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Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

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LenR
LenR
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
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3
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Editor Pick

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

  • October 23, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by LenR from Townsville, Australia
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

I was really impressed by this place. Clearly this, the first regional gallery in Australia, has moved with the times. The building, collection, and attitude of staff is great. This would have to be one of the most enticing introductions to the visual arts that you could get.

The gallery is exciting. The building shows the opulence of Ballarat’s marvellous 1880s. The collection is one of Australia’s most significant collections of national art. There is an excellent holding of the famous Heidelberg school paintings. This was the first significant art movement in Australia. An evolving nationalism led painters like Tom Roberts, Fredrick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton to unashamedly paint the Australian landscape in an effort to capture something of the essence of their land.

The gallery has a stunning collection of 20th century modernists. I don’t particularly like this style of painting but works by Nora Simpson, Grace Cossington Smith, and Margaret Preston are acknowledged as progressing this movement. Margaret Preston, who is represented here, studied art in Melbourne and Adelaide before travelling to Europe prior to the First World War. She was not only a leading proponent of Modern Art in Sydney but was also one of the first to advocate the incorporation of aboriginal designs and motifs into mainstream art practice.

A Gallery highlight is the Lindsay Collection. This captures the essence of one of Australia’s most eccentric and accomplished artistic families. Norman Lindsay presented the Gallery with a painting and the comment, “I would have to confess ingratitude to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery if I did not return something tangible from the great stimulus it was to me as a boy. It is hardly possible to estimate the cost of such a stimulus of such an institution to any community”. There is a remarkable recreation of the entire Lindsay family’s lounge room from their home in nearby Creswick. I found this fascinating.

Undoubtedly, the Gallery’s crowd-puller is the original Eureka Flag. Anyone who has seen Blood on the Southern Cross or visited the Eureka Centre will want to see this. It is housed in its own gallery under special subdued lighting and it certainly has a magic about it.

The Gallery opens 9am to 5pm daily except Good Friday and Christmas Day. Admission is adults - A$5, concession and seniors card holders - A$2.50 and children under 16. There is a gift shop and restaurant within the complex.

From journal Ballarat's Gold History and Culture

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