Out of Australia: Prints and Drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas is the first major showing of Australian art to be held in London for more than ten years. The exhibition, which includes 125 works on paper by over 50 artists, is part of Australian Season at the British Museum.
All the items featured in Out of Australia... have been sourced by curator Stephen Coppel from the British Museum's holding of modern Australian drawings and prints, one of the world's best collections outside Australia. The collection, which has been carefully developed over the past eight years, started with a major donation of etchings and drawings by the printmaker; painter and draughtsman Fred Williams, donated by his widow in 2003.
A succession of gifts and acquisitions, including works by Aboriginal artists such as Rover Thomas, Gloria Petyarre and Kitty Kantilla have helped build the collection. The BM's stock also includes works by a number of contemporary artists including Peter S. Graham, Brent Harris and Ricky Swallow, all of whom feature in the exhibition.
Out of Australia: Prints and Drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas
The exhibition is arranged chronologically starting with an examination of the rise of the group known as ″the Angry Penguins″ which included Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester, experimenters in expressionism and surrealism. Nolan's felt-tipped sketch of the bush ranger Ned Kelly, drawn in 1954, features in the exhibition.
Out of Australia... looks at the work of Australian artists living and working in London and Paris during the 1950s and 60s. The display, which features works by Albert Tucker, sculptor Robert Klippel and many others, explores the close relationship between the British and European art scenes and Australian artists working overseas.
The Development of Printmaking in Australia
Out of Australia... investigates the development of printmaking in Australia and explains a wide variety of printmaking techniques ranging from aquatint to screen printing.
The exhibition also shows the response of artists such as Tony Tuckson to abstract expressionism, and Robert Jacks' experience of minimalism in North America in the 1970s. Moving on to the 1980s and 90s the exhibition looks at how social and political issues are expressed in works by Mike Parr, Ann Newmarch and the AIDS activist David McDiarmid. Out of Australia.. finishes with a display of prints by rising Indigenous Australian artists such as Robert Cole, Kitty Kantilla, Dorothy Napangardi. Gloria Petyarre, Rover Thomas, Judy Watson and Pedro Wonaeamirri.
Australian Season at the British Museum
The British Museum's Australian Season, sponsored by mining group Rio Tinto, is dedicated to Australian culture. The season includes two exhibitions: Out of Australia... and Baskets and belonging: Indigenous Australian Histories. A garden installation, Australia Landscape, installed in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on the BM's forecourt, features indigenous Australian plants. There is also a full programme of talks, performances, workshops, film screenings and family activities.
Out of Australia... Exhibition Catalogue
To accompany the exhibition the British Museum Press has released Out of Australia: prints and drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas. The 256-page publication, by curator Stephen Coppel, features almost 200 colour illustrations. Priced at £25, Out of Australia... is available from the British Museum: ISBN 978 0 7141 2672 2.
Out of Australia... will be on show until 11th September 2011. Further information about the exhibition, catalogue, and related events is available from The British Museum.
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
Join the Conversation