Media Releases

Ralph Balson – Anthony Hordern Gallery 1941

Article released: Tuesday, 17 June, 2008

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In 1941, Sydney based painter Ralph Balson made history. His exhibition at Anthony Hordern & Sons Limited Gallery was the first ever one man show of abstract painting to be held in Australia. It also marked the beginning of his ‘Constructive Paintings’, geometric abstractions employing overlapping planes of colour.

Balson’s exhibition has been extremely influential on subsequent generations of Australian artists. As Ivan Dougherty Gallery Director Nick Waterlow points out, “It was a key moment when a new paradigm emerged, an example of a genuine, home grown, Australian Modernism.”

In Ralph Balson – Anthony Hordern Gallery 1941, curators Nicholas Chambers (Curator of Contemporary International Art, Queensland Art Gallery) and Michael Whitworth (art collector, benefactor and Biennale of Sydney board member) recreate this historically significant exhibition with 14 of the original paintings sourced from major public institutions and private collections.


Where: Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA
When: 22 August to 27 September 2008


 
FREE Public Symposium: Keynote speaker Daniel Thomas, one of Australia’s most respected art world figures, historians and artists discuss issues surrounding the exhibition.
When: August 23, 2008. 10:30am-4pm.
Enquires and bookings: ph 9385 0726 email: idg@unsw.edu.au