon, polyester, nomex, hyperlast, cable, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Gift of Robyn Archer AO 2019. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program

Yvonne Lewis, Nancy Young and Linda Eddy from Irrunytju (WA) with their sculptures, 2017, Image by Rhett Hammerton

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club ate: in muva we trust skywhales: every heart …images of friends to brook andrew’s archival...

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