Lectures & Events

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...

Join ArtsNational Newcastle members and guests at an end-of-year celebration lunch.  We are celebrating many things:  our new name; another successful year of lectures; our sponsorship of the Reg Russom Me...

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.

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Constantinople and Istanbul, two names for one city.  One city straddling Europe and Asia: Byzantine imperial capital for 1000 years then capital city of the Ottoman Turks.   

Minarets and domes of Turkish mo...

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, ...

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 signif...

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. 

Por...

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.

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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...

These lectures delivers a single narrative covering the history of the 50 jewelled Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs from the first egg in 1885 to their current whereabouts.  The eggs illustrate the attitudes that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the R...

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 suc...

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 th...

‘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 paint...