In this issue of NGV Magazine we explore the role art, design and museums can play in transformation and learning, and celebrate seventy years of the NGV Learning Department. Museums can offer unique learning experiences, regardless of age or education, sparking curiosity, conversations and connections that can last a lifetime, seen through the revealing stories inspired by our Collection in this issue.
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVES
What is the difference between semi-abstract art and pure abstraction? To accompany this issue’s Secret Life of Art story ‘Another Side of Grace Crowley’, NGV Curator Beckett Rozentals explains abstract art definitions through the works of Crowley and Ralph Balson, two extraordinary artists who were pivotal in the development of abstract art in Australia.
Learning resource: Abstraction Action
Explore abstract art with the young ones in your life using this learning resource inspired by the works of Melinda Harper
AUTHOR READINGS: THE ARTWORK THAT CHANGED ME
Melbourne authors Emily Bitto and Peggy Frew read from their texts on the NGV artwork that has changed them, and their thoughts about the role of art and museums in providing transformative experiences.
Emily Bitto
Emily Bitto reflects on the power of art during COVID and her love of Joy Hester’s (Untitled) (Head of a woman with hat), 1955.
Peggy Frew
Peggy Frew reads from her NGV Magazine text on Giambattista Tiepolo’s The Banquet of Cleopatra, 1743–44, and recalls two works that also resonate, Arthur Boyd’s Shearers playing for a bride, 1957, and Grace Cossington Smith’s Quaker girl, 1915.
MAKING WITH
In this video from his studio, see how Dutch designer Jólan van der Wiel creates his one-of-a-kind sitting stools by manipulating the natural phenomenon of gravity.
DISCOVER ME
Take a closer look at Constance Stokes’s Portrait of a woman in a green dress, 1930, in this video with NGV Conservator of Paintings, Raye Collins.
COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT: JAPANESE ART
Scottish artist Elizabeth Keith created Blue and white, 1924, during her decade living in Japan. Keith spend many years developing this work, which reveals her deep appreciation of Japanese culture. Blue and white also references other iconic Japanese styles and artworks, including these works from the NGV Collection. Read about Blue and white in the magazine, and see if you can find the connections: