BLACK ROBE WHITE MIST: ART OF THE JAPANESE BUDDHIST NUN RENGETSU
A National Gallery of Australia exhibition
20 February - 30 March

Otagaki Rengetsu’s name evocatively translates as Lotus Moon. Born in 1791, she was a Japanese Buddhist nun whose life was one of great suffering and unusual creativity. This exhibition displays ceramics, scroll paintings and poem sheets created by Rengetsu and her close collaborators. Black robe white mist reveals the beauty of the understated and unconventional, and is significant as the first major exhibition of Rengetsu’s work to be held outside Japan. This contemplative exhibition features works of art drawn mainly from private international collections in Europe, Japan and America, as well as a number of scroll paintings and ceramics from the National Gallery’s own collection.

NEXT: Beyond Metal: Contemporary Australian Hollow Ware & Jewellery

WALK: THE GREAT SOUTH WEST WALK
A NETS Touring exhibition
13 February - 23 March

In 2006 eight nationally recognized artists, Carmel Wallace, Ilka White, John Wolsley, Jan Learmonth, Peter Corbett, Brian Laurence, Vicki Couzens & Nicki Hepburn,embarked on a three week journey through the isolated coastal and forested landscape transected by the Great South West Walk. Experience these artists’ journey through the diverse range of artworks they created in response to the unique and varied environments they encountered along the way - paintings, prints, jewellery, textiles, sculpture, video and sound works.

NEXT: Eye to 'i': the self in recent art

BRIAN DUNLOP
Prints from the permanent collection
12 March - 27 April

One of Australia's leading figurative and still-life artists – and almost a local – Brian Dunlop's work is characterised by contemplative quiet, sensitively observed light and technical skill. He is equally at home painting landscapes, portraits and still life, but it is the interior view which he has made his own. Dunlop was awarded the Sulman Prize in 1980 and has painted numerous portraits of public figures, including Victoria's sesquicentenary portrait of the Queen (1984).

NEXT: Stones, Streams, Stories & Dreams

ORIENTAL COLLECTION
from the permanent collection
on permanent display

In 1973 a collection of Indian and Nepalese artefacts was added to the Gallery's extensive oriental collection by Miss Margaret Barber. The gallery named after her also displays the Shaw Bequest oriental ceramics from the major dynasties: Han (25-220), Tang (618-906), Song (960-1279), Ming (1368-1644) & Qing (1644-1914), Indian and Nepalese artefacts and hard stone carvings.

AUSTRALIAN PAINTINGS 1860 - 1980
from the permanent collection
from 27 January 2005

Artists represented include Thomas Clark, Frederick Woodhouse, Frederick McCubbin, Louis McCubbin, Septimus Power, Arthur Streeton, Will Ashton, Hans Heysen, Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman, John Olsen and Roger Kemp.

PAUL SANDBY (1731-1809)
from the permanent collection
on permanent display

In 1972, the State Government of Victoria purchased for the Gallery a large collection of works by Paul Sandby (1731-1809), known as The Father of English Watercolour. The Sandby collection of 29 watercolours and 74 etchings was purchased from C.C.L. Gaussen and Lady Mary Gaussen of 'Gringegalgona', a homestead near Hamilton.