Making Nature

Venue: Art Gallery of South Australia
Dates: 26 June to 6 September 2009
Cost: $10 Adults, $8 Concession, $6 Members & Students, Children under 16 free.

Charles Conder Australia/Britain, 1868—1909
Hayfield, France (1894, France)
oil on canvas, 60.3 x 73.5 cm, M.J.M. Carter AO Collection

Click on the images for a larger view

Different perspectives

Exclusive to the Art Gallery of South Australia, Making Nature explores the way in which European artists since the Renaissance have represented the landscape according to three different ideologies: the ideal, the romantic and the realistic. Through superb oil paintings, sculptures, watercolours, prints, drawings and photographs from the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, visitors to this exhibition experience the emotive powers, serenity and poetry of nature.

Awaken your senses and imagination to the possibility, promise and thrill of nature and explore the works of the masters of the European landscape tradition through its greatest exponents: Titian, Claude Lorrain, Rembrandt, Joseph Wright of Derby, J.M.W. Turner, James McNeill Whistler, Eugène Boudin, Vanessa Bell, Lucien Pissarro, Nikolaus Lang and Andy Goldsworthy.

Curator of the exhibition and author of the accompanying book is Jane Messenger, the Art Gallery of South Australia’s Curator of European Art. Messenger said “this survey of European landscape art offers a rare opportunity to see how artists have imagined nature through the ages, which has in turn influenced the way we see the world around us. As the twentieth-century German artist Paul Klee stated “art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible”.

James McNeill Whistler United States/ Britain/ France, 1834—1903
Nocturne: the river at Battersea from the portfolio 'Notes'
1878, printed by Thomas Way & Son; published 1887 by Boussod, Valadon and Co., London
lithotint with scraping, printed in grey ink on blue chine
collé on paper 17.2 x 25.8 cm (image)
Bequest of Sir Samuel Way 1916. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

“The way the landscape is represented by the artist is dependant on his historical, political and cultural position, realising the strong association between the making of art and the time during which it was made” Messenger said.

At a time when environmental issues are being so fiercely debated around the world, there is perhaps no better time to review how man has imagined or evaluated his relationship with nature and art through the ages. The opening of Making Nature will be closely followed by a free public lecture about the art of European landscape and a series of exhibition talks.

Other exhibition-related events include expert guided tours, an art workshop The Lure of the Landscape with renowned watercolour exponent, Arthur Phillips, an “after-dark” DEPARTURE event and children’s art and craft sessions.

Making Nature is generously supported by Ernst & Young. Managing Partner, South Australia, Mark Butcher said “Ernst & Young is excited to be supporting the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Making Nature exhibition. This significant collection of European landscape art acquired over a century by South Australia’s own gallery is a testament to this state’s passion for culture and art.

Ernst & Young is committed to sponsoring the arts and we are proud that our contribution can help bring these important works to the community so that they may inspire and uplift”.

Making Nature will not tour and can only be seen on display in Adelaide at the Art Gallery of South Australia from Friday 26 June until Sunday 6 September 2009.

Tristram Hillier Britain, 1905—1983
The road to Pylle 1946, Somerset, England
oil on canvas 63.5 x 76.2 cm
Morgan Thomas Bequest Fund 1948
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Tristram Hillier Estate. Administered by Bridgeman Art Library

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