Art books for the connoisseur and casual admirer alike
From world-renowned glass blowers to landscape painters, it's evident that Australia. produces some of the most talented artists, and art, across the globe. Here are five titles to fuel your passion for art this month.
Penelope & Tansy Curtin, Blooms and Brushstrokes: A floral history of Australian art
Blooms and Brushstrokes takes you on a unique journey through the history of Australian art, one flower at a time, examining the blooms depicted. in still lifes, floral portraits, decorative interiors and botanical illustrations by a long line of Australian artists.
Spectacular, intimate, engaging and meticulously researched – and full of interesting and. quirky facts about the flowers and the artists themselves – Blooms and Brushstrokes is a book for art, flower and history lovers alike.
Catherine Speck, Heysen to Heysen: Selected letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen
The prominent Australian artist Nora Heysen has been said to have. worked in the shadow of her father Hans Heysen, one of Australia's most recognised landscape painters. Theirs was a close and affectionate relationship, in which father and daughter .shared a lifetime of thoughts about art and life, and a mutual respect and admiration for each other's work.
Heysen to Heysen is a showcase of letters between Nora and Hans Heysen from the collection of the National Library of Australia. Accompanied by carefully selected images. and text by leading art historian Catherine Speck, the publication lifts the lid on a vista of Australian art.
Clare Belfrage, Kay Lawrence & Sera Waters, Clare Belfrage: Rhythms of necessity
Clare Belfrage: Rhythms of necessity is the first major publication that explores the significance of her. contribution to contemporary international glass art. Exhibited across the world, Belfrage's glass vessels explore the pulse and flow of forces that shape the natural world as well as the lived patterns of the everyday.As well as showcasing her award-winning glass vessels, Clare Belfrage: Rhythms of necessity explores the bodily. processes of glass blowing, particularly the specific skills of fine cane drawing for which she is renowned.
Liz Williams, Margot Osborne & Grant Hancock, Liz Williams: Body language
Liz Williams: Body language celebrates the remarkable figurative sculptures of Australian ceramicist Liz Williams. In this first comprehensive survey of her ceramics, Margot Osborne traces the evolution of Liz Williams' impressive. body of coil-built ceramic sculptures commencing in the late 1970s.
Liz Williams' choice of the artisan medium of clay and her distinctive sculptural approach have made her art difficult to contextualise in terms. of contemporary styles in both sculpture and ceramics. This, and her decision to practise from a base in Adelaide, contributed to her relatively low profile during her life. This first retrospective survey makes it possible to fully appreciate Williams' achievement and her contribution to ceramics in Australia.
Gloria Strzelecki & Jacqueline Hick, Jacqueline Hick: Born wise
Jacqueline Hick (1919–2004) was one of Australia's most successful figurative painters. In a long and. fruitful career she also explored print-making and enamelling. Her subjects included the Australian landscape, musical and theatrical performances, and city life. Above all, Hick was drawn to the human figure. Whether observing the foibles of modern living or the displacement of Aboriginal people's traditional lifestyles, her figurative works sought to expose human insensitivity.
Jacqueline Hick: Born wise showcases many of Hick's finest works, and traces a life that, like her art, was imbued with wit, wisdom and empathy.