1999 - Motif and Meaning: Aboriginal influences in Australian Art 1930 – 1970
Motif and Meaning: Aboriginal influences in Australian Art 1930 – 1970 / 19 August — 18 September 1999
Image: Motif and Meaning: Aboriginal influences in Australian Art 1930 – 1970, 1999, installation view, University of South Australia Art Museum. Photography by Michael Kluvanek.
Motif and Meaning explores the use of Aboriginal motifs by Australian artists during the period 1930 to 1990.
The use of Aboriginal motifs by artists, across a diverse range of media, reflects a strong sense and consciousness of Australian history, as well as respect for the visual, technical and aesthetic elements evident in these motifs.
The exhibition examines the impact of this appropriation, and the interchange between Aboriginal and "white" Australia from a cultural and social perspective.
Australian artists who have incorporated Aboriginal designs and motifs in their work during this period did so for a variety of reasons, creating works that were nationalistic, educative and modern.
A touring exhibition from Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, assisted by Visions of Australia. Curated by Claire Baddeley. Catalogue essays by Claire Baddeley, Glenn R. Cooke, Brenda L. Croft and Nicholas Thomas.
Image: Motif and Meaning: Aboriginal influences in Australian Art 1930 – 1970, 1999, installation view, University of South Australia Art Museum. Photography by Michael Kluvanek.
