Past Programs
Art History - 2008
Australian Bakelite radios
29/10/2008
There's nothing better than the crackle and hum of an old radio. The sound can evoke so many memories, crowding round the speakers for your favourite program. Peter Sheridan is one keen radio listener and collector of Bakelite radios. He has 160 of them displayed around his home.
Australia's female convicts
19/08/2008
They were some of Australia's earliest white settlers, but suprisingly little is known about our first female convicts. There were 189 female convicts in the First Fleet and up until the 1850s, thousands of women prisoners were forced to live in "female factories", upon arrival in Australia. The local wool industry was just beginning and these convict women were the first to work in the mills, sewing and weaving the nation's early textiles. Now a new exhibition takes a look at the difficult lives of these women, trying to survive, a long way from home. The exhibition is currently touring the country and organisers say they hope they'll learn more about Australia's female convicts along the way.
Salvador Dali painting set to return to Melbourne
24/07/2008
Seventy years after it was vilified for being obscene, a Salvador Dali painting is about to make a triumphant return to Melbourne. The surrealist painting Memory of the Child Woman caused outrage when it was first shown in 1939 at an exhibition of French and British art. It was removed from public display after Keith Murdoch described it as 'an obscenity of the first order'. But now it's making a big comeback.
The painting will star in the National Gallery of Victoria's biggest ever Dali exhibition, Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire on 13 June 2009.
<em>Picasso and his Collection </em>
10/06/2008
In the early 1900's Pablo Picasso shocked the world with his Cubist artworks which were a stark contrast to the more realistic artforms which had dominated the previous century. This week a new exhibtion featuring more than 80 of Picasso's works has opened in Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. It's the largest collection of the artist's works to ever make it to Australian shores and the exhibition also includes works from Picasso's private collection, works by artists like Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse and Dali.
Art donation
03/04/2008
It's being touted as 'the most extraodinary single gift of artworks to an Australian gallery'. Later today, the Art Gallery of NSW will announce a gift of more than $35 million worth of art. The gift is from art collector John Kaldor, and features some of the biggest names in contemporary art.
2008 Archibald prize deadline
22/02/2008
Today is the deadline for entries to Australia's most famous art prize, the Archibald. As usual there are already some interesting looking works, such as the portraits of Brendan Nelson and Heath Ledger.
