Clarice Beckett In Focus – with Deirdre Cannon, Assistant Curator, Australian Art, and Jocelyn Evans, Paintings Conservator at the National Gallery of Australia

Date: Saturday 12 July
Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Cost: Free event - RSVP essential, limited spaces
Where: Wagga Wagga Art Gallery

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery is delighted to welcome Deirdre Cannon and Jocelyn Evans from the National Gallery of Australia to present this talk as part of Clarice Becket: Painting from the National Collection.

Clarice Beckett was among the most original artists of early twentieth century Australia. Deeply sensitive to the effects of colour, light, and atmosphere, she painted the life and scenery of her coastal home in south-east Naarm/Melbourne with an eye for the commonplace and fleeting.

The National Gallery was the first Australian public gallery to purchase Beckett’s work, with inaugural director James Mollison acquiring eight paintings from her 1971 posthumous exhibition. In recognition of this, Beckett’s sister, Hilda Mangan, donated a group of paintings to the National Gallery in 1972. Following extensive conservation treatment, this collection of works is now displayed for the first time alongside a selection of the gallery’s first acquisitions.

Deirdre Cannon is Assistant Curator, Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia and co-curator of Clarice Beckett. Prior to joining the National Gallery Deirdre worked in regional and commercial galleries, and has contributed to numerous exhibitions and publications on Australian and international art. She holds a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.

Jocelyn Evans is Paintings Conservator at the National Gallery of Australia and is the lead conservator for Clarice Beckett. Many paintings now presented in the exhibition had been in deep storage for an extended period, and required Jocelyn’s careful cleaning, consolidation and sensitive retouching before they could be shared with the Australian public through display and touring. Through her treatment of the Gallery’s paintings by Beckett Jocelyn has intimate knowledge of how Beckett painted and the materials she has chosen.

Clarice Beckett: Paintings from the National Collection is a National Gallery Touring Exhibition supported by The Australian Government through Visions of Australia.

Images supplied by the National Gallery of Australia.