By Rama Gaind
It was attending Floriade 2011 that prompted a visit to the nearby National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra: I wish I’d gone there much earlier.
For walking through and getting an insight into the works of one of Australia’s greatest artists, Fred Williams, was an eye-opener.
The exhibition ends in the nation’s capital on November 6, 2011.
Fred Williams: Infinite horizons showcases a major review exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential and much-loved artists.
The director of the National Gallery of Australia, Ron Radford, said: “Fred Williams is surely Australia’s greatest and most innovative landscape artist of the twentieth century. His paintings defined a new way of viewing and understanding the Australian landscape. Williams position in our visual culture is of immense importance”.
According to exhibition curator Dr Deborah Hart, the exhibition which features more than 100 works of art provides an “insight into Fred Williams’ unique take on the Australian environment”.
“It includes major international loans from the Tate in London, and numerous works from Australian public and private collections, many of which have not been displayed publicly before,” she said.
Visitors will see a stunning range of Williams’ iconic paintings inspired by the unique Australian landscape from Upwey in Victoria to the Pilbara in Western Australia and Weipa in North Queensland, along with surprising lesser known portraits of family and friends.
The exhibition features a wide range of Australian subjects including expansive views of deserts, mountains, beaches, rainforests and bushfires, as well as, more intimate studies of wildflowers, mushrooms, birds and insects. Among the works that have never been publicly shown before is the marvellously illustrated China sketchbook created during a visit by Williams to China in 1976.
The exhibition highlights his strength as a landscape artist and includes important oil paintings and luminous gouaches that reveal his distinctive approach.
Fred Williams created a highly original way of seeing the Australian landscape, often combining a feeling for place with an emphasis on the abstract. Although best known as a painter of the dry landscape, this retrospective reveals that he was also a remarkable painter of water, of seascapes, ponds, creeks, billabongs and waterfalls.
One amazing recreation, which visitors will be enamoured of, is the Education Activity Room which offers interactive activities inspired by the artist’s artworks and studio providing the opportunity for visitors to engage with the artist’s creative process, influences and working methods.
Fred Williams died in 1982 leaving behind a body of work of great significance. His art has changed the way in which we view and understand the Australian landscape.
You will want to visit the gallery more than once – to see the many other exhibitions on view!
DETAILS – You need to know
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Fred Williams: Infinite horizons
Exhibition ends November 6, 2011
Open daily, 10am-5pm
Entry is $15 adults, $10 members/concession. Children under 16 free.
http://www.nga.gov.au/williams
