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In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with Katrina Cashman, Gallery Manager and Senior Curator at the National Art School, about the exhibition currently on display at the NAS Gallery, Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste.'Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste celebrates the legacy and significant achievements of Margaret Olley AC – National Art School alum and one of Australia's most beloved painters – through the lens of the European artistic tradition intimisme, which honours the quiet poetry of domestic life and the interior world.Drawing from significant public and private collections, Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste traces Olley's preoccupations from early interiors to her later richly textured compositions featuring floral arrangements, antiques, and domestic objects. Each painting is more than a still life – it is a portrait, a sensory memory, and a trace of the artist's personal world, animated by beauty.Curated by NAS Gallery Manager and Senior Curator Katrina Cashman curator in consultation with author and curator Christine France OAM, the exhibition explores Olley's oeuvre as it relates to place and relationships. Rather than maintaining a separate painting studio, she worked primarily in her own home and those of family and friends. While she occasionally painted landscapes, portraits, and sketched outdoors – particularly while travelling – her principal subjects were interior spaces, window views, and intimate tabletop arrangements, capturing the resonance of light, memory, and everyday experience.Though working within intimiste traditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Olley led an unconventional life, rejecting traditional domestic roles. Her work was never static, echoing the rhythms of a personal world in flux – shaped by the seasons, light, and her enduring dialogue with art history. Australian Intimiste celebrates Olley's remarkable six-decade career since graduating from the National Art School and honours the formative relationships and creative communities that sustained her practice.The exhibition includes more than sixty artworks by Margaret Olley AC and a selection of works by her National Art School friends, teachers and peers including Jean Bellette, Margaret Cilento, Douglas Dundas, Russell Drysdale, Frank Medworth, David Strachan and Tony Tuckson among others. It also includes Sir William Dobell's famous 1948 Archibald Prize winning portrait of Margaret Olley that caused such a sensation in the day.A substantial publication accompanies the exhibition, including essays by Katrina Cashman, Dr Georgina Cole, Christine France OAM, Dr Emily Gray and Dr Michael Hill. Publication supported by The Gordon Darling Foundation. Project supported by NAS Gallery Ambassadors.'The exhibition runs unti October 24th at the National Art School, Forbes St, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 11-5pm Monday to Saturday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In episode 62 I spoke with senior curator Denise Mimmocchi about the late abstract expressionist artist Tony Tuckson and the exhibition ' Tuckson:the abstract sublime ' which is currently showing at the Art Gallery of NSW. The exhibition continues until 17 February 2019. In this episode I look at a few of the paintings themselves with artist Aida Tomescu. I spoke with Aida about her own life and art in episode 33 where you can hear a great story of her arrival in Australia from communist Romania and her rise to becoming one of our most respected painters. She has won many awards including the Wynne prize, the Sulman prize and the Dobell prize and has exhibited in over 30 solo shows. We talk about the paintings, paint, what the paint’s doing, guessing the intention of the artist and ponder on what effect it’s having on the viewer. You don’t have to see the exhibition to appreciate these episodes but if you get a chance to go why not listen to it as you’re walking around? You’ll see I’ve marked at the top of this page the point where we speak about each work so you can see them in any order you like. The book accompanying the exhibition, edited by curator Denise Mimmocchi, 'Tuckson' is widely available including from the Art Gallery of NSW bookshop. Images are reproduced with the kind permission of the Art Gallery of NSW. To hear the episode just press 'play' under the feature photo above. Scroll down to also see a YouTube version of this episode with images Here are the works we talk about in this episode 2:29 White lines (vertical) on ultramarine 1970 - 73 (room 4) 9:55 Yellow (room 3) 15:10 Untitled [Late Drawing No.19 ] (room 3) 20:20 Untitled [White Sketch] 1970 - 73 (room 3) 24:20 Swirl c1962 - 65 (room 2) 28:10 Untitled 1973 (room 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ8052xpX8c&t=1061s
Denise Mimmocchi, senior curator of Australian art at the Art Gallery of NSW, has brought together a magnificent exhibition of the abstract works of the late Tony Tuckson: 'Tuckson: the abstract sublime' showing at the Art Gallery of NSW until 17 February 2019. Tony Tuckson, who died about 45 years ago, is considered by many to be one of Australia’s most significant abstract expressionist artists but he kept his art under wraps for most of his painting life. In this episode I spoke with the Art Gallery of NSW’s senior curator of Australian art (and mastermind of this show) Denise Mimmocchi and we talk about his life and career. You can then follow on in episode 63 and listen to my conversation with renowned Australian abstract artist Aida Tomescu where we talk about a few of the works in depth. If you happen to be in Sydney before the show ends and get a chance to get there you could listen while you look. You’ll see in the notes to episode 63 that I’ve marked the point where we speak about each work so you can skip ahead to any work you like. Images of all the works I talk about with Aida are also reproduced on the page of episode 63 with the kind permission of the Art Gallery of NSW. The exhibition is current until 17 February 2019. Details here. The book 'Tuckson' (pictured below) is available at the Art Gallery of NSW book shop.
If we consider the several components manifested in a work of art ... foremost is man himself, the artist ... but equally important is the use of his intuitive faculties - the influence of the unconscious. Tony Tuckson 1964 It is for his later paintings such as 'White lines (vertical) on ultramarine' that Tony Tuckson is admired as one of Australia's finest abstract expressionists. From the late 1950s, he used increasingly simplified forms and restricted colour to concentrate on the act of painting. While absorbing developments in European and American abstraction and admiring the work of fellow Australian artist Ian Fairweather, Tuckson's approach is perhaps most strongly allied to his lifelong interest in Aboriginal and Melanesian art.
National Gallery of Australia | Collection Video Tour | Twentieth-century Australian art
Tony Tuckson (1921 Egypt – 1973 Australia), White over red on blue c.1971. Painting, synthetic polymer paint on two composition boards, 213.4 h x 244.0 w cm. Purchased 1978. © Tony Tuckson. Licensed by Viscopy.
National Gallery of Australia | Collection Video Tour | Twentieth-century Australian art
Tony Tuckson (1921 Egypt – 1973 Australia), Watery [No.22 Watery] c.1960. Painting, oil on composition board, 122.2 h x 183.0 w cm. Gift of Margaret Tuckson 2002. © Tony Tuckson. Licensed by Viscopy.
James Gleeson interviews Margaret Tuckson, 12 November 1979 [unknown location]