Australian Art in the National Gallery of Australia

This magnificent visual survey of Australian art provides an introduction to the National Gallery of Australia's deep and broad-ranging collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, decorative arts, and design, by non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians. The collection is truly national in that it includes the activities of artists representative of the whole country. More than 400 works, from 1770 to 2002 are included, with perennial favorites, like Sidney Nolan's "Ned Kelly" series, as well as important lesser-known works and newer acquisitions. The works are arranged chronologically beginning with Pre-colonial and Colonial (1770-1884) , followed by Nationalists and Expatriates (1885-1914) , Modernism and Feminism (1915-1939) , Figurative Debate (1940-1959) , Abstraction and Social Change (1960-1974) , Anything Goes (1975-89) and Art Now (1990-2002) . Also included are insightful essays by over 50 of the artists who made the works, as well as by curators and scholars. Some are intense, personal reflections on individual works; others are more discursive and place the works in their art historical or historical contexts. All are aimed for the general reader.