London’s Royal Academy will host the largest exhibition of Australian art ever to leave this country from 21 September to 8 December. It includes many of Australia’s finest historic and current works from the leading public institutions. I attended the media launch at the National Gallery in Canberra last week, and gave an interview to ABC TV. I think this event is going to be hugely popular with a British audience, who will be particularly interested in some of the striking landscapes in which the artists through the generations have sought to capture Australia’s extraordinary sunlight. There will also be an outstanding collection of indigenous artwork.
I particularly enjoyed chatting to John Olsen, probably Australia’s greatest living artist, whose Sydney Sun will be one of the highlights of the show. He said the exhibition was going to “knock the socks off” London audiences.
In the last few weeks I have also taken advantage of travel to other Australian cities to visit two popular exhibitions currently on loan from London’s world-famous V&A Museum. In Brisbane, Chris Saines, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery, showed me round an exhibition of British Quilts 1700-1945 which is running until 22 September. I must confess I had not expected to enjoy it quite as much as I did. There were fascinating works, including one created by convict women on board ship en route to Australia, another with a very early representation of a map of Australia, and several produced by British soldiers in India under a 19th century temperance programme to promote healthy pursuits instead of alcohol. Apart from their stunning aesthetic qualities, you also begin to appreciate the huge amount of effort, years in some cases, that went into producing these pieces.
In Melbourne, Tony Sweeney, Director of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (himself a Brit), introduced me to the V&A’s Hollywood Costumes exhibition running until 18 August. There is an interesting focus on the craft of creating costumes, and the important role they play in supporting other aspects of cinematography. But I have to admit the thing I found most impressive was the assemblage of real costumes from some of the most iconic films in movie history including Judy Garland’s gingham dress from The Wizard of Oz, Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett’s outfits from Titanic and Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter cloak and Hogwarts uniform.
Most of my time is spent on foreign and security policy and prosperity work, engaging with politicians, officials and business people. But it is great to have the opportunity from time to time to support some of the fabulous arts projects that are constantly running between the two countries.