World Art - by Craig Hill

“2008 marks the 1000th anniversary of Japan’s oldest novel, The Tale of Genji, written by the court-lady Murasaki Shikibu. Since the 12th century, the 54 chapters of the tale have inspired Japanese artists to visualise the fascinating world of the story’s main character the Shining Prince (Hikaru Genji) in countless hand scrolls, folding screens, hanging scrolls and albums. Painted mostly by artists of the Kano, Tosa and Sumiyoshi schools, these pictures (Genji-e) reflect the refined aesthetics of the courtly tradition.”

“Featuring about 70 works drawn from the Gallery’s collection as well as loans from other Australian major public and private collections of Japanese art, this exhibition aims to show the imaginative power of Japanese artists in adapting the classical theme on various media such as paintings, ukiyo-e prints, woodblock printed books, and manga comics.”

“Grounded in European antecedents, specifically French, but unmistakably American in style, the paintings of Robert De Niro, Sr., represent one of the foremost achievements in painterly representation. De Niro’s efforts to reconcile the real with the abstract through the use of brilliant draftsmanship, bold, Fauvist-inspired colors, and confident, gestural brushwork stand as one of the great achievements in postwar twentieth-century American painting.”

“Hans Hofmann reportedly considered De Niro one of his two best students ever, (the other being Virginia Admiral, De Niro’s wife).1 Thus it was no surprise when De Niro emerged from the New York abstract expressionist school in the 1940s and became a leading member of the second-generation of postwar American painters who turned to representational subject matter as a means of reinvigorating the tradition of painterly expression. These painters, a group that included Larry Rivers, Jane Freilicher, and Paul Resika reopened the discussion of what is possible in painting by returning to figuration and confronting the legacy of their art historical predecessors head on.”