"Pen to Pixel: 200 Years of Australian Prints and Drawings"
2003-03-15 until 2003-06-09
National Gallery of Victoria
Melbourne, VI, AU Australia

From the National Gallery of Victoria’s oldest Australian artwork to 21st century digital creations, a new exhibition opening tomorrow at NGV Australia charts the remarkable transformation of prints and drawings over the course of two centuries. Pen to Pixel: 200 Years of Australian Prints and Drawings features work from many of Australia’s most important and interesting artists including Eugene von Guerard, Arthur Streeton, Joy Hester, Arthur Boyd, Margaret Preston, Norman Lindsay, John Brack, Fred Williams, and Bea Maddock

"The National Gallery of Victoria has a very rich collection of Australian works on paper and in Pen to Pixel we have the opportunity to see not only the development of the collection but the extraordinary changes in prints and drawings over 200 years," NGV Director, Gerard Vaughan said.

"Compare David Harley’s riotously coloured digital print, Haywire from 2001, with the precisely rendered Boobook Owl, which dates from around 1790 and is the earliest work in the NGV’s Australian collection.

"Pen to Pixel is an exhibition not to miss, with many of the works rarely seen. Works on paper are particularly sensitive to light and atmospheric conditions. In order to preserve them for future generations they cannot be displayed for extended periods of time."

Highlights include one of Tom Roberts’ first sketches for Shearing the Rams, Frederick McCubbin’s scrapbook, Norman Lindsay’s scandalous 1904 drawing Pollice verso, Henry Gritten’s watercolour of Old Princes Bridge, a print from perennial favourite Margaret Preston, and contemporary works by David McDiarmid, Juan Davila and Peter Tyndall.

NGV Director Gerard Vaughan officially opens Pen to Pixel at 4pm this Saturday 15 March. Dr Vaughan will also launch On Paper: Australian Prints and Drawings in the National Gallery of Victoria, a new handbook of the Gallery’s collection.

On Paper is a fascinating survey of the Australian prints and drawings collection, that spans 200 years from the late 18th century to the present day. The book is available from the NGV Shop at a special price of $29.95 for visitors to the exhibition (valid until 9 June). The regular price is $39.95, incl GST.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Australia

Other Important Exhibitions in Australia