Experience major works from the Gallery’s collections in new contexts, and include early European religious painting, British portraits, Dutch painting, and East Asian and European porcelain. From the influence of Japanese art on French Modernism to the representation of daily life, the display explores rich dialogues across time and between cultures, punctuated with contemporary works that engage with these themes and histories.
Until 26 September 2021 enjoy our special display, ‘Revelations’, which draws comparisons between the development of the printing press in fifteenth-century Europe and the rise of photography in the nineteenth century. Both mediums uncovered the image from its mirrored opposite via a seemingly magical, or alchemical, unveiling: a woodblock print is the reverse impression of a carved plate, just as a photograph is developed from its negative. The ‘magic’ of the press and the camera radically changed how images were bought and sold, eschewing the need for expensive paintings to transport pictures into people’s daily lives. In spreading images and ideas across the word, these revelations in mass production fuelled historical periods of unrest and transformation.
Visit the QAGOMA Blog to discover fascinating stories behind some of the artworks on display: Albert Durer: The Seventh seal, Secrets revealed: The Master of Frankfurt, The allure of the savage beauty of Belle-Île and René Lalique: Rare Art Nouveau vases.
Image: The Master of Frankfurt, The Netherlands 1460 – d.c.1520-c.1533 / Virgin and Child with Saint James the Pilgrim, Saint Catherine and the Donor with Saint Peter c.1496 / Oil on oak panel / 69 x 55.2cm / Purchased 1980 with funds from Utah Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
