Art Ew - National Gallery of Australia

neglected. However, this is a very rare instance when
a work can be re-associated with its identity. We have
been fortunate to learn more about this particular piece
through an original photograph held at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art which has the personal name of the figure
written on the reverse: ‘Mogulapan’. Another particularly
noteworthy work in the Pacific Arts Gallery is the figure of
a man wearing a distinctly western hat yet also wearing
Indigenous adornments. This figure, a recent acquisition
from the Anthony Forge collection, is the only known
portrait of an Australian undertaken by a New Guinean
artist during the early twentieth century. Also featured is
a refined and masterful stone pestle that exhibits a rare
clarity of form for a daily utensil from any culture in the
world. It comes from a little known prehistoric culture
in New Guinea and is very likely to be 3500 years old,
produced during the same era as the Gallery’s iconic
Ambum stone which is also on display. Both stoneworks
from New Guinea are the most ancient works in the
Gallery’s large collection.
The inaugural National Indigenous Art Triennial opens
in October with the title Culture Warriors. This innovative
exhibition, very generously sponsored by BHP Billiton, will
be a permanent event in the Australian and international
art calendar. Works selected for the Triennial have been
created within the past three years and provide a highly
considered snapshot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
contemporary art practice. The exhibition features the
work of thirty-one artists and encompasses a wide range
of media including painting on canvas and bark, sculpture,
textiles, weaving, new media, photo-media, printmaking,
and installation work.
Spring sees the opening of Robert Rauschenberg, our
latest temporary exhibition in the Orde Poynton Gallery.
Robert Rauschenberg entered the New York art world in
1950 at a time when Abstract Expressionism was at its
peak. Working outside the restrictions imposed by media,
style and convention, he adopted a unique experimental
methodology that paved the way for a number of
subsequent movements, including Pop Art. His invention of
‘combines’ and unique photo-collage and image transfer
practices made him one of the most influential figures of
the postwar period. This exhibition is supported by the
Embassy of the United States of America.
Another new exhibition is Black robe, white mist: art
of the Japanese Buddhist nun Rengetsu. The tragic life of
Rengetsu (1791–1875), whose name translates as Lotus
Moon, inspired extraordinary creativity. One of a very few
successful professional female artists of nineteenth-century
Japan, Rengetsu was primarily a poet and calligrapher
Rupert Myer AM, Chairman
of the National Gallery of
Australia Council,
Steven Münchenberg,
National Australia Bank,
and Director Ron Radford
contemplate the new
acquisition, Max Ernst’s
Habakuk, purchased with
the assistance of the
National Australia Bank
artonview spring 2007 3