SYDNEY.- Art Deco lovers will have a chance to see more than 60 works of art from the iconic period with the exhibition Art Deco from the National Collection: The World Turns Modern opening at the Hazelhurst Arts Centre on 29 August.

Nick Mitzevich, Director, National Gallery of Australia said, ‘it is a great pleasure to tour Art Deco around Australia, as this exhibition gives visitors a glimpse of this extraordinary period – where design was at the forefront of people’s mind.’

‘The National Gallery has collected important Art Deco material for over 40 years and holds a significant collection, covering a wide range of media, from Australian and international artists. We so often see examples of Art Deco in our streets, cities and homes and I hope this exhibition inspires visitors to see the significance of the movement,’ said Mr Mitzevich.

This rich and considered exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, sculpture, decorative arts and design, and evocative examples of fashion from the period.




Clr Carmelo Pesce said ‘I am thrilled that we are able to have some of the finest examples of Art Deco art, sculpture and design from the National Gallery. People will be able to see the works of some of the most important artists from this period including Rupert Bunny, Thea Proctor and Harold Cazneaux.’

This will be the last stop for the regional tour of Art Deco, having toured the Tweed Regional Gallery in Murwillumbah, Ipswich in Queensland and Horsham Regional Art Gallery in Victoria.

Exhibition highlights include Jean Broome-Norton’s ambitious sculpture Woman with horses, 1934, the lyrical paintings of Rupert Bunny, along with key examples of Australian design such as Marion Mahony Griffin’s Café Australia chair – one of only four known examples.

As the early twentieth century saw the Art Deco style recognised and adopted globally, there is also a selection of European examples, including Sonia Delaunay’s printed fabric Signal, which she first created for the seminal International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, held in Paris in 1925, from which the term Art Deco was derived.

This is a National Gallery of Australia Touring Exhibition, supported by the Australian Government through the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program.