1 EDGAR DEGAS
Philip Bacon,
AM
, donated this important
Degas bronze to the Queensland Art Gallery in
memory of the late Margaret Olley,
AC
.
Danseuse
regardant la plante de son pied droit, quatrième
étude
is based on one of the wax statuettes
found in Degas’s studio following his death in
1917. The work captures a typically candid and
private moment in the life of a dancer — a subject
Degas explored extensively through paintings,
drawings and prints.
During his lifetime, Degas was primarily known
as a painter and draughtsman. His images of
ballerinas, dancehall habitués and prostitutes
continue to capture the imagination as evocative
depictions of life in fin-de-siècle Paris. His
sculptures were virtually unknown to the public,
although his contemporaries were familiar
with his work in the medium — Renoir even
proclaimed him ‘the greatest living sculptor’.
This magnificent bronze is now a highlight of
the Collection and we thank Philip Bacon for his
generosity.
Edgar Degas
| France 1834–1917 |
Danseuse regardant la plante
de son pied droit, quatrième étude
(
Dancer looking at the sole of her
right foot, fourth study
) c.1882–1900, cast before 1954 | Bronze, dark
brown and green patina | 46.2 x 25 x 18cm | Gift of Philip Bacon,
AM
,
in memory of Margaret Olley,
AC
, through the Queensland Art Gallery
Foundation 2012. Donated through the Australian Government’s
Cultural Gifts Program
2 hENDRIk DE lETh
Mappe Monde ou Déscription du Globe Terrestre
1740, produced by Hendrik de Leth, is an
engraved, hand-coloured, twin-hemispherical
map surrounded by six smaller spheres, and
includes updated details of the explorers from
Magellan in 1520 to the late 1730s.
For European maritime nations in the eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries, cartography,
navigation and the formalising of colonial
territories were central to their economic and
political power. Maps, even when drawn in the
sand, are an ancient form of communication and
a means of understanding and summarising the
universal; they are a synthesis of art and science.
Maps and other navigational instruments were
fundamental to sea voyages, and these items
capture aspects of what constituted the world
for powerful imperial nations.
hendrik de leth
| The Netherlands c.1703–66 |
World map: ‘Mappe
Monde ou Description du Globe Terrestre’, Amsterdam
(detail) 1740 |
Engraving with contemporary hand-colouring on paper (folded) |
45 x 56cm | Purchased 2012. Queensland Art Gallery
3 FRANçOIS PéRON
In 1800, the French doctor and zoologist François
Péron joined Commander Nicolas Baudin’s
scientific expedition — on board two corvettes,
the
Géographe
and the
Naturaliste
— to explore
and map Nouvelle Hollande (Australia), Van
Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and New Guinea.
With natural history painter Charles-Alexandre
Lesueur, Péron documented marine creatures in
Australia’s south-east, while landscape painter
Nicolas-Martin Petit recorded scenes of colonial
life. Petit also painted portraits of the Indigenous
people encountered in Tasmania and Sydney.
The book features extraordinary hand-coloured
engravings by Lesueur and Petit, which provide
fascinating documentation of our distinctive flora
and fauna, as well as early Indigenous–European
encounters.
François Péron
| France 1775–1810 |
Voyage de Découvertes aux
Terres Australes. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale [
Royale
]
1807–16 |
Three volumes (two text, one atlas), first edition, with 40 engraved
plates after Lesueur and Petit, (two folding, 23 hand-coloured), in calf
and Morocco leather-covered board bindings | Two quarto: 31 x 22.6cm
(each); one folio; 36 x 27cm | Purchased 2012. Queensland Art Gallery
Previous spread /
lara Favaretto
| Italy
b.1973 |
Gummo IV
(detail) 2012 | Iron,
car wash brushes and electrical motors |
300 x 450 x 150cm | Purchased 2012
with funds from Tim Fairfax,
AM
, through
the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
60
// REVEAl
/ REVIEW 2012
In 2012 the Gallery continued
to develop the Collection with a
number of important acquisitions
that were profiled in the many
Collection-based exhibitions and
displays. The variety of exhibitions,
publications, programs and
collecting practices forming the
Gallery’s core business make art
more accessible to Queenslanders,
enhance the visitor experience and
help define us as a community.
International Art
THECOLLECTION
REVEAL
2012 ACQuISITION
HIGHlIGHTS
