Design and Art Australia Online

Organised by the SH Ervin Gallery of the National Trust of Australia (NSW). Sponsored in Tasmania by Grace Removals.

Source: Solo Survey Exhibition Linkage Project, Tasmanian School of Art, UTAS
TMAG annual report; UTAS catalogue; http://www.evabreuerartdealer.com.au/strachan_bio.html

The re-assessment of a major Australian artist of particular interest to Ballarat as David Strachan spent his youth in Creswick.

Source: Solo Survey Exhibition Linkage Project, Tasmanian School of Art, UTAS
BFAG annual report

National retrospective touring exhibition of David Strachan’s paintings and etchings. Curated by Daniel Thomas for the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Because of Strachan’s family connection with Ballarat, the exhibition opened at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, before travelling to the Art Gallery of South Australia , Temporary Exhibition Facility of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Canberra (3 May – 27 May 1973, Art Gallery of New South Wales (14 June – 15 July 1973) Queensland Art Gallery (26 July – 23 August 1973)
Because Strachan had died so suddenly, this exhibition served as a eulogy from his many friends.
The exhibition was accompanied by a detailed catalogue, with an extensive biographical essay by Daniel Thomas. It has a colour cover and black and white illustrations of all works.

“The Australian Landscape” was a national touring exhibition organised by the Australian Gallery Directors’ Council in 1972. The organising gallery was the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the curators were Daniel Thomas (Art Gallery of New South Wales) Ian North (Art Gallery of South Australia) and Frances McCarthy [later Lindsay] (National Gallery of Victoria). Generous funding from the Peter Stuyvesant foundation enabled the curators to travel the country together in order to make considered judgements.
The exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia on 3 March 1972, and toured to the Western Australian Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Australian National Gallery (temporary premises), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle City Art Gallery, and the Queensland Art Gallery.
The catalogue introduction claims that the exhibition comprised of 'fifty-five of the best Australian landscapes ever executed’. It was characterised by a breadth of vision, with works from every state – including regional galleries and private collections. It is distinguished by having a greater emphasis on colonial works than previous exhibitions, and elevating the reputation of Eugene Von Guerard and John Glover.
There were only two works by women – Grace Cossington Smith and Margaret Preston– and none by any Aboriginal artist.

First public appearance of Vag Dens, by Vivienne Binns (Invitation Section, catalogue number 3).