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Indigenous Art Art Periods Since 1600 Movements Schools and Groups Key Events in Early Australian Art History
Indigenous Art
Indigenous Australian art can be traced back to approximately 45,000 years ago.
Some sites to view more about the history of Indigenous Australian art include: http://www.idaia.com.au/en/
https://nga.gov.au/collections/atsi/ https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/indigenous-arts-journey-traced-in-three-pivotal-books/news-story/07b6ac108e3e73585d075c215a778d5e
Early
Exploration
1600 - 1795
Colonialism
1778 - 1880
Nationalism &
Federalism
1880 - 1920
Modernism
1914 - 1940
Depression & WWII
1929 - 1945
Post
Modernism
1945 - 2000
Contemporary Art
2000 -
Art Periods since 1600
Early
Exploration
1600 - 1795
Early exploration 1600 - 1770
Cook's voyages 1770 - 1773
Early Settlement
Early exploration 1600 - 1770
1600 - 1795
Maps
Charts
Recording of Indigenous Life
Flora and Fauna
Colonialism
1778 - 1880
Early Colonial Art 1788 - 1850
Later Colonial Art 1850 - 1880
In 1852, Gill went to the Victorian goldfields where he completed perhaps his best-known representations of every-day life on the diggings. He spent many years travelling in Victoria and New South Wales, sketching what he saw and producing lithographs intended to appeal to colonists and those in Britain with an interest in Australia.
Early Colonial Art 1788 - 1850
Colonialism 1788 -1850
Topographical
Portraiture
Colonialism 1850
- 1880
Romanticism
Naturalism
Realism
Nationalism & Federalism
1880 - 1920
Australian Impressionism 1885 - 1915
Heidleberg School
Marion Mahony Griffin & Walter Burley Griffin, Competition Design Entry for Australia’s Federal Capital, View from Mount Ainslie, National Archives of Australia
Australian Impressionism 1885 - 1915
Australian Impressionism
Symbolism
Aestheticism
Art Nouveau
Modernism
1914 - 1940
Grace Cossington Smith, The Sock Knitter, 1915
Tonalism 1915 - 1950
Grace Cossington Smith, The Sock Knitter, 1915
Post Impressionism
Tonalism
Expressionism
Abstract Art
Depression & WWII
1929 - 1945
Surrealism
Social Realism
Post
Modernism
1945 - 2000
Imants Tillers, Kangaroo Blank, 1988, National Gallery of Australia
Imants Tillers, Kangaroo Blank, 1988, National Gallery of Australia
Contemporary Art
2000 -
Wendy Sharpe, Annette Kellerman Mural, City Art Sydney, 1999
Wendy Sharpe, Annette Kellerman Mural, City Art Sydney, 1999
Albert Tucker, Memory of Leonski, 1943, National Gallery of Victoria
Early Colonial Art 1788 - 1850
Albert Tucker, Memory of Leonski, 1943, National Gallery of Victoria
Movements, Schools and Groups
There has been a range of movements, styles and affiliations during Australia's art history. These include:
The Heidelberg School (and Australian Impressionism)
The Heide Circle (Sunday and John Reed)
Art Nouveau
Some key events in Australia's early art history
Click on the links to see more about each event
European navigators begin charting Australia's shoreline and painting broad observations from ships
Sydney Parkinson possibly first European artist to set foot on Australian soil and draw from direct observation
Absalom West, emancipated convict, set up business as publisher of prints in Sydney (commencing with a series of engravings of the infant colony).
First art school established in Sydney by John William Lewin
John Lewin records the first use of oil paint in Australia in his letters
Richard Read senior, first portrait painter, opens art school in Sydney
- 1820
c1600
1770
1812
1814
1820 - 40
1821
1826
1831
1833
1837
Two lithographic presses set up at Parramatta Observatory, mainly for printing maps
Augustus Earle opens gallery in Sydney
Earle produces first lithograph - Bungaree
Thomas Bock (artist and engraver) opens business in Hobart while still assigned convict
Mechanics School of Arts opened in Sydney to promote cultural development and learning
First art exhibition - held in Hobart
1840 - 50
1830s
1836
1840
1843
1844
1845
1847
1848
1849
1840s
Wood engraving begin to be used instead of woodcuts for newspaper illustrations
Possible first lithograph by woman artist, Maria Barney, NSW
First volume of John Gould's Birds of Australia published (Elizabeth Gould major contributor to work.)
National School of Art gives its first lecture
Robin Vaughan Hood set up business as carver, gilder (picture framer), lithographer and dealer in fine arts in Hobert
276 works displayed at the public exhibition of paintings in Australia in Hobart's legislative chamber
S.T. Gill organises an Artists' Exhibition in Adelaide
Exhibition for the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts in Australia in Sydney
1850 - 70
1853
1855?
1856
1858
1861
1867
1869
First art exhibition in Melbourne
Sketch Club formed in Sydney
First Art Society formed - The South Australian Society of Arts
Earliest technical art school in Australia established - South Australian School of Arts and Crafts
Art Treasures Exhibition, Hobart
National Gallery of Victoria established
National Gallery School of Art of Victoria established (also known as National Gallery Art School)
Artisans' Schools of Design established in Melbourne
Melbourne Exhibition - Ornamental and Decorative Art
1870 - 90
1870
1870s
1872
1874
1875
1879
1880
1881
1880s
1884
1885
1887
1888
1889
Sydney Intercolonial exhibition
Victorian Artists Society formed
The Academy of Art was founded - later to become AGNSW (1880)
First exhibition of colonial art, under the auspices of the Academy, held at the Chamber of Commerce,
Apsley Falls by Conrad Martens is the first work on paper by an Australian artist to be acquired by the Art Gallery of NSW - commissioned by the trustees and purchased for £50 out of the first government grant of £500.
Mount Olympus, Lake St Clair, Tasmania by WC Piguenit first oil painting by an Australian artist to be acquired by AGNSW
Sydney International exhibition
Melbourne International Exhibition
Art Society of NSW formed by Arthur and George Collingridge and other artists
Art Gallery of South Australia founded
Society of Painters in Pastel established
First regional art gallery in Australia opens at Ballarat in Victoria
Beginnings of Heidelberg group
Travelling scholarship established in Victoria - awarded to John Longstaff
Melbourne Centennial Exhibition
First Australian magazine devoted to art, Australian Art by George Collingridge
9 x 5 Impressionist Exhibition in Melbourne
1890s
1890
1895
1897
1898
Julian Ashton School of Arts/ Sydney Art School opens in Sydney 1890
Art Gallery of Western Australia opens
Queensland National Art Gallery opens
National Society of Mural Painters Established
Queensland National Art Gallery first Australian acquisition - Josephine Muntz-Adams's Care c.1893
1900 -
1908
1910
1916 - 42
1922
1982
The inaugural Wynne Prize is awarded to Walter Withers for The storm
Constance Jenkyns first woman to win travelling scholarship in Australia
Sydney Society of Women Paintersfounded
Magazine Art in Australia published by Sydney Ure Smith
The inaugural Archibald Prize is awarded to WB McInnes for Desbrowe Annear.
National Gallery of Australia in Canberra opens
Key Sources include:
Moore, William, The Story of Australian Art, Angus and Robertson, Melbourne, 1980
Australian Dictionary of Biography
National Library of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
State Library of Victoria
State Library of New South Wales
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Sydney Art School
La Trobe Journal
As the list of key events is not easy to read on a mobile device, please either use a PC or laptop, or view the pdf
If you have any questions, comments, or other key dates to add, please contact me.