ISSUE 118 | 2 March 2009 | Visit us at Facebook or nga.gov.au/whatson

Avoid the queue—Buy tickets here!
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Visit the website—nga.gov.au/degas

Australia’s first ever exhibition of works by French artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917) is now showing at the National Gallery of Australia, and is exclusive to Canberra.

The exhibition includes more than 120 paintings, drawings, sculptures, monotypes, prints, and photographs drawn from 45 collections from all over the world. Works are drawn from prestigious galleries such as the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Degas was an innovator in depicting images of everyday life in Paris. Many of the works exhibited focus on Degas’ favourite subject matter—the ballet, behind-the-scenes views at the opera, the racetrack, café-concerts, laundresses and women bathing.

Exhibition hours
10.00 am – 5.00 pm daily
plus Saturday evening 5.00–7.00 pm
(13 December 2008 – 14 March 2009)

Admission prices
Adult $20; members/concession $15; children $6*;
family $45; season adult $60
*Children’s prices apply to 6–16 year olds (under 6 free)

(below) Edgar Degas  Before the ballet 1890–92 (detail)  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC  Weidener Collection Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington
part of Degas: master of French art

 

Dance with Degas
Thursday 5 March 10.30 am – 2.30 pm 
Join Penny Low, artist and Gallery Educator, and develop drawing and observational skills, exploring composition, colour and movement with a life model in costume.
$65; $60 members/concession | book now | Small Theatre (meet in Gallery foyer)

Sunset Sessions wine tasting
Saturday 7 March 5.00 pm
In association with Sunset Sessions late night openings, we continue the tradition of exotic wine tastings every Saturday in the Members Lounge.
$5; free for members | Members Lounge

Sunset Sessions focus talk: Green fairies and liquid stones
Saturday 7 March 4.30 pm
Max Allen, wine writer for The Weekend Australian, explores the connections between art and wine, and explains why Australian winemakers need to start thinking of themselves more as artists, poets and musicians of the vine.
Free | James O Fairfax Theatre

Sunset Sessions performance: Trio Degas
Saturday 7 March 5.30 pm
Consisting of staff and graduates from the ANU School of Music, Trio Degas was formed for this Sunset Sessions performance in conjunction with the National Gallery of Australia’s exhibition Degas. Trio Degas' members are Teresa Rabe (flute), Barbara Jane Gilby (violin/viola) and Meriel Owen (harp). The trio will present an engaging selection of French music, including Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola and harp.
Free | Exhibition Galleries foyer

Degas' portraits
Tuesday 10 March 12.45 pm
Dr Elisabeth Findlay, Lecturer, Art History, Australian National University, discusses Degas’ enigmatic and compelling portraits.
Free | James O Fairfax Theatre

Degas and drawing
Thursday 12 March 12.45 pm
Terence Maloon, Senior Curator of Special Exhibitions, Art Gallery NSW, discusses Impressionism as a crisis of drawing.
Free | James O Fairfax Theatre

Sunset Sessions focus talk: The unbearable darkness of being
Saturday 14 March 4.30 pm
JM Calder, internationally acclaimed crime writer, aka Mark Henshaw, curator of Degas’ world, takes a forensic look at the underbelly of Parisian life in the late 19th century.
Free | James O Fairfax Theatre

Degas at the races
Tuesday 17 March 12.45 pm
Simeran Maxwell, Exhibitions Assistant, discusses Degas’ fascination with the sport of horseracing.
Free | James O Fairfax Theatre

Degas and photography
Thursday 19 March 12.45 pm
Robert Deane, Senior Researcher, examines Eadweard Muybridge’s 19th-century photographic studies of human and animal locomotion and discusses how it informed the style of contemporary painters especially that of Edgar Degas.
Free | Small Theatre

Curator's perspective
Thursday 19 March 5.00 pm
MEMBERS
Jane Kinsman, Senior Curator, International Art, and curator of Degas: master of French art, gives a special tour for members. Followed by light refreshments in the Members Lounge
$50 members and their guests | book now
Exhibition Galleries and Members Lounge

 

(below) Percy Leason  At the campfire, San Remo c 1934 (detail)  Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane  Gift of Max Leason 1980   © estate of Percy Leason
part of Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950

Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists
1915–1950
nga.gov.au/mistymoderns

21 February – 26 April 2009

Misty moderns travels to the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, from the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

It is the first major exhibition to tell the story of Australian Tonalism, a movement championed by the influential and often controversial painter Max Meldrum in the first half of the twentieth century. The exhibition is brought together from collections around Australia and includes approximately 80 works of art by Meldrum and his followers. The exhibition features works by Meldrum's best known pupils, Clarice Beckett, Percy Leason and Colin Colahan, as well as formative works by Australian Modernists Roy de Maistre, Roland Wakelin, Lloyd Rees, Arnold Shore and William Frater.

 

(below) Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen  La rue Caulaincourt 1896 (detail)   National Gallery of Australia, Canberra  Purchased 1987
part of Degas' world: the rage for change

Gallery events

Contemporary art focus 2009: Australian artists talks
Tuesday 3 March 12.45 pm
Hossein Valamanesh speaks about the inspiration behind and construction of his work Touch love 2006.
Free | Australian Galleries

Out of the box
Kakahu as expression of cultural identity
Thursday 5 March 12.45 pm
Christina Wirihana , award-winning Maori textile artist and master weaver who works in traditional and contemporary materials, speaks about the natural flax fibres used and the weaving processes of the traditional kakahu (cloak).
Free | book now | Collection Study Room (meet in the Gallery foyer)

Make an impression
Saturday 7 March 10.30 am – 12.30 pm
(all ages, children to be accompanied)
Experience the fun of drawing as a family and get to know the Gallery’s collections with Penny Low, artist and Gallery Educator.
$5 (includes materials) | book now | meet in Gallery foyer

Sculpture Garden Sunday
Sunday 8 March 10.30 am – 1.30 pm
Explore the Sculpture Garden with art workshops, art
installations, a children's trail, music and drama. Sausage
sizzle, refreshments and BYO picnic under the trees.
more information
Free | Sculpture Garden

The printed image: Australia, Asia, Pacific series seminar
Saturday 14 March 1.30–4.30 pm
Glenn Barkley, Melanie Eastburn, Noreen Grahame, Michael Gunn, Alex Selenitsch and Anna Zagala discuss the book series The printed image: Australia, Asia, Pacific, published by the National Gallery of Australia.
$25; $20 members/concession; $15 students | book now
Small Theatre

Fairytale
DVD, 2008, 152 mins, Chinese, English and German (English subtitles)
Sunday 15 March 1.30 pm
This film by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei documents Fairytale, the project he conceived for the major art exhibition Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany, 2007. Presented in partnership with ANU School of Art and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. DVD courtesy Ai Weiwei.
Free | James O Fairfax Theatre

A little look at art
Wednesday 18 March 10.00–11.00 am
Parents/carers with their babies and toddlers are invited to join a voluntary guide for a relaxed tour of the collection, followed by a morning tea with coffee and cake.
$12, $10 members/concession | book now
meet in Gallery foyer

 

Gallery information

Open daily 10.00 am – 5.00 pm | nga.gov.au | +61 2 6240 6502

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