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 It may originate on the other side of the world, but Australian art echoes the art from the United States in such profound ways that it is surprising it's not better known on this side of the equator and the Pacific. The continent's art is largely known for the "Ned Kelly" series by Sidney Nolan, as well as signature dotted art from aboriginal peoples. This survey of the National Collection of the National Gallery of Australia shows just how much richer and various the body of work is. Here 400 works (paintings, sketches, furniture, sculpture, photographs, multimedia, and more) from 1770 to 2002 are efficiently reproduced in color, with many telling details highlighted. Brief essays by 50 artists and gallery staff, curators, and critics frame each piece. The works represent the nation as it became what it is today. Distinct Australianisms appear throughout, and many of those works and others urge mention, but one in particular settles the question of whether U.S. art lovers will relate: A woman with a suitcase stares across a desolate plain in Russell Drysdale's painting The drover's wife (1945), vividly recalling Dorthea Lange's photograph Migrant Mother (1936). While this book is principally focused on nonindigenous works, since other books are planned for that large collection, some are included, lending a needed perspective to the whole. Recommended for all art collections.-Rebecca Miller, "Library Journal" Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. |
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