WEBVTT

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hello everybody and welcome to another

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virtual program with the national

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portrait gallery thank you so much for

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joining us in your lunch break today

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we have a fantastic a program lined up

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with one of our curators jo gilmour um

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who's going to be taking us on a game or

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playing a game of chance with us today

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but i'll explain a little bit more about

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that later um thank you so much for all

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uh coming in uh to the zoom chat if some

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of you haven't actually uh joined us on

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zoom before it'd be really terrific if

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you could keep your microphones muted

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but your camera's on so that we can see

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your faces

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and a big hello to our friends joining

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us on facebook live as well uh we would

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really love it if you'd like to interact

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with joe or i

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during the course of the program by

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putting your comments or observations or

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questions into the chat function in zoom

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or just commenting on the facebook live

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video and we'll make sure that we try

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and get as many of those questions to

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joe for you today and get them to get

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some answers

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uh i am actually it is not nighttime and

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i'm not standing out to the front of the

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national portrait gallery what a

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surprise um i think you're all used to

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the fact that we're uh streaming from

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various different places around uh

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canberra and new south wales at the

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moment whilst we're on our last day of

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lockdown in the act um

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but yeah a big our hearts go out to all

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of the rest of you who are still

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enduring lockdowns around australia and

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around the world um we hope that this

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will give you a little bit of relief or

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respite from that today

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my i'm broadcasting from the beautiful

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lands of the nambrian nanowire peoples

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and i'd like to pay my respects to their

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elders past present and emerging and i'd

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also like to extend that respect to any

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of the traditional custodians of the

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lands on which you're coming to us from

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today for those regulars uh for our

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programs

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we know that it's always nice for us to

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find out where you're coming from so if

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you'd like to pop in the name of the

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traditional lands or the places around

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australia or the world that you're

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joining us we'd love to see that as well

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so today when i asked um our curator joe

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what she would like to do for one of

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these virtual tours she's like ah

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you know just get let the people decide

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let's let's throw it open to chance and

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we'll see we'll see what comes out the

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only parameters that we've given uh joe

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for this tour uh today is that we are

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working with self-portraits by female

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artists

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now we have quite a big collection of

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portraits and we have quite a

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substantial number of

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self-portraits by female artists so it's

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going to be very interesting to see um

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where this tour goes the element of

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chance that we're bringing in i did i

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had i had requested a props department i

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really did want a big wheel of fortune

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wheel that i could you know spin and it

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would land on something but no of course

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our production

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budget doesn't extend to that i have the

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uh the game of chance basket so

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throughout the course of this program we

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are going to be pulling female self

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portraits out of this very delightful

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wicker basket

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i didn't even have a hat people that i

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could pull out of but anyway we'll go

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with the basket

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without further ado

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let's hand over and introduce you to to

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the woman at the moment joe gilmore hi

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joe

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hi jill how are you it's nice to see you

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and um thanks to everyone for joining in

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for this program i have to say uh in

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jill's kind of recollection of how this

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program came about i am now sort of

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seriously regretting having

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thrown this sort of completely to chance

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and actually robert who's one of our

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sort of digital wizards who's pulling

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strings behind the scenes um when i

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first pitched this idea he said oh it's

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kind of like virtual russian roulette

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so um you can probably imagine how i'm

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feeling

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right at this moment

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yeah so yeah as as jill said that's

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that's the the premise is uh of the

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uh 3000 odd works in the national

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portrait galleries collection

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there's roughly about 30 of them that

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are self-portraits by female artists

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ranging in date from 1900 i think is the

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earliest

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self-portrait by a woman that we've got

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and right up until 2005.

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not all of them unfortunately have been

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in the mix because you know for various

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different reasons we can't have them on

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the website or what have you uh but my

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understanding is is that a whole load of

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them have been posted on facebook and on

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instagram and you've had the chance to

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uh vote for the ones that you'd most

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like to hear about or that you're most

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interested in

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and jill will literally just pull the

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images out of a hat and then i will have

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to try and think of something to tell

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you about

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so

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this could work it could also be over in

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under 10 minutes so just um a bit of

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warning

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so um given you know given that's the

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premise we might as well get on with it

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jill what are you saying all right i'm

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going to shake the basket oh god

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the sound effects of the basket shaking

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coming through on zoom i hope so anyway

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all right here we go

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random random

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let's pull out one and the first one

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we're going to start with oh there we go

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we were joking about we hope someone

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pulls out a hat

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pulls a hat out of a hat we have we have

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a self-portrait by hilda rick's nicholas

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and oh hector's already got the slide up

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already that's slide number 21.

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all right joe what can you tell us about

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hilda rex i

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just want to say that yeah we were

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literally joking about this yesterday

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that given that we were proposing to be

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pulling pictures out of a hat

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that we have pulled a hat out of the hat

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that's a basket is really fantastic

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um this is a self-portrait by

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hilderick's nicholas

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it was painted or drawn rather it's a

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drawing

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we think made in paris in about 1913.

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it's a work that we acquired in 2013 so

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100 years after we think it was made

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as a result of an exhibition that our

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former colleague sarah did for the

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national portrait gallery it was a

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massive um

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survey about of hilda's work

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uh it's a it's a really

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lovely self-portrait

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for lots of reasons

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and there's lots of reasons why a

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curator loves it um one of the things

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and this is like totally nerdy and i'll

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be sort of upfront about that but it's a

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work that

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we acquired

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with its history its entire history

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intact as it were so it's it's in

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curatorial terms you'd say it's a work

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that has impeccable provenance and

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provenance is kind of a posh word for uh

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the history of ownership of a work

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uh and the other thing i mean there's

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all sorts of um fabulous stories about

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hilda but it's uh it's one of those i

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guess and this is the great thing about

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self portraiture is is where you have

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the

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the artist in terms of their personality

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but also their visual style so sort of

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beautifully combined i guess so that's

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one of the things one of the number of

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things that i really love about this

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work

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uh hilda rick's nicholas she is um

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victorian by birth she was born in

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ballarat in the 1880s

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in the early 20th century about 1903

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1904 she relocated to melbourne

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with her mum and her sister and she

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studied for a few years at the national

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gallery of victoria school where a hell

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of a lot of significant australian

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artists did their training we'll hear

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about no doubt here about a few more of

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them as we go through today

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and after she'd been at the ngv school

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for about three years uh and this is

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another thing that a lot of women of

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hilda's class did

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in the early 20th century

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was she

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went to

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went to europe her mum and her sister

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elsie went with her this is about 1907

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they left victoria

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they went to london

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initially uh hilda went to art school in

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london

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for a little while and then after they'd

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been there a few years they moved to

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paris

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and once again hilda did further studies

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in art at a number of academies in paris

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and it was in paris in 1913 when uh

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hilda made this

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incredible painting of elsie her sister

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and the painting's called la robe

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shinoise and some of you may be familiar

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with it

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it's a beautiful picture of elsie

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wearing this gorgeous

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sort of red embroidered chinese gown

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and in the same portrait elsie is also

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wearing the hat that uh hilda's wearing

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in this particular work so

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because i

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obviously had a fascinating

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costumes and and all of that sort of all

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of that sort of thing there's um i know

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for example the national gallery of

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australia's got this fantastic painting

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by hill directs nicholas of this young

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girl wearing this incredible sort of

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18th century court dress so she's

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someone who had a real sort of

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fascination for

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costume and and what have you anyway so

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she made this um painting of elsie

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wearing the the chinese dress and the

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chinese headdress

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uh that painting is now in the

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collection of the art gallery of western

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australia they acquired it

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in the 1990s i think so anyone who's

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joining us from perth might be familiar

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with

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the painting of elsie but then again

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there are plenty of occasions when uh

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institutions on the east coast

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request paintings from elsewhere to have

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in our exhibitions and that's exactly

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what we did uh with the portrait in

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regards to the portrait of elsie for the

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the hildex nicholas exhibition that we

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did in 2013.

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and it was a fantastic show for a lot of

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reasons some of you who are tuning in

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might remember seeing it

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but sarah

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our curator put it together having

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consulted with

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uh hilda's granddaughter

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her name's bronwyn

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um so just sort of to backtrack a little

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bit to paris in 1913 when we believe

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this drawing was made

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um when they uh hilda and

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1914 they then had to sort of when war

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broke out they went back to london by

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1916 and that's this is the you know

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kind of one of the very sad things i

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guess about hilda's life is that by 1916

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she had lost her mum and she had lost

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her sister

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and she was also widowed for the first

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time so she she married an australian

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soldier in london in 1916 and he was

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killed in action in france just um

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several weeks after they were married

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she remained in london until after the

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war

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came back to australia eventually

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settling here permanently in the late

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1920s which is when she remarried

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asia and he had a property um south of

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bomba so down near the victoria new

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south wales border which and hilda moved

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to this property and then of course um

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you know she was she was still an artist

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but she was sort of out in the sticks so

00:11:32.920 --> 00:11:34.920
she built herself a studio

00:11:34.920 --> 00:11:36.440
and the studio was not only her work

00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.800
space it was a a place where she stored

00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:41.720
all of the all of her mementos of the

00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:43.560
travels that she'd made

00:11:43.560 --> 00:11:45.399
and of course um

00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:46.760
that included

00:11:46.760 --> 00:11:49.320
the hat that she's wearing in this um

00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:51.639
in this drawing and also the the hat and

00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:53.800
the outfit that elsie was wearing in the

00:11:53.800 --> 00:11:55.720
painting that she'd made of her

00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:58.680
and so when um the gallery put together

00:11:58.680 --> 00:12:00.680
the exhibition of hilda's work the

00:12:00.680 --> 00:12:02.360
beautiful thing i suppose

00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:04.040
was that uh

00:12:04.040 --> 00:12:06.920
the whole studio was pretty much

00:12:06.920 --> 00:12:11.480
as as hilda had left it uh at the time

00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.120
one i think early 1960s anyway and

00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:18.199
between 1961 and when we did the show in

00:12:18.199 --> 00:12:20.600
2013 nothing had been disturbed so

00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:23.079
everything was still in the studio

00:12:23.079 --> 00:12:24.839
including this drawing and including of

00:12:24.839 --> 00:12:27.959
course the costumes that um that hilter

00:12:27.959 --> 00:12:30.279
had collected over the years needless to

00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:32.519
say the hat and the costume um that

00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:34.600
elsie's wearing in her portrait were

00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:36.920
were in the studio so when we did the

00:12:36.920 --> 00:12:39.320
exhibition we were able to

00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:42.600
reunite the hat and the dress and both

00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:44.279
portraits and it was the first time that

00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:46.279
they sort of been displayed together in

00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:47.320
public

00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:48.920
so it was um it was quite a special

00:12:48.920 --> 00:12:52.600
thing we had all sorts of one

00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:56.440
the in the show not least of which was

00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:58.839
this this drawing and the the fabulous

00:12:58.839 --> 00:13:02.120
hat that she's um depicted herself in

00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:03.800
and i guess sort of you know the final

00:13:03.800 --> 00:13:06.760
uh nice story about the work is that

00:13:06.760 --> 00:13:09.000
bronwyn hilda's granddaughter

00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:10.279
was so

00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:12.360
grateful for having

00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:13.800
for the gallery having

00:13:13.800 --> 00:13:15.480
given her grandmother the sort of

00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:18.360
profile that her work had never she'd

00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.240
never enjoyed during her lifetime um she

00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:23.560
was so grateful that she gifted donated

00:13:23.560 --> 00:13:25.880
the the drawing of hilda to the gallery

00:13:25.880 --> 00:13:28.600
as a as a sign of gratitude so

00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:30.680
yeah lots of like i say lots of lovely

00:13:30.680 --> 00:13:33.720
stories and impeccable um provenance

00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:36.199
relating to the to the portrait

00:13:36.199 --> 00:13:38.040
oh i'm glad that one came out of the hat

00:13:38.040 --> 00:13:39.880
first

00:13:39.880 --> 00:13:41.560
um joe we seem to have a little bit

00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:43.240
we're having a few little issues where

00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:44.920
you're dropping out every now and again

00:13:44.920 --> 00:13:47.800
so everybody who is joining us today

00:13:47.800 --> 00:13:49.880
please cross your fingers

00:13:49.880 --> 00:13:52.680
and um we'll just hope that the uh the

00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:54.920
signal continues strongly in joe's part

00:13:54.920 --> 00:13:56.839
of the world because there's no way i

00:13:56.839 --> 00:13:59.320
want to play russian roulette okay so

00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:01.240
internet gods have to be working for me

00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:02.519
today please

00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:04.519
we've we've still got another half an

00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:06.600
hour and i cannot talk about female self

00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:08.680
portraits for half an hour certainly not

00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:10.519
in the way joe can should we pull

00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:12.360
another one out of the hat joe might as

00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:13.800
well i don't know if it'll work as well

00:14:13.800 --> 00:14:15.639
as that one but there we go

00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:16.920
oh i don't know there's some pretty

00:14:16.920 --> 00:14:18.920
there's some crackers in here let's see

00:14:18.920 --> 00:14:21.240
all right

00:14:22.199 --> 00:14:25.560
and what do we have my favorite ah thank

00:14:25.560 --> 00:14:27.880
god i'm really glad

00:14:27.880 --> 00:14:29.480
i think this is actually literally my

00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:31.320
favorite this is slide number four and

00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:33.560
we've got nora heisen here

00:14:33.560 --> 00:14:35.240
so

00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:37.959
over to you joe yeah um this is one of

00:14:37.959 --> 00:14:40.519
my favorites to jill and

00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:42.519
and it's one of my favorites for all

00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:44.360
sorts of reasons

00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:48.040
um our inaugural director andrew says um

00:14:48.040 --> 00:14:50.759
this he wrote an article about this

00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:52.040
painting

00:14:52.040 --> 00:14:53.639
or he mentioned it and mentioned it in

00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:55.480
something that he wrote and it's one of

00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:58.519
those kind of phrases that i always kind

00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.320
of keep going back to to sort of help me

00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:03.240
think about and understand specific

00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:04.759
works in the collection

00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:06.839
uh and when andrew talked about this

00:15:06.839 --> 00:15:08.600
painting he spoke about how it's it's

00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.720
small but it's monumental and it really

00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:14.280
really is and it is a small work it's

00:15:14.280 --> 00:15:16.439
it's maybe i don't know 50 centimeters

00:15:16.439 --> 00:15:18.439
high including its frame

00:15:18.439 --> 00:15:21.959
and so when it's uh on the wall

00:15:21.959 --> 00:15:23.799
and you're looking at it it's it's like

00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:25.640
you're having this wonderful

00:15:25.640 --> 00:15:28.679
sort of really face-to-face encounter

00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:31.880
with nora heisen um as everyone knows

00:15:31.880 --> 00:15:34.760
nora is an extr

00:15:35.640 --> 00:15:38.360
italian painter she was born um in

00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.160
handoff in south australia in 1911 her

00:15:41.160 --> 00:15:42.919
dad of course was the very famous

00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:45.480
landscape painter sir hans hyson

00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.919
her mum sally was an artist too

00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:51.080
and i guess it's fair to say that with

00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:53.559
that sort of pedigree it's it's no

00:15:53.559 --> 00:15:54.760
surprise

00:15:54.760 --> 00:15:57.400
that nora became an artist as well and

00:15:57.400 --> 00:15:59.640
she's

00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:02.360
a young age

00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.520
um an oral history that she's done with

00:16:04.520 --> 00:16:05.960
the national library australia that she

00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:07.160
did with the national library in the

00:16:07.160 --> 00:16:09.559
1960s she talks about how when she was a

00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:11.320
little girl they'd all sort of lie down

00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:13.799
on the floor of of their dad's studio

00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:16.120
and you know draw and and that sort of

00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:17.880
thing so it's no surprise that she

00:16:17.880 --> 00:16:19.960
became an artist and no surprise that

00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:20.679
she

00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.960
was an incredibly uh talented artist

00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:27.080
however up until about the time that

00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:29.320
this painting was made

00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:31.240
you get the sort of this distinct sense

00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:33.960
that um she was sort of subject to quite

00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:35.000
a bit of

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.640
people patronizing her basically you

00:16:37.640 --> 00:16:40.520
know sort of not taking her seriously as

00:16:40.520 --> 00:16:42.679
an artist in her own right because she

00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:44.600
was sahans tyson's daughter so you sort

00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:46.039
of get the sense that people were

00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:47.480
thinking oh isn't it cute you want to be

00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:49.720
like your daddy kind of thing and not

00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:52.760
necessarily taking

00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:55.720
right

00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:58.679
and nor made a number of self-portraits

00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:00.679
throughout her life and she lived a very

00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:03.720
long life she died in 2003. my maths is

00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:05.080
terrible so i won't sort of try and

00:17:05.080 --> 00:17:07.320
figure out what that means in terms of

00:17:07.320 --> 00:17:08.840
um a figure

00:17:08.840 --> 00:17:11.720
but you know she was a long-lived lady

00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:13.160
who painted

00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:15.960
for most of her life but there's this

00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:17.480
really fantastic

00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:20.840
kind of concentration of self-portraits

00:17:20.840 --> 00:17:22.679
when that she made when she's in her

00:17:22.679 --> 00:17:24.200
early twenties

00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:26.520
and those um self-portraits are

00:17:26.520 --> 00:17:28.039
represented in a number of collections

00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:29.640
there's a fantastic one in hobart at

00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.720
tasmania museum and art gallery

00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:33.480
the national gallery has got a fantastic

00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:34.919
one the art gallery of new south wales

00:17:34.919 --> 00:17:36.360
has got a fantastic one so here's the

00:17:36.360 --> 00:17:38.840
art gallery of south australia but those

00:17:38.840 --> 00:17:40.840
kind of earlier self portraits all made

00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:44.240
sort of 1932-33

00:17:44.520 --> 00:17:46.760
so when she's about 21 years old

00:17:46.760 --> 00:17:48.840
are quite distinct from this one which

00:17:48.840 --> 00:17:51.880
was made in london in 1934 so just a

00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:53.640
little bit later

00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:57.400
and the earlier self-portraits i mean

00:17:57.840 --> 00:18:01.400
once mostly accomplished paintings but

00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:03.160
they're all works that have i guess a

00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:04.760
sort of an element of sort of

00:18:04.760 --> 00:18:06.600
performance about them she's really very

00:18:06.600 --> 00:18:09.559
much uh portraying herself as the artist

00:18:09.559 --> 00:18:11.080
you know so she'll be holding a palette

00:18:11.080 --> 00:18:12.440
or she'll be holding a brush or she'll

00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:15.400
be at an easel or wearing a smock or

00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:17.640
sometimes all of those things

00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:20.200
in the one image as if she's kind of

00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.600
convincing the viewers

00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:24.600
of these pictures that look

00:18:24.600 --> 00:18:27.080
here i am i'm an artist i'm just as

00:18:27.080 --> 00:18:29.480
talented as my dad deal with it

00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:30.760
you know

00:18:30.760 --> 00:18:33.320
so it's like she's sort of she's got a

00:18:33.320 --> 00:18:35.960
point to prove almost uh with these

00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:39.600
with these sort of early

00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:44.440
this one which she made london in 1934

00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:46.840
um just prior to having made this work

00:18:46.840 --> 00:18:49.320
she'd been traveling around europe with

00:18:49.320 --> 00:18:51.320
i think one of her sisters and also her

00:18:51.320 --> 00:18:54.280
mum and dad but she makes this when she

00:18:54.280 --> 00:18:56.600
gets to london and it's finally it's her

00:18:56.600 --> 00:18:59.559
on her own and this is real now and it's

00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:02.840
like she's um kind of made this this

00:19:02.840 --> 00:19:05.640
self-portrait at this really beautiful

00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:06.919
moment

00:19:06.919 --> 00:19:09.559
in her own sort of career where she's

00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.400
she's totally herself

00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:14.440
she's got nothing to prove anymore it's

00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:16.280
just you know it's just her sort of

00:19:16.280 --> 00:19:19.720
making this self-portrait in this

00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:22.760
i'm

00:19:22.760 --> 00:19:25.400
andrew said this kind of monument in

00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:28.360
terms of her career so it's yeah it's

00:19:28.360 --> 00:19:30.679
it's a it's a really it's a fabulous

00:19:30.679 --> 00:19:33.159
little work little but monumental and i

00:19:33.159 --> 00:19:34.280
think the other thing that's that's

00:19:34.280 --> 00:19:36.600
really lovely to bear in mind about this

00:19:36.600 --> 00:19:39.240
work is that whereas all of the other

00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:41.880
sort of early 1930s self-portraits that

00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:42.840
she did

00:19:42.840 --> 00:19:44.919
were all acquired by these public

00:19:44.919 --> 00:19:46.200
collections

00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:47.799
pretty much you know

00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:49.640
much earlier

00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:51.799
and some of them even i think the art

00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:53.000
gallery of south australia is one they

00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:54.600
might even have acquired it

00:19:54.600 --> 00:19:56.120
while she was still at art school which

00:19:56.120 --> 00:19:58.200
is you know quite extraordinary

00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:00.440
uh this is one this little portrait is

00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:04.039
one that nora kept her whole life um

00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:05.480
well pretty much her whole life so we

00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:08.760
acquired it in 1999 which is

00:20:08.760 --> 00:20:10.840
uh very early on in the national

00:20:10.840 --> 00:20:13.000
portrait gallery's life um it's the

00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.320
first self-portrait by a female artist

00:20:15.320 --> 00:20:16.600
that we acquired

00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:20.200
uh we purchased it directly from nora

00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:22.760
1999 early in our life but very late in

00:20:22.760 --> 00:20:25.559
hers as i say she died in 2003 so i

00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:26.600
think it's

00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:29.480
it's really quite telling that

00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:32.200
she kept it all that time and i don't

00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:33.640
want to speculate about why that might

00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:35.159
have been maybe she didn't think it was

00:20:35.159 --> 00:20:37.320
kind of good enough to be in a gallery

00:20:37.320 --> 00:20:39.880
or maybe i like to think i suppose that

00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.679
it kind of you know spoke to her in a in

00:20:42.679 --> 00:20:44.200
a very sort of profound

00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:46.120
way that it was very meaningful to her

00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:48.440
in some way so yeah it's it's a

00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.200
wonderful wonderful self-portrait to

00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:51.240
have and

00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.440
one that um we like to have on display

00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.159
as much as possible although that said

00:20:57.159 --> 00:21:00.039
it is about to go on on loan to an

00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:02.440
exhibition in melbourne so um next time

00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:05.880
you see it she'll be at the ngv

00:21:06.679 --> 00:21:09.559
i i didn't actually know um that we had

00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:11.559
acquired that from nora herself that's a

00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:14.120
really powerful thing actually part of

00:21:14.120 --> 00:21:15.880
this this particular portraits

00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:18.280
provenance yeah and i don't know it's

00:21:18.280 --> 00:21:20.520
another one with impeccable provenance

00:21:20.520 --> 00:21:22.840
um and i can't i can't say that certain

00:21:22.840 --> 00:21:25.080
but i seem to remember someone might

00:21:25.080 --> 00:21:27.640
even in a bit andrew telling me that he

00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:31.159
went to um to visit nora at her place in

00:21:31.159 --> 00:21:32.919
hunters hill that's where she's been a

00:21:32.919 --> 00:21:35.000
lot of the sort of ladder part of her

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:36.840
life in her house in hunters hill and

00:21:36.840 --> 00:21:38.520
that she had this in a spare bedroom

00:21:38.520 --> 00:21:41.000
under the bed

00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.799
so yeah it's um it is it's a very moving

00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:47.640
moving little work

00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:49.240
robert might be able to share some of

00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:51.320
the images we have some photographs in

00:21:51.320 --> 00:21:53.400
the collection of nora at her hunters

00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:56.200
hill home and uh yeah so robert might be

00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:58.840
able to drop those uh in the chat those

00:21:58.840 --> 00:22:00.520
links because i think that'll give you a

00:22:00.520 --> 00:22:03.240
sense of what nora nora's home was like

00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.000
when andrew went to visit

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:06.279
should we pick another work out of the

00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:09.240
basket why not

00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:11.240
shane's smoking poo she changed smoke

00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:13.559
right up here yeah yeah yeah so i could

00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:15.400
i in fact when i look at those photos of

00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:17.880
nora i can almost smell what her house

00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:19.640
would have been what it smelled like as

00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:21.880
well it's like they're really evocative

00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:23.000
so

00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.480
lovely all right

00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:27.240
here we go

00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.320
and everybody's uh responding in the

00:22:29.320 --> 00:22:31.240
chat actually in the same way that i do

00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:32.919
when i look at this portrait just seeing

00:22:32.919 --> 00:22:35.400
her strength and her determination and

00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:38.120
yeah it's just yeah it's just wonderful

00:22:38.120 --> 00:22:40.840
all right next one

00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:43.799
oh here we go

00:22:43.799 --> 00:22:45.720
you have to tell me about this one joe

00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:47.400
oh hurrah

00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:49.640
that's a very recent acquisition

00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:51.000
i don't think i know enough about this

00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:52.679
yet because we've only just acquired it

00:22:52.679 --> 00:22:56.120
so number 37 thanks hector

00:22:56.120 --> 00:22:58.600
we have only just acquired it and i

00:22:58.600 --> 00:23:00.440
mentioned i think at the outset that the

00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:02.279
earliest self-portrait by female artist

00:23:02.279 --> 00:23:06.039
that we have is 1900 and it is this one

00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:07.720
by agnes good sir

00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:11.240
uh she's another victorian artist uh

00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.200
born in 1864 in portland i think

00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:15.480
victoria

00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:19.000
um and her dad was some sort of uh um

00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:20.440
i don't know some sort of high-ranking

00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:22.039
public official so they they moved

00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:24.279
around um quite a bit

00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:27.159
but sort of the when you know the point

00:23:27.159 --> 00:23:29.400
i suppose is that um

00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:32.039
some of her early very early studies in

00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:33.080
art

00:23:33.080 --> 00:23:35.320
she undertook at a school called the

00:23:35.320 --> 00:23:36.520
bendigo

00:23:36.520 --> 00:23:38.919
bendigo school of mines

00:23:38.919 --> 00:23:42.279
uh so the the sort of link between

00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:46.120
um agnes and bendigo and us is that um

00:23:46.120 --> 00:23:48.600
karen quillen who's our director now

00:23:48.600 --> 00:23:50.679
karen a lot of you probably know was

00:23:50.679 --> 00:23:52.840
formerly uh curator and then the

00:23:52.840 --> 00:23:55.320
director at the bendigo art gallery

00:23:55.320 --> 00:23:57.799
and in 1998 karen

00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:01.880
did this major retrospective of agnes's

00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:04.600
work and indeed um that must have been i

00:24:04.600 --> 00:24:06.440
suspect i'm right in saying this

00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:08.760
probably the first time

00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:09.640
since

00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:13.880
um the late 1920s when um agnes had a an

00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:15.720
exhibition in melbourne that was the

00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:17.640
show that karen did at bendigo art

00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:19.480
gallery in the 1990s is probably the

00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:20.679
first show

00:24:20.679 --> 00:24:24.039
um since 1927 that agnes had actually

00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:25.159
had

00:24:25.159 --> 00:24:26.279
in her

00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:29.880
country of birth

00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:32.360
she's another one of those artists who

00:24:32.360 --> 00:24:34.200
was very ambitious i think you get a

00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:36.440
wonderful sense of this from her

00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:37.799
self-portrait

00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.360
it's made in 1900

00:24:40.360 --> 00:24:42.520
in paris so she's another one of those

00:24:42.520 --> 00:24:45.000
artists who you know sort of got jack of

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:47.720
studying in bendigo and got stuck it got

00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.360
jack of what was on offer in her home

00:24:50.360 --> 00:24:53.000
country and felt that in order to uh

00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:55.080
progress her career she really had to

00:24:55.080 --> 00:24:56.919
you know go to the sort of centers of

00:24:56.919 --> 00:24:59.000
culture to to london and paris and it

00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:00.200
was paris

00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:02.600
uh that agnes went to

00:25:02.600 --> 00:25:05.320
and in her case where she remained

00:25:05.320 --> 00:25:07.799
pretty much for the rest of her life

00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:09.559
with a couple of exceptions not the

00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:11.880
least of which was that sort of 1927

00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:12.840
visit

00:25:12.840 --> 00:25:15.960
back to australia uh to to have an

00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:18.279
exhibition and she also painted um a

00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:20.200
number of a number of commissions while

00:25:20.200 --> 00:25:22.919
she was here in 1927.

00:25:22.919 --> 00:25:25.080
um but that said

00:25:25.080 --> 00:25:26.679
and even though she was someone who was

00:25:26.679 --> 00:25:29.559
sort of recognized overseas

00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:31.799
she's like a lot of australian artists

00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:33.480
and a lot of australian women artists in

00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:35.720
particular in that they never really got

00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:38.520
like little rick's nicholas in a way

00:25:38.520 --> 00:25:40.600
during her lifetime never really got the

00:25:40.600 --> 00:25:43.240
recognition in her homeland that that

00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:45.000
she deserved

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.240
and so even though um

00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:48.760
like for example when she visited

00:25:48.760 --> 00:25:51.080
australia in 1927 she was very much

00:25:51.080 --> 00:25:53.000
someone who was written about in the

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.840
newspapers and

00:25:54.840 --> 00:25:58.200
australia was very proud of of agnes

00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.840
achievements but even so it wasn't until

00:26:02.840 --> 00:26:04.520
sort of towards the end of her life

00:26:04.520 --> 00:26:06.200
actually that

00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:10.120
public museums including bendigo um

00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:12.200
started acquiring uh

00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:15.000
examples of her work

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:16.919
and i guess the you know the really

00:26:16.919 --> 00:26:19.240
incredible thing is that for someone who

00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:20.600
is now so

00:26:20.600 --> 00:26:22.279
highly regarded in australian art

00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:24.360
historical terms and someone whose works

00:26:24.360 --> 00:26:27.240
are really fantastic um

00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:30.600
she did really fantastic paintings agnes

00:26:30.600 --> 00:26:32.279
she made a lot of

00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:34.039
studies or

00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:36.120
their portraits but they're also studies

00:26:36.120 --> 00:26:39.399
of a lady called rachel dunn who was

00:26:39.399 --> 00:26:41.720
magnus's sort of life companion

00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:43.799
agnes knew her as cherry

00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:44.520
but

00:26:44.520 --> 00:26:46.440
cherry appears as the model in a lot of

00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:48.679
agnes works including a fabulous

00:26:48.679 --> 00:26:51.159
painting called girl with cigarette

00:26:51.159 --> 00:26:52.760
which is probably the

00:26:52.760 --> 00:26:55.080
also belongs to bendigo art gallery and

00:26:55.080 --> 00:26:57.240
that's probably the best known of agnes

00:26:57.240 --> 00:26:58.279
works

00:26:58.279 --> 00:27:03.240
but um when agnes died in paris in 1939

00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:05.880
it was cherry that was left with

00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:08.840
uh a whole lot of her paintings and

00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:11.159
obviously felt a great sense of

00:27:11.159 --> 00:27:14.039
responsibility towards agnes memory and

00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:17.080
to this collection of work that she

00:27:17.080 --> 00:27:17.960
was

00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:20.919
uh unexpectedly entrusted with and so i

00:27:20.919 --> 00:27:23.960
think one of the main reasons now why

00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:27.159
there are works by agnes woodser in uh

00:27:27.159 --> 00:27:30.279
in australian collections is because of

00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:33.799
cherry she after agnes death in 1939

00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:36.840
she sent a whole group of agnes

00:27:36.840 --> 00:27:38.039
portraits

00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:40.039
and and other works back to australia

00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:41.880
she sent a group

00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:44.520
to um daryl lindsay who was formerly the

00:27:44.520 --> 00:27:45.880
director of the national gallery of

00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:49.159
victoria and she also sent a number of

00:27:49.159 --> 00:27:49.960
um

00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:51.559
a number of paintings to various

00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:53.880
different relatives of agnes and she was

00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:57.880
one of i think 10 or 11 children so

00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:00.440
and that's how this work has come to us

00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:01.799
so it's another one with really good

00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:03.880
sort of family prominence

00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.880
so we um acquired this by donation

00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:09.080
earlier this year it was in an

00:28:09.080 --> 00:28:10.440
exhibition called australian love

00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:12.279
stories earlier this year so

00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:13.799
anyone who saw that exhibition might

00:28:13.799 --> 00:28:15.960
have seen agnes on display there and we

00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:17.320
also had her

00:28:17.320 --> 00:28:19.399
on display in the same exhibition

00:28:19.399 --> 00:28:21.080
another one of her very beautiful

00:28:21.080 --> 00:28:22.360
paintings of

00:28:22.360 --> 00:28:23.880
cherry as well

00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:25.720
but um so the

00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:27.640
this painting originally when when

00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:29.799
cherry sent the whole lot of works

00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:32.200
back to australia um one of agnes

00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:34.600
brother had this self-portrait which is

00:28:34.600 --> 00:28:36.600
one of only very few

00:28:36.600 --> 00:28:38.760
self-portraits that she made just

00:28:38.760 --> 00:28:40.919
incidentally i can think of one other

00:28:40.919 --> 00:28:42.440
whether there's any later than that i'm

00:28:42.440 --> 00:28:45.000
not sure i'll have to ask karen um

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.480
but yeah so her brother owned this one

00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:49.480
and then it sort of went down

00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:51.880
through the family to um the lady who

00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:54.440
very kindly donated this to us

00:28:54.440 --> 00:28:58.360
uh in march march this year so yeah it's

00:28:58.360 --> 00:28:59.000
a

00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:01.640
it's a fantastic work and one of those

00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:03.559
and that like a bit like the nora heisen

00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:06.360
in that it's a work that she made when

00:29:06.360 --> 00:29:08.600
you know she gets to europe and

00:29:08.600 --> 00:29:09.480
she's

00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:11.399
she's kind of forging ahead

00:29:11.399 --> 00:29:12.840
with this career and he's not going to

00:29:12.840 --> 00:29:14.440
let anyone stop her and it's got this

00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:16.600
wonderful sort of imperious

00:29:16.600 --> 00:29:19.080
quiet confidence about it yeah it's

00:29:19.080 --> 00:29:20.760
fabulous

00:29:20.760 --> 00:29:22.679
that's a terrific description

00:29:22.679 --> 00:29:25.480
um one of our amazing regulars who

00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:27.000
has come along to just about every

00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.000
virtual program we've ever done nita in

00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:31.559
sweden thinks uh or says that she's a

00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:32.679
relative

00:29:32.679 --> 00:29:34.679
of agnes so i'd be interested to hear

00:29:34.679 --> 00:29:37.840
from neeta a little bit more about that

00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:40.440
yeah and she also says that one of uh

00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:42.279
agnes's portraits of cherry with a

00:29:42.279 --> 00:29:44.039
cigarette is hanging over her mother's

00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:47.159
bed in france

00:29:48.360 --> 00:29:51.559
you've needed my number

00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:53.559
wow

00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:55.240
oh brilliant so we should we probably

00:29:55.240 --> 00:29:57.559
got time for another couple of portraits

00:29:57.559 --> 00:30:00.600
should we dip into the hat again why not

00:30:00.600 --> 00:30:01.880
not hat

00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:04.919
all right here we go oh sorry hector

00:30:04.919 --> 00:30:05.960
um

00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:08.279
hector uh our tech was and i were

00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:09.960
bemoaning before the program that this

00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:12.440
particular work um i'm always i'm all

00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:14.120
for virtual as you can imagine working

00:30:14.120 --> 00:30:15.799
with the digital team i'm like yes you

00:30:15.799 --> 00:30:17.960
can do everything digitally you know

00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:19.799
people can experience works all over the

00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:21.480
world and you know anyone who can't come

00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:23.480
to the portrait gallery in person will

00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:25.159
be able to see everything and experience

00:30:25.159 --> 00:30:27.320
it all online there are some works that

00:30:27.320 --> 00:30:29.559
just don't translate online i have to

00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:32.360
admit and this is one of them so this is

00:30:32.360 --> 00:30:35.320
a self-portrait by shirley kirby oh this

00:30:35.320 --> 00:30:38.360
is another one of my favorites so

00:30:38.360 --> 00:30:40.760
sorry about the terrible slide everybody

00:30:40.760 --> 00:30:42.440
but where you really will have to try

00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:43.559
and come to the portrait gallery in

00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:45.240
person to see this one in the flesh

00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:47.000
because it is stunning

00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:48.440
it is stunning

00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:50.760
sadly it is another one that if you want

00:30:50.760 --> 00:30:51.880
to see it you will have to go to

00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:54.039
melbourne

00:30:54.039 --> 00:30:55.799
i'll go to melbourne

00:30:55.799 --> 00:30:58.840
it's another one um that's i will be

00:30:58.840 --> 00:31:01.159
included in a project that we're working

00:31:01.159 --> 00:31:03.000
on currently with our lovely colleagues

00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:05.000
at the ngb

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:07.640
so it's a self-portrait

00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:10.360
like no other it is absolutely wonderful

00:31:10.360 --> 00:31:13.240
it is by an artist named shirley purdy

00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:15.799
she's a gidget woman from the kimberley

00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:18.200
region of western australia

00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:20.360
and it's um

00:31:20.360 --> 00:31:23.480
it's it's a fantastic example of a

00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:25.240
portrait that doesn't look like a

00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:27.000
portrait sort of to

00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:28.919
the naked eye and certainly not to the

00:31:28.919 --> 00:31:31.480
european eye but it's a wonderful

00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:33.720
example of that tradition for first

00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:36.279
nations people whereby to represent

00:31:36.279 --> 00:31:37.480
yourself

00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:39.559
and your story and your identity it's

00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:42.200
not at all about you know your sort of

00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:44.679
physical appearance or your physionomic

00:31:44.679 --> 00:31:46.919
appearance that's a very western

00:31:46.919 --> 00:31:48.760
very european construct

00:31:48.760 --> 00:31:50.360
it's about all sorts of other things

00:31:50.360 --> 00:31:53.000
it's about your country it's about your

00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:55.240
spirituality it's about your history

00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:57.640
your stories your memories

00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:00.600
your ancestors histories and stories and

00:32:00.600 --> 00:32:02.679
memories and their countries and their

00:32:02.679 --> 00:32:04.120
spirituality

00:32:04.120 --> 00:32:05.880
and uh

00:32:05.880 --> 00:32:09.240
so um shirley has made this absolutely

00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:11.720
spectacular work this absolutely

00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:13.399
spectacular self-portrait

00:32:13.399 --> 00:32:15.000
without once

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.119
sort of reverting to the kind of uh

00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:20.040
construct or method that would sort of

00:32:20.040 --> 00:32:23.000
uh a non-indigenous person would would

00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:25.480
think of as a as a portrait

00:32:25.480 --> 00:32:28.280
so it's um and it's it's multiple

00:32:28.280 --> 00:32:30.520
portraits in one in a way this work

00:32:30.520 --> 00:32:34.760
consists of um 36 panels they're all um

00:32:34.760 --> 00:32:37.239
about 30 centimeters square

00:32:37.239 --> 00:32:39.239
and when they're sort of installed in a

00:32:39.239 --> 00:32:40.918
grid on the wall the whole thing is

00:32:40.918 --> 00:32:41.719
about

00:32:41.719 --> 00:32:44.199
it's about five meters wide or something

00:32:44.199 --> 00:32:46.440
we did have it installed um late last

00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:47.800
year

00:32:47.800 --> 00:32:49.719
in gallery one it's an incredibly

00:32:49.719 --> 00:32:50.839
impressive

00:32:50.839 --> 00:32:53.239
uh beautiful thing

00:32:53.239 --> 00:32:55.960
executed in ochres which

00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:58.280
shirley has uh she

00:32:58.280 --> 00:33:00.679
collected from her own

00:33:00.679 --> 00:33:01.639
country

00:33:01.639 --> 00:33:04.359
and it's it's a combination of things so

00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:06.920
um you might see that there's uh within

00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:08.599
within the sort of screen that hector's

00:33:08.599 --> 00:33:10.440
showing us at the moment there's images

00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:11.880
of um

00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:14.520
water holes and trees and and mountains

00:33:14.520 --> 00:33:16.760
so places of spiritual

00:33:16.760 --> 00:33:19.079
and cultural significance for shirley

00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:21.640
there's also totemic animals that you

00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:24.200
can see and there's also and some of my

00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:27.480
favorite panels within the overall work

00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:30.599
are these little kind of stories and um

00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:32.119
memories from

00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:34.520
from her childhood so there's one and i

00:33:34.520 --> 00:33:36.200
don't know if we can see it on screen at

00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:39.320
the moment but one of the panels is a is

00:33:39.320 --> 00:33:39.960
a

00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:43.640
an image of this old truck flatbed truck

00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:44.920
and um

00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:47.320
shirley and one of her friends oh there

00:33:47.320 --> 00:33:48.599
it is it's on the

00:33:48.599 --> 00:33:50.839
right hand side so shirley and a friend

00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:53.240
and a dog on the back of a truck and and

00:33:53.240 --> 00:33:55.240
shirley who um

00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:57.640
has provided all of the in her own

00:33:57.640 --> 00:34:00.359
wonderful words all of the little sort

00:34:00.359 --> 00:34:02.440
of stories that go with each of the

00:34:02.440 --> 00:34:04.119
individual panels within the

00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:06.599
self-portrait she talks about that image

00:34:06.599 --> 00:34:08.119
with the truck and and her and her

00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:09.880
friend and the dog on the back is um

00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:11.640
it's a memory of an occasion where they

00:34:11.640 --> 00:34:13.800
were getting a lift home on the back of

00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:14.760
a truck

00:34:14.760 --> 00:34:16.680
with this you know some guy i don't know

00:34:16.680 --> 00:34:18.280
who the guy driving the truck was he

00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:19.480
might have been an uncle or something

00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:21.480
like that and they had the uncle's dog

00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:23.000
on the back of the truck

00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:24.599
and shirley and her friend needed to

00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:26.520
stop for a call of nature

00:34:26.520 --> 00:34:27.960
but they couldn't get the driver's

00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:29.480
attention to stop the trucks that they

00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:31.079
could get off and do what they needed to

00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:33.160
do so they threw the dog off the back of

00:34:33.160 --> 00:34:36.119
the truck so that he would stop driving

00:34:36.119 --> 00:34:38.920
um but instead of uh

00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:40.839
like letting them stop to get off and

00:34:40.839 --> 00:34:42.280
and do what they needed to do he just

00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:43.800
sort of picked up the dog put the dog on

00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:46.119
the back of the truck and drove off

00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:48.839
and shirley and her friend had to had to

00:34:48.839 --> 00:34:50.760
walk all the rest of the way home so

00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:52.680
that's a little sort of mini portrait

00:34:52.680 --> 00:34:54.200
within the portrait that she calls two

00:34:54.200 --> 00:34:56.760
cheeky girls that's one of my favorites

00:34:56.760 --> 00:34:59.320
um but yeah there's there's so many

00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:02.359
stories um i hope because when we

00:35:02.359 --> 00:35:04.359
exhibited this work we showed it

00:35:04.359 --> 00:35:06.839
alongside a little film

00:35:06.839 --> 00:35:09.560
and we also like i say um we have all of

00:35:09.560 --> 00:35:11.880
the sort of text and

00:35:11.880 --> 00:35:13.400
shirley's own words about each of the

00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:16.440
images that that make up the portrait uh

00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:18.359
hopefully that information is available

00:35:18.359 --> 00:35:20.200
on our website i'm not sort of saying

00:35:20.200 --> 00:35:22.040
that with any confidence but it it

00:35:22.040 --> 00:35:25.480
really is an absolute joy this work and

00:35:25.480 --> 00:35:26.760
actually i'm going to cheat i've got the

00:35:26.760 --> 00:35:29.400
book is that okay

00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:31.400
yeah absolutely

00:35:31.400 --> 00:35:33.079
so the image that you can see in the

00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:34.680
bottom right hand corner at the moment

00:35:34.680 --> 00:35:35.560
is um

00:35:35.560 --> 00:35:38.599
is an image of a female corroboree

00:35:38.599 --> 00:35:40.200
and i'll just sort of tell you because

00:35:40.200 --> 00:35:41.560
it seems a very appropriate sort of

00:35:41.560 --> 00:35:43.880
thing um for the sort of

00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:45.400
day and age that we're living in i'll

00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:47.560
tell you what um

00:35:47.560 --> 00:35:49.480
shirley says about that particular

00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:52.040
little panel with the the corroboree

00:35:52.040 --> 00:35:53.560
um

00:35:53.560 --> 00:35:58.040
so it's uh the painting mungomonga

00:35:58.280 --> 00:36:00.839
is before i've been born mom's mob and

00:36:00.839 --> 00:36:02.200
my auntie

00:36:02.200 --> 00:36:04.359
dad's sister and all my family used to

00:36:04.359 --> 00:36:07.400
dance in mabel downs that's the station

00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:09.480
in the kimberley where um where shirley

00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:10.440
grew up

00:36:10.440 --> 00:36:11.720
you can see the men are singing with

00:36:11.720 --> 00:36:13.079
clapping sticks while the women are

00:36:13.079 --> 00:36:15.079
dancing some old people made up this

00:36:15.079 --> 00:36:16.920
corroboree this was when we used to

00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:19.560
dance for good feeling and happy times

00:36:19.560 --> 00:36:22.040
which is what we'll all be doing when we

00:36:22.040 --> 00:36:25.079
come out of lockdown hopefully

00:36:25.079 --> 00:36:27.480
lovely

00:36:27.800 --> 00:36:29.240
brilliant

00:36:29.240 --> 00:36:32.280
are you all right so yes um when are the

00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:34.040
the dates do you know the dates off the

00:36:34.040 --> 00:36:35.880
top again another russian roulette

00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:37.240
question but the dates off the top of

00:36:37.240 --> 00:36:39.880
your head for the exhibition at the ngv

00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:41.640
in case people in melbourne are keen to

00:36:41.640 --> 00:36:43.800
come and see some some of our collection

00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:46.839
i won't it's isn't march but i think so

00:36:46.839 --> 00:36:47.560
yeah

00:36:47.560 --> 00:36:50.119
precisely yeah we might see if um if

00:36:50.119 --> 00:36:51.720
it's on the ngv website we'll see if

00:36:51.720 --> 00:36:53.400
robert can drop a link in the chat for

00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:55.480
people who are curious and also on

00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:57.000
facebook as well i think people have

00:36:57.000 --> 00:36:58.520
been asking when that exhibition is

00:36:58.520 --> 00:36:59.800
going to come down there so we must have

00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:02.119
quite a few people from victoria joining

00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:03.800
us today again

00:37:03.800 --> 00:37:06.359
hello to all our friends in victoria

00:37:06.359 --> 00:37:07.640
all right

00:37:07.640 --> 00:37:09.800
probably the last one out of the hat

00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:11.560
okay

00:37:11.560 --> 00:37:13.160
let's see

00:37:13.160 --> 00:37:13.960
oh

00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:15.000
okay

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:17.079
another favorite but quite quite a

00:37:17.079 --> 00:37:20.040
somber one to finish on i'm afraid um

00:37:20.040 --> 00:37:22.839
jenny sages after jack yeah slide number

00:37:22.839 --> 00:37:25.079
27 please hector oh thank you you're too

00:37:25.079 --> 00:37:27.320
quick

00:37:27.720 --> 00:37:30.200
so yeah you're right it is a it is a

00:37:30.200 --> 00:37:32.520
somber portrait jewel

00:37:32.520 --> 00:37:33.480
um

00:37:33.480 --> 00:37:35.640
so jenny sages is a

00:37:35.640 --> 00:37:38.920
an absolutely wonderful artist she is

00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:41.320
probably best known as a landscape

00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:43.240
painter but every now and again she will

00:37:43.240 --> 00:37:45.320
do a portrait but when she does a

00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:46.920
portrait she has to be really kind of

00:37:46.920 --> 00:37:49.240
inspired to do it i suppose she has to

00:37:49.240 --> 00:37:51.320
have a real uh has to feel a real sort

00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:52.520
of connection

00:37:52.520 --> 00:37:56.119
to uh her subjects um a real sort of

00:37:56.119 --> 00:37:57.720
reason for doing it she's not someone

00:37:57.720 --> 00:37:59.720
who you can just call up and say do me a

00:37:59.720 --> 00:38:02.200
painting to stick in my boardroom or you

00:38:02.200 --> 00:38:04.920
know she's not that sort of a portrait

00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:06.040
painter

00:38:06.040 --> 00:38:07.880
uh we've got a number of wonderful works

00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:09.560
by jenny in the collection

00:38:09.560 --> 00:38:14.440
uh the very very first painting that uh

00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:17.079
that the gallery purchased

00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:20.200
was a painting by jenny of emily nawari

00:38:20.200 --> 00:38:21.880
the artist

00:38:21.880 --> 00:38:24.839
made as a result of a number of

00:38:24.839 --> 00:38:27.079
meetings and conversations that

00:38:27.079 --> 00:38:29.480
jenny had when she decided to be she

00:38:29.480 --> 00:38:30.920
once she decided to become a painter

00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:32.599
which she did sort of relatively late in

00:38:32.599 --> 00:38:35.400
life she was in her maybe in her 50s

00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:37.079
i think when jenny decided she wanted to

00:38:37.079 --> 00:38:39.560
become a painter full-time she went out

00:38:39.560 --> 00:38:42.040
to central australia and you know

00:38:42.040 --> 00:38:43.960
traveled around a lot and met lots of

00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:46.440
artists including emily and worry and

00:38:46.440 --> 00:38:48.760
made this absolutely um beautiful

00:38:48.760 --> 00:38:50.839
painting of her which like i say

00:38:50.839 --> 00:38:53.079
one of the first two acquisitions that

00:38:53.079 --> 00:38:55.240
the portrait gallery ever made and the

00:38:55.240 --> 00:38:57.839
very first painting um that we

00:38:57.839 --> 00:39:00.200
purchased uh we've got a wonderful

00:39:00.200 --> 00:39:02.440
portrait that she did of kate grenville

00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:04.680
um there's oh there's a few fantastic

00:39:04.680 --> 00:39:07.079
painting of helen garner actually

00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:08.200
um

00:39:08.200 --> 00:39:09.160
anyway

00:39:09.160 --> 00:39:10.040
so

00:39:10.040 --> 00:39:12.040
she does um she does wonderful portraits

00:39:12.040 --> 00:39:13.720
even though it's not her sort of stock

00:39:13.720 --> 00:39:15.480
in trade so to speak

00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:17.800
uh but this painting which is as a

00:39:17.800 --> 00:39:21.880
self-portrait obviously made in 2012 and

00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:24.040
it's called after jack

00:39:24.040 --> 00:39:27.160
and jack was jenny's life partner her

00:39:27.160 --> 00:39:29.960
husband her soul mate and this painting

00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:31.640
is made

00:39:31.640 --> 00:39:34.359
shortly after jack passed away

00:39:34.359 --> 00:39:37.040
um it was in the archibald prize in

00:39:37.040 --> 00:39:39.560
2012. i have a feeling it won the

00:39:39.560 --> 00:39:41.800
people's choice award uh in the

00:39:41.800 --> 00:39:44.839
archibald that year and the story goes

00:39:44.839 --> 00:39:47.960
um and we have this from jenny herself

00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:50.280
that it came very very very very close

00:39:50.280 --> 00:39:52.920
to being the winner that year

00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:53.960
but

00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:55.960
prior to this painting being exhibited

00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:58.040
in the exhibited in the archibald the

00:39:58.040 --> 00:40:00.760
year or two years before

00:40:00.760 --> 00:40:03.880
jenny's painting of jack her husband

00:40:03.880 --> 00:40:05.800
was in the archibald prize

00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:08.280
um and that was a painting that she made

00:40:08.280 --> 00:40:11.160
of jack not long before he passed away

00:40:11.160 --> 00:40:12.599
so there's the

00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:14.760
beautiful painting called my jack that

00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:16.359
was the name of the

00:40:16.359 --> 00:40:18.440
the portrait of jack and this is after

00:40:18.440 --> 00:40:21.400
jack jack so this is a work that

00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:24.520
she painted following his passing

00:40:24.520 --> 00:40:27.000
um if you've seen it in the flesh

00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:29.720
or any of jenny's portraits in the flesh

00:40:29.720 --> 00:40:32.599
actually you'd be aware that she paints

00:40:32.599 --> 00:40:33.720
on a

00:40:33.720 --> 00:40:36.200
very very large scale

00:40:36.200 --> 00:40:37.560
which is really interesting because

00:40:37.560 --> 00:40:40.760
she's a tiny lady she's a really tiny

00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:45.000
lady um she's in her late 80s now

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:47.720
so she's uh she's quite frail

00:40:47.720 --> 00:40:49.319
um but i think you know one of the

00:40:49.319 --> 00:40:51.800
really poignant things about the the her

00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:54.760
paintings is that jack used to help her

00:40:54.760 --> 00:40:56.520
prepare her

00:40:56.520 --> 00:40:58.839
prepare her canvases or in this case

00:40:58.839 --> 00:41:00.119
it's a it's actually painted on

00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:01.480
composition boards so they're actually

00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:04.920
quite heavy and big and unwieldy and not

00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:07.640
only that but she uses a process called

00:41:07.640 --> 00:41:10.440
encaustic which is this sort of um

00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:12.200
a kind of a waxy

00:41:12.200 --> 00:41:14.359
uh for one of a better description

00:41:14.359 --> 00:41:16.839
substance that you kind of smear all

00:41:16.839 --> 00:41:17.880
over the

00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:19.400
all over your support

00:41:19.400 --> 00:41:20.920
and then you kind of

00:41:20.920 --> 00:41:24.599
scratch and and carve into it and um

00:41:24.599 --> 00:41:27.640
jack jenny's husband uh used to help her

00:41:27.640 --> 00:41:29.240
prepare

00:41:29.240 --> 00:41:31.079
these these boards and if i think i'm

00:41:31.079 --> 00:41:32.440
right in saying that

00:41:32.440 --> 00:41:35.319
this painting that we're looking at now

00:41:35.319 --> 00:41:37.800
may be the last um work that she that

00:41:37.800 --> 00:41:40.040
it's painted on the last board that uh

00:41:40.040 --> 00:41:42.599
jack was able to help her prepare um

00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:45.480
before she passed away so it's this

00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:46.440
um

00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:49.240
you know it is a terribly uh sad work

00:41:49.240 --> 00:41:51.800
not just from you see the anguish and in

00:41:51.800 --> 00:41:54.280
jenny's face in the work but when you

00:41:54.280 --> 00:41:56.839
think of uh it's it's kind of uh

00:41:56.839 --> 00:41:59.319
significance for her it's personal

00:41:59.319 --> 00:42:01.960
significance for her not just in in

00:42:01.960 --> 00:42:04.359
terms of what she's portraying here but

00:42:04.359 --> 00:42:06.599
uh the whole sort of i guess sort of

00:42:06.599 --> 00:42:08.920
harking back to her her history with

00:42:08.920 --> 00:42:10.359
jack and uh

00:42:10.359 --> 00:42:14.680
how um how much of a part of her life

00:42:14.680 --> 00:42:17.079
he was and how much a part of her

00:42:17.079 --> 00:42:19.640
painting life she was too

00:42:19.640 --> 00:42:23.000
so it's um it is a very very moving work

00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:24.760
uh that love stories exhibition that i

00:42:24.760 --> 00:42:26.280
mentioned where we had the the portrait

00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:28.839
of agnes good sir on display um we were

00:42:28.839 --> 00:42:30.920
actually able to reunite this work with

00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:33.000
the painting of jack together which was

00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:35.400
um which is pretty special too

00:42:35.400 --> 00:42:36.119
yeah

00:42:36.119 --> 00:42:38.920
yeah it was it was hard to find a dryer

00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:40.280
in the house i think when you turned

00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:41.880
that corner in the exhibition people

00:42:41.880 --> 00:42:44.440
definitely were very moved by the these

00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:48.200
two images side by side so

00:42:48.200 --> 00:42:49.880
yeah

00:42:49.880 --> 00:42:52.200
brilliant well i think that went on we

00:42:52.200 --> 00:42:53.160
may have

00:42:53.160 --> 00:42:54.839
we may have come to the end of our tour

00:42:54.839 --> 00:42:57.560
for today joe that was incredible i

00:42:57.560 --> 00:42:59.319
can't i struggle to remember my kids

00:42:59.319 --> 00:43:01.720
names most days let alone um the amount

00:43:01.720 --> 00:43:03.160
of information that you've been able to

00:43:03.160 --> 00:43:05.000
just pull out of your memory bank about

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:06.920
these incredible portraits

00:43:06.920 --> 00:43:09.079
thank you so much for all of the detail

00:43:09.079 --> 00:43:10.680
and the info and the stories that you've

00:43:10.680 --> 00:43:13.319
brought today everybody's um everybody's

00:43:13.319 --> 00:43:15.400
been oh joe you're a superstar has just

00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:16.839
come through in the comments so there we

00:43:16.839 --> 00:43:18.599
go

00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:19.880
i don't know

00:43:19.880 --> 00:43:22.599
that's how we all feel um so thank you

00:43:22.599 --> 00:43:24.520
so much and thank you everybody for

00:43:24.520 --> 00:43:27.400
joining us on zoom and on facebook today

00:43:27.400 --> 00:43:29.800
um we always have a lot of these virtual

00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:31.720
programs going on and we've i really

00:43:31.720 --> 00:43:33.400
have to send out a massive thanks to

00:43:33.400 --> 00:43:35.960
everybody who's been joining us during

00:43:35.960 --> 00:43:38.920
these last um you know well almost two

00:43:38.920 --> 00:43:41.000
years really since we started ramping up

00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:43.480
the virtual programs um when australia

00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:45.319
went into its first lockdown

00:43:45.319 --> 00:43:47.240
uh we've really

00:43:47.240 --> 00:43:49.800
i speak on behalf of myself but also for

00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:51.319
the rest of the team we've really had a

00:43:51.319 --> 00:43:53.720
lot of conversations about just how much

00:43:53.720 --> 00:43:55.960
we've really valued seeing your faces

00:43:55.960 --> 00:43:58.119
come into zoom rooms and seeing your

00:43:58.119 --> 00:44:00.520
comments on on facebook when we run

00:44:00.520 --> 00:44:02.599
these programs it's given us it's kept

00:44:02.599 --> 00:44:05.640
us sane and it's given us a real

00:44:05.640 --> 00:44:09.079
um passion and enthusiasm for what we do

00:44:09.079 --> 00:44:12.040
and seeing uh all of your responses to

00:44:12.040 --> 00:44:13.800
to what we do has just been incredible

00:44:13.800 --> 00:44:16.599
and it's so thank you very much to our

00:44:16.599 --> 00:44:19.319
virtual community um we we really really

00:44:19.319 --> 00:44:22.680
value um you joining us every week and

00:44:22.680 --> 00:44:24.599
so speaking of that we do if you want to

00:44:24.599 --> 00:44:26.760
jump on our website portrait.gov.iu

00:44:26.760 --> 00:44:29.000
we've got mindfulness mondays kicking

00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:31.480
off again on monday um we've got the

00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:33.160
regular virtual highlights to us of

00:44:33.160 --> 00:44:35.880
course on tuesdays at 12 30 and then

00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:38.280
next week a special program on thursday

00:44:38.280 --> 00:44:40.200
at 12 30 where we're celebrating

00:44:40.200 --> 00:44:42.599
national bird week so

00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:44.839
um a secret that you may not know about

00:44:44.839 --> 00:44:46.440
the national portrait gallery is that we

00:44:46.440 --> 00:44:48.280
actually have an incredible number of

00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:50.920
staff who are really into bird watching

00:44:50.920 --> 00:44:52.839
not just bird watching taking photos of

00:44:52.839 --> 00:44:53.880
birds

00:44:53.880 --> 00:44:55.240
you know i don't know what it is people

00:44:55.240 --> 00:44:56.599
working in portrait galleries and

00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:58.119
portraits of birds maybe there's

00:44:58.119 --> 00:45:00.280
something there that i don't know but

00:45:00.280 --> 00:45:02.200
yes we have a lot of experts on staff

00:45:02.200 --> 00:45:04.359
who will be bringing you portraits with

00:45:04.359 --> 00:45:07.480
birds in them next thursday at 12 30. so

00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:09.400
please join us for that one

00:45:09.400 --> 00:45:11.400
and until then hopefully hopefully we

00:45:11.400 --> 00:45:14.440
see you all again online soon i hope uh

00:45:14.440 --> 00:45:16.440
i hope you're all managing to

00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:17.560
enjoy

00:45:17.560 --> 00:45:19.240
the relaxing of some

00:45:19.240 --> 00:45:21.000
uh lockdown

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:22.520
restrictions and

00:45:22.520 --> 00:45:24.920
hopefully life is is starting to ease a

00:45:24.920 --> 00:45:26.839
little bit for a lot of you so thank you

00:45:26.839 --> 00:45:29.000
once again for joining us and hopefully

00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:32.720
see you all again soon

00:45:55.319 --> 00:45:57.400
you