In Banksia 1955, Margaret Preston celebrates the inherent unruliness of our native flora, presenting a uniquely Australian approach to still-life.  The serrated, leathery leaves, open-mouthed seed pods and sturdy, conical flowers of the banksia are interspersed with pink and ye

When the revered Australian Impressionist painter Arthur Streeton purchased five acres of land at Olinda in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges in 1921, few could have predicted how important it would become in the context of his life and art. The house he built there – ‘Longacres’ ­– the extensive

Throughout his life [Tom] Roberts painted portraits for a livelihood, and his keen interest in character and expression stood him well: for he refined the professional portraitists’ static convention and, like Manet, selected some simple, unaffected and natural po

Norman Lindsay’s unique position in Australian art was based on the defiant conviction that everything he produced was founded on healthy and wholesome unabashed sexual freedom. His output as a painter was prodigious and yet he may be best known for his watercolours or his etchings. He was a

Throughout Shead’s celebrated career he has struck the fine balance of referencing the figurative world that surrounds him, yet also shrouding his works in ambiguous allegory leaving the viewer to ponder the scenes before them. Studying at the National Art School between 1961 and 1962 and be

After leaving secondary school at thirteen, Charles Blackman worked in a series of transitory jobs in Sydney then Brisbane, without much success. It was not until after Blackman and his wife Barbara moved to Melbourne that he held his first art exhibition at his Hawthorn studio in February o

Robert Dickerson’s unique style has become synonymous with Australian figurative painting. A member of the Antipodeans, Dickerson saw the beauty of referencing the world and human figures around him, presenting them with a pared-back rawness that is inherent to his works. Jennifer Dickerson

Sidney Nolan’s journey through life and art is probably the most closely documented of any Australian artist. His relationships, love affairs, friendships and enmities are painstakingly documented in a myriad books and essays. We learn that he was able to make the best of opportunities when

The landscape genre is one that Arthur Boyd repeatedly revisited throughout his life. Between his intensely imaginative bouts of figurative painting, such as his Nebuchadnezzar or Bride works, Boyd returned to the tranquillity of landscape painting, almost as a palate cleanser. Many of his s

Brett Whiteley was certainly the most talked about, written about and argued about artist of his generation. Almost thirty years after his death, his record remains for all to see; the highest priced and most bankable of artists, with a prize pedigree to match his public recognition. But wit