Australian art

Sydney Long The Spirit of the Plains 1914 Collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Reproduced with the kind permission of the Opthalmic Research Institute of Australia more detail

The collection of Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia incorporates art made in Australia or about Australian subjects since European settlement in 1788, with the greatest strength in the 20th century. Australian art also includes the art of Australia's Indigenous people. This collection is discussed separately under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. The collection encompasses paintings and sculpture, prints and drawings, photographs, the decorative arts, sketchbooks, posters and installation art.

Included are significant works by artists such as Tom Roberts, Charles Conder, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton, members of what has been widely regarded as the national school of Australian painting, the Australian Impressionists.

Sidney Nolan's paintings – in particular the Ned Kelly series (1945–47) – constitute an important part of the Gallery's representation of the art of postwar Australia. Works by Arthur Boyd – a comprehensive group given by the artist to the Gallery in 1975 – are another great strength of the collection, along with works by Margaret Preston, John Perceval, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester.

The Gallery also holds comprehensive collections of the works of major 20th century photographers such as Harold Cazneaux, Olive Cotton and Max Dupain. Sculpture is also well represented, with major works by artists such as Bertram Mackennal and Robert Klippel.

Special focus

• Australian prints and drawings
• Rotary collection of Australian art
• Tommy McRae drawings
• NAB Sculpture Gallery
• Sculpture Garden

New acquisition highlights

• 2009 Listing
• 2008 Listing | Gallery of selected works
• 2007 Listing | Gallery of selected works
• 2006 Listing | Gallery of selected works
• 2005 Listing | Gallery of selected works
• 2004 Listing | Gallery of selected works
• 2003 Listing | Gallery of selected works

Related exhibitions

• Australian Surrealism: the Agapitos Wilson collection
• Armidale ‘42: memory and imagination
• Arthur Boyd & the exile of imagination
• Changing hands: the crafts revival in Australia 1965–1985
• Childhoods past
• Douglas Annand: the art of life
  
• Everyday Art: Australian Folk Art
  
• John Brack: inside and outside
• Federation: Australian Art & society
• George W Lambert retrospective: heroes & icons
• Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition
  
• Grace Crowley
  
• Home sweet home: works from the Peter Fay collection
  
• Imants Tillers: one world many visions
• Islands in the sun
  
• James Gleeson: beyond the screen of sight
  
• John Brack: inside and outside
  
• John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque
  
• Joy Hester and friends
  
• Landscapes in sets + series; Australian prints 1960s–1990s
  
• Making pictures
  
• Margaret Preston: Australian printmaker
  
• Modern Australian women
  
• Moist: Australian watercolours
• National sculpture prize & exhibition 2005
  
• National sculpture prize & exhibition 2003
  
• National sculpture prize & exhibition 2001
  
• New worlds from old: 19th Century Australian and American landscapes
  
• Out and about: The National Gallery of Australia tours Australia
  
• Painting forever: Tony Tuckson
  
• Place made: Australian Print Workshop
• Richard Larter: a retrospective
• Rosalie Gascoigne: material as landscape
  
• Seeing the centre: the art of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959
  
• Stage fright: the art of theatre
  
• Tales of the unexpected: aspects of contemporary Australian art
  
• Techno Craft
  
• The Antipodeans: challenge and response in Australian Art 1955 - 1965
  
• The Edwardians: secrets and desires
  
• The Europeans: emigré artists in Australia 1930–1960
  
• The Moet & Chandon touring exhibition 1999
  
• The spread of time: the photography of David Moore
  
• The story of Australian printmaking 1801–2005
• Transparent things: expressions in glass
• Uncommon world: aspects of contemporary Australian Art
  
• William Robinson: a retrospective

Selected publications

All works are National Gallery of Australia publications unless otherwise stated

• At home in Australia  Peter Conrad, 2003, National Gallery of Australia, in association with Thames and Hudson
  
• Australian Art in the National gallery of Australia, Anne Gray, editor, National Gallery of Australia 2002
  
• Australian folk and popular art in the Australian National Gallery John McPhee, 1988
  
• Building the collection Pauline Green, editor, 2003
  
• Federation : Australian art and society 1901-2001  John McDonald 2000
  
• Grace Cossington Smith  Deborah Hart, editor 2005
  
• Home sweet home: works from the Peter Fay collection, 2003
  
• Joy Hester and friends Deborah Hart, 2001
  
• National Sculpture Prize and exhibition, 2005, 2005
  
• National Sculpture Prize and exhibition, 2003, 2003
  
• Place made: Australian Print Workshop  Roger Butler and Anne Virgo editors 2004
  
• Read my lips: Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman  Kathryn Weir 1998
  
• Tales of the unexpected: aspects of contemporary Australian art,  Deborah Hart, 2002
  
• The Antipodeans: challenge and response in Australian art 1945-1965, 1999
  
• The Edwardians: secrets and desires  Anne Gray; with essays by Ann Galbally, 2004
  
• The prints of Margaret Preston: a catalogue raisonné Roger Butler, 2005
  
• Uncommon world: aspects of contemporary Australian art 2000

For more National Gallery of Australia publications visit the library catalogue online