Hunter Theatre

The legendary Paris circus, from its beginning as the Cirque Fernando in 1875 (it was renamed Cirque Medrano in 1897) until its closure in 1963 was an integral part of Parisian cultural life. It attracted writers, painters and poets who created many works inspired by the Circus. Performers have been immortalised on canvas by Renoir, Degas, Lautrec, Seurat, Picasso and Leger among others. An intriguing look at the history of a circus through the eyes of the painters of the Montmartre.

A realist painter of modern urban life, John Brack emerged as an artist during the 1950s and took as his principal subject the people and life of Melbourne.  He became one of Australia’s most challenging and important artists of the 20th century.  

Babylon: the very name is evocative. Once one of the greatest cities in the ancient world, a vanished metropolis which lay deserted for over 2000 years, its history is bound up with myth and legend but it has never been forgotten. Biblical accounts of the Tower of Babel, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Belshazzar’s Feast, the Fall of Babylon, the Whore of Babylon, and classical references to the great walls and Hanging Gardens have inspired artists throughout the centuries. This lecture also looks at the real Babylon, beside the River Euphrates, as explored and excavated since the 19th Century.

A beloved and central figure in the cultural life of Australia, Mirka Mora long captured the public imagination with her distinctive art and inimitable personality.  Arriving in Melbourne from Paris in 1951, Mirka and her husband Georges contributed significantly to the local art and restaurant scenes and the city’s gradual transformation into a sophisticated metropolis. Their apartment at 9 Collins Street became a hub for the bohemian set, which transferred to Mirka Café in Exhibition Street in 1954 and their two subsequent restaurants, Café Balzac in East Melbourne and Tolarno French Bistro in St Kilda. 

The lecture opens with Mirka and Georges’ early lives and food experiences in France, then tells the stories of their celebrated hospitality in Australia and their intermingling of food, art, love and life. The culinary journey is interspersed with fascinating anecdotes, archival photographs, Mirka’s sensuous and colourful artworks.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines portraiture as “a representation...of a person, especially the face...”. However, this simple explanation belies the complexities of reproducing the face.

Portraits range from the symbolic, where a likeness was not required, to images where concern with identity opens up the areas of character, personality, mood, status, costume, occupation, gender and age. We also need to consider the relationship between sitter and painter.

Portraits are quite distinct from other categories in art in the way they are made, the nature of what they represent and how they work in terms of display.
The lecture opens with Mirka and Georges’ early lives and food experiences in France, then tells the stories of their celebrated hospitality in Australia and their intermingling of food, art, love and life. The culinary journey is interspersed with fascinating anecdotes, archival photographs, Mirka’s sensuous and colourful artworks.

Brisbane 1989 – fashion designers Pam Easton and Lydia Pearson began to create their range of garments.  The designs were deliberately nostalgic and feminine, with an air of retrospection obtained by engaging with historical and ethnographic sources. 

Within ten years their female clothing line, manufactured in Brisbane but made of textiles garnered from Vietnam and India, Italy and France, was retailing globally. They were sold in Browns, London; Neiman Marcus, USA; and Alta Moda, Kuwait. 

What is the appeal of Easton Pearson and how is their design distinctive? 

This lecture reflects on McNeil’s involvement as writer-researcher in the first exhibition of Easton Pearson, held at QAG/GOMA. This was the first time fashion had been shown on a large scale in a Queensland art museum.

Chris Aslan tells his story of working with UNESCO to establish a silk carpet workshop in the desert oasis of Khiva, Uzbekistan - the most homogenous example of Islamic architecture in the world.  His work took him to the bazaars of Afghanistan to purchase natural dyes, and to the great libraries and museums of Europe to track down 15th century manuscripts to revive carpet designs from their illuminations.  He also saw the lives of women transformed and became the largest private employer in town.

250 years after Antonio Stradivari’s death, his violins and cellos remain the world’s most highly-prized instruments.Loved by great musicians and capable of fetching fabulous sums when sold, their tone and beauty are legendary.Every subsequent violin-maker has tried to match them.Not one has succeeded. How can that be?

This lecture explores that central mystery by following some of Stradivari’s instruments from his workshop to the present day. It is a story that travels from the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings.(The lecture includes musical extracts.)

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) rose to an almost mythical status as the pre-eminent modernist artist in early 20th century America. She did so at a time when painting was still considered an unsuitable occupation for women and despite spending decades in the isolation of Northern New Mexico and away from the artistic hub of New York. The lecture will discuss her iconic landscapes, cityscapes, skull paintings and notorious outsized flower paintings and address the question of the role of photographer, leading gallerist and O'Keeffe's husband, Alfred Stieglitz, in the shaping of her career.

"I have but one desire as a painter – that is to paint what I see, as I see it, in my own way, without regard for the desires or taste of the professional dealer or the professional collector." — Georgia O’Keeffe

‘Street Art’, regarded as one of the largest art movements of modern times, has achieved huge popularity and is still rapidly growing as an art form. It encompasses graffiti, protest art that speaks to political and social issues, and monumental painted murals. This talk explores the history of the medium from prehistoric times to the modern day and discusses how and why this art has ended up as a mainstream art practice exhibited in respected museums the world over.