View source for Australian art

{{short description|Art made by Australians or in Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2013}}
{{Culture of Australia}}

'''Australian art''' is a broad spectrum of [[art]] created in or about [[Australia]], or by Australians overseas, spanning from [[Prehistory of Australia|prehistoric]] times to the present day. The art forms include, but are not limited to, [[Indigenous Australian art|Aboriginal]], Colonial, [[Landscape]], [[Atelier Method|Atelier]], and [[Contemporary art]]. 

The visual arts in Australia have a rich and extensive history, with Aboriginal art dating back at least 30,000 years. The country has been the birthplace of many notable artists from both [[Western art|Western]] and [[Indigenous Australians|Indigenous Australian]] schools. These include the late-19th-century [[Heidelberg School]] plein air painters, the [[Antipodeans]], the Central Australian [[Hermannsburg School]] watercolorists, and the [[Western Desert Art Movement]]. The Australian art scene also features significant examples of [[High modernism]] and [[Postmodern art]].

==History==
===Indigenous Australia===
[[File:Bradshaw rock paintings.jpg|thumb|[[Gwion Gwion rock paintings|Gwion Gwion rock art]] in the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] region of Western Australia]]
The ancestors of [[Aboriginal Australians]] are believed to have arrived in Australia as early as 60,000 years ago, and evidence of [[Indigenous Australian art]] in Australia can be traced back at least 30,000 years.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/art/index.htm
|title=Indigenous art
|work=Australian Culture and Recreation Portal
|publisher=Australia Government
|access-date=26 September 2010
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416144209/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/art/index.htm
|archive-date=16 April 2010
}}</ref> Examples of ancient Aboriginal rock artworks can be found throughout the continent. Notable examples can be found in national parks, such as those of the [[UNESCO]] listed sites at [[Uluru]] and [[Kakadu National Park]] in the Northern Territory, and the [[Gwion Gwion rock paintings]] in the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley region of Western Australia]]. Rock art can also be found within protected parks in urban areas such as [[Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park]] in Sydney.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kakadu National Park|url=https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/index.html|access-date=2020-08-27|website=parksaustralia.gov.au}}</ref><ref>[http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/index.html Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227150948/http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/index.html |date=27 December 2009 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.auinfo.com/Ku_Ring_Gai_National_park_Sydney.html Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park, Sydney, Australia. Information and Map] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129174555/http://www.auinfo.com/Ku_Ring_Gai_National_park_Sydney.html |date=29 January 2013 }}</ref> The [[Sydney rock engravings]] are approximately 5000 to 200 years old. [[Murujuga]] in Western Australia has the Friends of Australian Rock Art advocating its preservation, and the numerous engravings there were heritage listed in 2007.<ref>* ABC Online 10.02.09 [https://archive.today/20120717023523/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/10/2487552.htm?section=entertainment Pilbara Rock Art not Affected by Mining Emissions: Study]</ref><ref>Phillips, Yasmine: World protection urged for Burrup art. 13.01.09 [http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=117675] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In terms of age and abundance, cave art in Australia is comparable to that of [[Lascaux]] and [[Cave of Altamira|Altamira]] in Europe,<ref>[http://australianmuseum.net.au/The-spread-of-people-to-Australia/ The spread of people to Australia], Australian Museum</ref> and Aboriginal art is believed to be the oldest continuing tradition of art in the world.<ref name="NGVindig">{{cite web |url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/the-indigenous-collection |title=The Indigenous Collection |work=The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia |publisher=National Gallery of Victoria |access-date=6 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007081213/http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/the-indigenous-collection |archive-date=7 October 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> There are three major regional styles: the geometric style found in Central Australia, Tasmania, the Kimberley and Victoria known for its concentric circles, arcs and dots; the simple figurative style found in [[Queensland]]; the complex figurative style found in Arnhem Land which includes X-Ray art.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyiE7hb3KQA&context=C3f97c7cADOEgsToPDskLjebfGy0T1qHyfSa0K0pSG] Arnhem Land Rock Art on Archaeology TV</ref> These designs generally carry significance linked to the spirituality of the [[Dreamtime]].<ref>[http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/art/index.htm Australian Indigenous art], australia.gov.au {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416144209/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/art/index.htm |date=16 April 2010 }}</ref>

[[File:William BARAK - Wurundjeri people - Corroboree - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|William Barak, ''Corroboree'', 1895]]
[[William Barak]] ({{circa}} 1824–1903) was one of the last traditionally educated of the [[Wurundjeri]]-Willam people who come from the district now incorporating the city of Melbourne. He remains notable for his artworks which recorded traditional Aboriginal ways for the education of Westerners (which remain on permanent exhibition at the [[Ian Potter Centre]] of the [[National Gallery of Victoria]] and the [[Ballarat Fine Art Gallery]]). [[Margaret Preston]] (1875–1963) was among the early non-indigenous painters to incorporate Aboriginal influences in her works. [[Albert Namatjira]] (1902–1959) is a famous Australian artist and an [[Arrernte people|Arrernte]] man. His landscapes inspired the [[Hermannsburg School]] of art.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.hermannsburgschool.com/ |title = Hermannsburg School}}</ref> [[Elizabeth Durack|Elizabeth Durack's]] works, which notably fuse Western and indigenous influences, are significant. Since the 1970s, indigenous artists have employed the use of acrylic paints – with styles such as the [[Western Desert Art Movement]] becoming globally renowned 20th-century art movements.

The [[National Gallery of Australia]] exhibits a great many indigenous art works, including those of the [[Torres Strait Islands]] who are known for their traditional sculpture and headgear.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art|url=https://nga.gov.au/atsiart/index.cfm|access-date=2020-08-27|website=nga.gov.au}}</ref> The [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] has an extensive collection of indigenous Australian art. [http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/galleries/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander/] In May 2011, the Director of the Place, Evolution, and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU) at [[Griffith University]], [[Paul Taçon]], called for the creation of a national database for rock art.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.griffith.edu.au/humanities-languages/school-humanities/research/protect-australias-spirit |title=Protect Australia's Spirit – Griffith University |access-date=2011-12-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117223527/http://www.griffith.edu.au/humanities-languages/school-humanities/research/protect-australias-spirit |archive-date=17 January 2012}}</ref> Paul Taçon launched the "Protect Australia's Spirit" campaign in May 2011 with the Australian actor [[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]].<ref>{{YouTube|XJCcAElSYaU|Protect Australia's Spirit: Interview with Prof. Paul Tacon and Jack Thompson}}</ref> This campaign aims to create the very first fully resourced national archive to bring together information about rock art sites, as well as planning for future rock art management and conservation. The National Rock Art Institute would bring together existing rock art expertise from [[Griffith University]], [[Australian National University]], and the [[University of Western Australia]] if they were funded by philanthropists, big business and government. [[Rock Art Research]] is published twice a year and also covers international scholarship of rock art.

===Early European depictions===
[[File:The Kongouro from New Holland (Kangaroo) NMM ZBA5754 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[George Stubbs]], ''[[The Kongouro from New Holland]]'', 1772]]
The first artistic representations of the Australia scene by European artists were mainly [[natural history]] illustrations, depicting the distinctive flora and fauna of the land for scientific purposes, and the topography of the coast. [[Sydney Parkinson]], the [[botanical illustrator]] on [[James Cook]]'s 1770 voyage that first charted the eastern coastline of Australia, made a large number of such drawings under the direction of naturalist [[Joseph Banks]]. Many of these drawings were met with scepticism when taken back to Europe, for example claims that the [[platypus]] was a hoax. In the form of copies and reproductions, [[George Stubbs]]' 1772 paintings ''[[Portrait of a Large Dog]]'' and ''[[The Kongouro from New Holland]]''—depicting a dingo and kangaroo respectively—were the first images of Australian fauna to be widely disseminated in Britain.

===British colonization (1788–1850)===
Early Western art in Australia, from British colonisation in 1788 onwards, is often narrated as the gradual shift from a European sense of light to an Australian one. The lighting in Australia is notably different from that of Europe, and early attempts at landscapes attempted to reflect this. It has also been one of transformation, where artistic ideas originating from beyond (primarily Europe) gained new meaning and purpose when transplanted into the new continent and the emerging society.<ref name="Christopher Allen 1997">''Art in Australia: From Colonization to Postmodernism.'' [[Christopher Allen (critic)|Christopher Allen]] (1997). Thames and Hudson, World of Art series.</ref>

Despite Banks' suggestions, no professional natural-history artist sailed on the [[First Fleet]] in 1788. Until the turn of the century all drawings made in the colony were crafted by soldiers, including British naval officers [[George Raper]] and [[John Hunter (Royal Navy officer)|John Hunter]], and convict artists, including [[Thomas Watling]].<ref name="James Gleeson 1971">James Gleeson, Australian Painting. Edited by John Henshaw. 1971.</ref> However, many of these drawings are by unknown artists, most notably the [[Port Jackson Painter]]. Most are in the style of naval draughtsmanship, and cover natural history topics, specifically birds, and a few depict the infant colony itself.

[[File:John Glover - A view of the artist's house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen's Land - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|John Glover, ''A View of the Artist's House and Garden'', 1835]]
Several professional natural-history illustrators accompanied expeditions in the early 19th century, including [[Ferdinand Bauer]], who travelled with [[Matthew Flinders]], and [[Charles-Alexandre Lesueur]], who travelled with a French expedition led by [[Nicolas Baudin]]. The first resident professional artist was [[John Lewin]],<ref name="James Gleeson 1971" /> who arrived in 1800 and published two volumes of natural history art. Ornithologist [[John Gould]] was renowned for his illustrations of the country's birds.<ref name="James Gleeson 1971" /> In the late 19th century [[Harriet Morgan|Harriet]] and [[Helena Scott]] were highly respected natural history illustrators<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://australianmuseum.net.au/Beauty-from-Nature-art-of-the-Scott-Sisters |title = The Scott sisters collection}}</ref>
Lewin's ''Platypus'' (1808) represents the fine detail and scientific observation displayed by many of these early painters.

As well as inspiration in natural history, there were some ethnographic portraiture of [[Aboriginal Australians]], particularly in the 1830s. Artists included [[Augustus Earle]] in [[New South Wales]]<ref name="James Gleeson 1971" /> and [[Benjamin Duterrau]], [[Robert Hawker Dowling|Robert Dowling]] and the sculptor Benjamin Law, recording images of [[Aboriginal Tasmanians]].

The most significant landscape artist of this era<ref name="Christopher Allen 1997" /> was [[John Glover (artist)|John Glover]]. Heavily influenced by 18th-century European landscape painters, such as [[Claude Lorraine]] and [[Salvator Rosa]], his works captured the distinctive Australian features of open country, fallen logs, and blue hills.<ref name="Bernard Smith 2001">''Australian Painting: 1788–2000.'' Bernard Smith with Terry Smith and Christopher Heathcote (2001). Oxford University Press.</ref>

[[Conrad Martens]] (1801–1878) worked from 1835 to 1878 as a professional artist, painting many landscapes and was commercially successful. His work has been regarded as softening the landscape to fit European sensibilities.<ref name="James Gleeson 1971" /> His watercolour studies of Sydney Harbour are well regarded, and seen as introducing [[Romantic art#Romantic visual arts|Romantic]] ideals to his paintings.<ref name="Bernard Smith 2001" /> Martens is also remembered for accompanying scientist [[Charles Darwin]] on [[HMS Beagle]] (as had [[Augustus Earle]]).

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Thomas Watling - A Direct North General View of Sydney Cove, 1794.jpg|Thomas Watling, ''A Direct North General View of Sydney Cove'', 1794
William Westall - View of Sir Edward Pellews Group, Gulph of Carpentaria, 1802.jpg|[[William Westall]], ''View of Sir Edward Pellews Group, Gulph of Carpentaria'', 1802
Augustus Earle A bivouac of travellers in Australia.jpg|Augustus Earle, ''A bivouac of travellers in Australia in a cabbage-tree forest, day break'', 1838
Image:Conrad Martens - Campbells Wharf, 1857.jpg|Conrad Martens, ''Campbell's Wharf'', {{circa}} 1857
</gallery>

===Gold rushes and expansion (1851–1885)===
[[File:Eugene VON GUÉRard - North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Eugene von Guérard, ''North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko'', 1863]]
From 1851, the [[Victorian gold rush]] resulted in a huge influx of settlers and new wealth. [[S. T. Gill]] (1818–1880) documented life on the Australian gold fields,<ref name="James Gleeson 1971" /> however the colonial art market primarily desired landscape paintings, which were commissioned by wealthy landowners or merchants wanting to record their material success.<ref>{{Cite web|title=National Gallery of Australia. Travelling exhibitions|url=http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/OceantoOutback/pdf/O2OEDUKIT.pdf|access-date=2020-08-27|website=National Gallery of Australia}}</ref>

[[William Piguenit]]'s (1836–1914) "Flood in the Darling" was acquired by the National Gallery of New South Wales in 1895.<ref name="ReferenceA">McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch & Emily McCulloch Childs: ''McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art'' Melbourne University Press, 2006</ref>

Some of the artists of note included [[Eugene von Guerard]], [[Nicholas Chevalier]], [[William Strutt (artist)|William Strutt]], [[John Skinner Prout]] and [[Knud Bull]].

[[File:Louis Buvelot - Summer afternoon, Templestowe - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|Louis Buvelot, ''Summer Afternoon, Templestowe'', 1866]]
[[Louis Buvelot]] was a key figure in landscape painting in the later period. He was influenced by the [[Barbizon school]] painters, and so using a ''[[plein air]]'' technique, and a more domesticated and settled view of the land, in contrast to the emphasis on strangeness or danger prevalent in earlier painters. This approach, together with his extensive teaching influence, have led his to dubbed the "Father of Landscape Painting in Australia".<ref name="Bernard Smith 2001" />

A few attempts at art exhibitions were made in the 1840s, which attracted a number of artists but were commercial failures. By the 1850s, however, regular exhibitions became popular, with a variety of art types represented. The first of these exhibitions was in 1854 in Melbourne. An art museum, which eventually became the [[National Gallery of Victoria]], was founded in 1861, and it began to collect Australian works as well as gathering a collection of European masters. Crucially, it also opened an art school, important for the following generations of Australian-born and raised artists.

[[Henry James Johnstone|Henry James Johnstone (also known as H. J. Johnstone)]], a professional photographer and student of Buvelot, painted the large-scale bush scene ''Evening Shadows'' (1880), the first acquisition of the [[Art Gallery of South Australia]] and possibly Australia's most reproduced painting.<ref>[http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/TLF/01/ 'Evening shadows, backwater of the Murray, South Australia'], Art Gallery of South Australia. Retrieved 27 February 2017.</ref>

<gallery widths="195px" heights="195px">
Robert Dowling - Group of natives of Tasmania - Google Art Project.jpg|Robert Dowling, ''Group of Natives of Tasmania'', 1860
Nicholas Chevalier - Mount Arapiles and the Mitre Rock - Google Art Project.jpg|Nicholas Chevalier, ''Mount Arapiles and the Mitre Rock'', 1863
William Strutt Black Thursday detail.jpg|William Strutt, ''[[Black Thursday bushfires|Black Thursday, February 6th]]'' (detail), 1864
H J. Johnstone - Evening shadows, backwater of the Murray, South Australia - Google Art Project.jpg|H. J. Johnstone, ''Evening Shadows'', 1880
</gallery>

===Australian impressionists (1885–1900)===
[[File:Vincent van Gogh - s0273V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Russell (Australian painter)|John Russell]], ''[[Vincent van Gogh (Russell painting)|Vincent van Gogh]]'', 1886]]
The origins of a distinctly Australian painting tradition is often associated with the [[Heidelberg School]] of the late 19th century. Named after a camp [[Tom Roberts]] and [[Arthur Streeton]] established in [[Heidelberg, Victoria|Heidelberg]] (then a rural suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne), these painters, together with [[Frederick McCubbin]], [[Charles Conder]]<ref name="autogenerated1"/> and others, began an impressionistic ''plein air'' approach to the Australian landscape that remains embedded in Australia's popular consciousness, both in and outside the art world.

[[File:Tom Roberts - Shearing the rams - Google Art Project.jpg|left|thumb|Tom Roberts, ''[[Shearing the Rams]]'', 1890]]
Many of their most famous works depict scenes of pastoral and outback Australia. Central themes of their art include manual labour, conquering the land,<ref name = "Christopher Allen 1997"/> and an idealisation of the rural pioneer.<ref name = "Bernard Smith 2001"/> By the 1890s most Australians were city-dwellers, as were the artists themselves, and a romantic view of pioneer life gave great power and popularity to images such as ''[[Shearing the Rams]]''.<ref name="Bernard Smith 2001"/> In this work Roberts uses formal composition and strong realism to dignify the shearers<ref name = "Bernard Smith 2001"/> whilst the relative anonymity of the men and their subdued expressions, elevate their work as the real subject, rather that the specific individuals portrayed.<ref name = "Christopher Allen 1997"/>

In their portrayal of the nobility of rural life, the Heidelberg artists reveal their debt to [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]], [[Jules Bastien-Lepage|Bastien-Lepage]] and [[Gustave Courbet|Courbet]], but the techniques and aims of the French [[Impressionist]]s provide more direct inspiration and influenced their actual practise. In their early and extremely influential [[9 by 5 Impression Exhibition|Exhibition of 9 by 5 Impressions]] of small sketches, their impressionistic programme was clear, as evidenced from their catalogue: "An effect is only momentary: so an impressionist tries to find his place... it has been the object of artists to render faithfully, and thus obtain first records of effects widely differing, and often of very fleeting character."<ref name="Bernard Smith 2001"/>

Other significant painters associated with the Heidelberg painters were [[Walter Withers]], who won the inaugural [[Wynne Prize]] in 1896,<ref name="autogenerated1">Alan McCulloch, Golden Age of Australian Painting: Impressionism and the Heidelberg School</ref> and [[Jane Sutherland]], a student of McCubbin. Born and raised in Sydney, impressionist [[John Russell (Australian painter)|John Russell]] spent much of his career in Europe, where he befriended the likes of [[Vincent van Gogh]] and [[Claude Monet]]. He also wrote letters home to his friend, Tom Roberts, updating him on developments in French impressionism.

<gallery widths="195px" heights="195px">
Charles Conder - A holiday at Mentone - Google Art Project.jpg|Charles Conder, ''[[A holiday at Mentone]]'', 1888
McCubbin(1).jpg|Frederick McCubbin, ''[[Bush Idyll]]'', 1893
Emanuel Phillips Fox - Art Students, 1895.jpg|E. Phillips Fox, ''Art Students'', 1895
Arthur Streeton Purple 1896.jpg|Arthur Streeton, ''[[The purple noon's transparent might]]'', 1896
</gallery>

===Federation era and World War I (1901–1918)===
In 1901, the six self-governing Australian colonies [[Federation of Australia|federated]] to form a unified nation. Artists such as [[Hans Heysen]] and [[Elioth Gruner]] built on the Australian landscape tradition of the Heidelberg painters, creating grand, nationalist pastoral landscapes. Others moved on to successful careers in London and Paris, such as [[Rupert Bunny]] and [[Hugh Ramsay]].  
<gallery widths="195px" heights="195px">
George W Lambert - Miss Thea Proctor - Google Art Project.jpg|[[George Washington Lambert]], ''[[Thea Proctor|Miss Thea Proctor]]'', 1903
Hugh Ramsay - The sisters - Google Art Project.jpg|Hugh Ramsay, ''The Sisters'', 1904
Elioth Gruner - Spring frost - Google Art Project.jpg|Elioth Gruner, ''[[Spring Frost]]'', 1918
Heysen Droving.jpg|Hans Heysen, ''[[Droving into the Light]]'', 1921
</gallery>

=== 1920s onwards ===
Among the public, through the 1920s, modified forms of Impressionism were popular, with [[Elioth Gruner]] being considered the last of the Australian Impressionists.<ref name="atoa">{{cite book |last1=Splatt |first1=William |last2=Burton |first2=Barbara |date=1977 |title=A Treasury of Australian Landscape Painting |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1417435/Details |publisher=Rigby |page=36 |isbn=9780859020138}}</ref> The [[Australian tonalism|Australian Tonalist]] movement, originating in the writings and teaching of [[Max Meldrum]], followed a 'scientific' transcription of tonal relations, making 'impressionism' a system, and opposed [[Modernism|Modernist]] art then emerging pre-WW2 in the [[Angry Penguins]] and the [[Heide Circle]] influenced by refugees from Europe, and Australian-born artists' visits to England and France. Conservatives' attitudes to 'modern art' prevailed until the 1960s, institutionalised in the [[Australian Academy of Art]] (1937–1947), opposed by such groups as the [[Contemporary Art Society (Australia)|Contemporary Art Society]] (established 1938 and continuing).<ref name="ReferenceA" />

The 1950s restored an interest in the [[Outback]] as subject matter in Australian art.<ref name="atoa"/> [[Russell Drysdale]] and [[Sidney Nolan]] toured the interior, sponsored by newspapers to document drought.  They and [[Albert Tucker (artist)|Albert Tucker]], in his ''Explorer'' series, sought to capture the ancient strangeness and a cruel infinity of the central Australian landscape.<ref name="atoa"/>

Splatt and Burton (1977) consider the 1960s a period in which public attention was being drawn to urban bushland and that landscape paintings of the 1970s carried through on the themes of environmental preservation and threats of destruction.<ref name="atoa"/>

== List of artists ==
{{Main|List of Australian artists|:Category:Australian sculptors|:Category:Australian photographers}}

== Art museums and galleries in Australia ==
[[File:National Gallery of Victoria, Entrance sign.jpg|250px|thumb|right|[[National Gallery of Victoria]]]]
{{Main|List of art museums and galleries in Australia |:Category:Art museums and galleries in Australia}}
[[File:Namatjira0384.jpg|thumb|250px|Picture of [[Albert Namatjira]] at the Albert Namatjira Gallery, [[Alice Springs]] Cultural Precinct, in 2007]]

== Institutions ==

Australia has major art museums and galleries subsidised by the national and state governments, as well as private art museums and small university and municipal galleries. The [[National Gallery of Australia]], the [[Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane|Gallery of Modern Art]] and the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] have major strengths in collecting the art of the Asia Pacific Region. Others include the [[National Gallery of Victoria]] in Melbourne, which has a significant Australian collection of Western art. [[Museum of Contemporary Art Australia]], Sydney, and the privately owned [[Museum of Old and New Art]] in Hobart, Tasmania and [[White Rabbit Gallery]] in Sydney are widely regarded as autonomously discerning collections of international contemporary art.

Other institutions include the [[Art Gallery of South Australia]] in Adelaide, Newcastle Art Gallery, the [[National Portrait Gallery (Australia)|National Portrait Gallery of Australia]], the [[National Museum of Australia]], the [[Canberra Museum and Gallery]], the [[Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery]] in Hobart, the [[Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory]] in Darwin, and the [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]] in Perth. A network of regional public galleries have existed since the mid-1800s and one, [[Castlemaine Art Museum]], is unique in specialising in Australian art. The [[State Library of New South Wales]] holds a significant collection comprising more than a quarter of a million artworks,<ref>[http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/picturescollections "Pictures Collections – Getting started"], [[State Library of New South Wales]]</ref> many from the colonial period. More material is held by other national and state libraries.

== Art market ==

The boom and bust cycle in contemporary art is evident in the 1980s colonial art boom ending at the time of the [[Black Monday (1987)|1987 stock market crash]] and the exit of many artists and dealers, followed by the 2000s boom in Aboriginal dot painting and Australian late modernist painting, which ended at the time of the [[2008 financial crisis]] and growing collector and public interest in the international contemporary art circuit.

A 5% resale royalty scheme commenced in 2010 under which artists receive 5% of the sale price when eligible artworks are resold commercially for $1000 or more. Between 10 June 2010 and 15 May 2013, the scheme generated over $1.5 million in royalties for 610 artists.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Arts|first=Department of Communications and the|date=2019-12-17|title=Resale Royalty Scheme|url=https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/resale-royalty-scheme|access-date=2020-08-27|website=arts.gov.au|language=en}}</ref> Some buyers object to paying any resale royalty while others do not mind a royalty going directly to the artists. However, they worry about further red tape and bureaucratic interference.

In 2014/15 there was a rediscovery of colonial art at auction. Affordable 20th-century rural scene painting is buoyant. While the inflated northern hemisphere art markets had anticipating a massive correction in the Australian art market which transitioned to the middle market.

Socially oriented art events such as art fairs and biennials have continued to grow in size and popularity in the contemporary art scene.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Artforum.com|url=https://www.artforum.com/artguide/artfairs|access-date=2020-08-27|website=artforum.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-22|title=Top 38 International Art Fairs To Attend|url=https://www.plepaulmier.com/blog/top-38-international-art-fairs/|access-date=2020-08-27|website=Le Paulmier Photography|language=en-US}}</ref>

The smaller commercial galleries have struggled to remain in business in the 2010s in spite of a functioning economy, although there is little consensus on the reasons for this.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Preiss|first=Andrea Petrie and Benjamin|date=2013-05-11|title=Bleak picture emerges as galleries battle to hang in|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/bleak-picture-emerges-as-galleries-battle-to-hang-in-20130511-2jf0b.html|access-date=2020-08-27|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Fairley|first=Gina|title=Why are so many commercial galleries closing?|url=https://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/visual-arts/gina-fairley/why-are-so-many-commercial-galleries-closing-254259|access-date=2020-08-27|website=ArtsHub Australia|date=16 August 2017 |language=en-au}}</ref>

A new market has arisen in China, where Australian artists are selling works in a traditionally local market: "While the Chinese have always had a passion for traditional Chinese art, according to global auction house Sotheby's, the surging interest in contemporary international art is a recent trend."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-09-28|title=Aussie artists eye cashed-up Chinese buyers spending big on contemporary art|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-29/australian-artists-eye-cashed-up-chinese-buyers/10307270|access-date=2020-08-27|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|language=en-AU}}</ref>

The market for Aboriginal art is still very strong, on the national and international stage, since becoming a solid financial investment in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History and Emergence of Aboriginal Art|url=https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/emergence-of-aboriginal-art/|access-date=2020-08-27|website=Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery}}</ref> Not only do all the regional and State Galleries acquire significant collections of Aboriginal art, but private galleries are showing featured artists abroad.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Desert Blossoms of Bush Medicine 'Akwerlp Alpeyt Artna Arntetyew' – Art Exhibition|url=https://michaelreid.com.au/exhibition/artists-of-ampilatwatja/|access-date=2020-08-27|website=Michael Reid Gallery}}</ref> Aboriginal artists are also represented in all the major landscape prizes Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Indigenous artist wins landscape art prize|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/indigenous-artist-wins-landscape-art-prize|access-date=2020-08-27|website=SBS News|language=en}}</ref> In 2019, "the Wynne prize, worth $50,000, was won by [[Sylvia Ken]] for her painting Seven Sisters – marking the fourth year in a row that the landscape prize has been won by Indigenous artists."<ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-05-10|title=Tony Costa named winner of 2019 Archibald prize for portrait of Lindy Lee|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/10/tony-costa-named-winner-of-2019-archibald-prize-for-portrait-of-lindy-lee|access-date=2020-08-27}}</ref>

==Australian visual arts in other countries==

The museum for Australian Aboriginal art 'La grange' in [[Neuchâtel]], Switzerland, was one of the few museums in Europe that dedicated itself entirely to Aboriginal art.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fondation Burkhardt-Felder {{!}} Arts et Culture|url=https://ww2.fondation-bf.ch/|access-date=2020-08-27|language=fr-FR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ww2.fondation-bf.ch/actual-exhibition/?lang=en|title=Current Exhibition {{!}} Fondation-bf|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Arts in Australia]]
* [[:Category:Australian artist groups and collectives|Australian artist groups and collectives]]
* [[Australiana]]
* [[Australian Cartoonists' Association]]
* [[Australian feminist art timeline]]
* [[Photography in Australia]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.visualarts.net.au/ National Association for the Visual Arts]
* [http://www.acga.com.au/ Australian Commercial Galleries Association]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130520111205/http://craftaustralia.org.au/ Craft Australia's website]
* [http://www.videoartchive.org.au/artist.html Australian Video Art Archive]
* [http://www.daao.org.au/ Design and Art Australia Online]
* [http://www.artcollector.net.au/IndigenousArtCentresGuide Art Collector Magazine's Indigenous Art Centres Guide]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110922143352/http://arts.org.au/ The Australian Arts Community – A free community website for the arts in Australia] (archived)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171118202839/http://www.art-prizes.com.au/ Art Prizes Australia, a free listing of Australian Art Prizes] (archived)

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[[Category:Art by country|Australia]]