Temporary exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales

This is a list of unique temporary exhibitions held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, organised chronologically and grouped by decade.

Not listed here are the temporary exhibitions that the Gallery hosts regularly, such as the long running ArtExpress, Archibald Prize, the Sulman Prize, Wynne Prize and Dobell art prizes.

Touring exhibitions are marked with an asterisk (*).

1900s Year Exhibition Dates Exhibition Title Exhibition Summary Exhibition Curator Exhibition CataloguePress/Reviews/Notes 1906 1906–03 to 1906-04 (exhibited for 25 days) The Light of the World A painting by William Holman Hunt Exhibition of a life size replica painted in 1900 of an original (in Keble College, Oxford) painted by the artist in 1852, "in accordance with a practice he has already adopted""A sermon in oils" Daily Telegraph, Sydney 17 March 1906 p8 The artist was inspired by a passage from the book of Revelation (3:20): "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come and sup with him, and he with me." Overall, 302,183 people viewed the painting. By 31 March, 158,000 persons had seen it and by 5 April daily attendance had exceeded 11,000. The average daily attendance set records which remain unbroken.

1970s Year Exhibition Dates Exhibition Title Exhibition Summary Exhibition Curator Exhibition CataloguePress/Reviews/Notes 1975 1975–04 to 1975-05 Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse Exhibition of 110 paintings organised under the auspices of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, chronicling nearly a century of European art.William S. Lieberman The Sydney Morning Herald described it as "quite simply, the most important exhibition ever to visit Australia...Profound thanks", and it was seen by more than 400,000 visitors in Sydney and Melbourne before going to New York.MOMA press release, August 4, 1975

1980s Year Exhibition Dates Exhibition Title Exhibition Summary Exhibition Curator Exhibition CataloguePress/Reviews/Notes 1987 1987-04-12 to 1987-04-19 Australian Sculpture 1890-1919 The Gallery's early Australian sculpture collection 1987-? to 1987-08-03 Harry Callahan photographs 110 original prints by Harry Callahan Sandra Byron 1987-? to 1987-02-23 Surface for Reflexion 2 23 Painters whose careers began in 1960s 1987-? to 1987-04-20 America: Art and the West The changing idea of the frontier – a perspective into American art and cultural history over a period of 150 years Gallery Education (Terence Maloon?) 1987-03-06 to 1987-04-12 Australia: Art and the West Parallels in Australian art to themes in America: Art and the West Gallery Education (Terence Maloon?) 1987-03-14 to 1987-04-18 Skinner Prout in Australia Works of the Australian colonial artist John Skinner Prout (1805–1876) Wendy Symonds 1987-05-01 to 1987-05-31 Acquisitions from the Komon, Salkauskas and Horton Funds Works acquired by the Henry Salkauskas Contemporary Art Purchase Fund, the Rudy Komon Memorial Fund and the Mervyn Horton Bequest Fund 1987-05-20 to 1987-07-05 Yves Saint Laurent – retrospective Homage to the achievements in fashion of Yves St Laurent Originally curated by Diana Vreeland from Vogue for the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1983. 1987-06-05 to 1987-07-19 William Delafield Cook: mid-career survey A selected 28 works of the artist's British and Australian career 1987-? to 1987-09-20 Surveying the work of the great Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) Measured drawings, scale models and photographs to demonstrate physical manifestations of the political and social values of 15th century Florence 1987-? Lines of Fire (Linea di Fuoco) Installation as part of Carnivale '87 exploring the themes of State terrorism. Photographs, texts, sculptures, slides and sound Dennis Del Fvero and FILEF (a federation of Sydney-based Italian migrant workers and their families) 1987-07-24 to 1987-09-15 Colin Lanceley 1961–1987 retrospective a published book contains an essay by Robert Hughes The Art Gallery Society arranged a viewing of Lanceley's studio to its members on 27 November 2010. 1987-08-12 to 1987-09-27 Sir Sidney Nolan: Landscape and Legends – a retrospective exhibition 1937-1987 200 works from public and private collections in Australia and England See interview with AGNSW's William WrightLook Magazine July 1987 pp12-13, 16 1987-11 to 1988-01-03 Sighting References: Ciphers, Systems and Codes Participatory exhibition of art works and critical writing Gary Sangster 1987-10-16 to 1987-11-29 Mayakovsky: 20 years of work First substantial body of work from major period of 20th century Russian art shown to Australian public Originally held in Moscow 1930, curated by Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930), Russian poet of the Revolutionary Era 1988 1988-01-01 to 1988-01-31 ANZ Bicentennial Art Commissions Works commissioned by State Galleries and funded by ANZ etc. to 1988-02-14 Munakata 80 works by Japanese printmaker Munakato Shiko (1903–1975) 1988-02-24 to 1988-05-15 CSR Collection Corporate commission of six photographers to represent CSR Refinery at Pyrmont (about 350 photographs) Wendy Symonds 1988-02-10 to 1988-03-13 Moët & Chandon * Second annual Moët & Chandon Touring Exhibition to encourage and promote contemporary Australian art. 1988-03-10 to 1988-05-01 Masterpieces from the Hermitage Western European paintings from Botticelli to Picasso Prunster 1988-03-04 to 1988-05-01 The Artist and the Patron A survey of colonial art and patronage Patricia R. McDonald 1988-05-17 to 1988-06-26 Art Knits Knitwear by Australian designers Wendy Symonds(?) 1988-05-18 to 1988-07-03 The Australian Biennale 1988 A survey of 20th century art – paintings, sculptures, performances, installations, from 1940 to 1988 1988-06-01 to 1988 07-16 A Study of Genius: Master Drawings and Watercolours from the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen Fifty drawings and watercolours representing the collection in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle 1988-07-05 to 1988-09-15 NZ XI Survey of 11 contemporary NZ artists – painting, sculpture, installation, photography 1988-07-27 to 1988-10-02 Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore European view of Australia from the notions of the 15th century to discovery William Eisler 1988-07-26 to 1988-11-09 Japanese Art from the Collection Japanese screens, hanging scrolls, ceramics and lacquer from the Gallery's collection 1988-09-17 to 1988-10-30 Contemporary Chinese Painting Selection from Gallery's holdings of modern, traditional style paintings Jackie Menzies 1988-09-30 to 1988-11-13 Made in Havana Contemporary Cuban art – Paintings, installations, objects and photographs by nine contemporary Cuban artists Charles Merewether 1988-08-24 to 1988-09-18 Australian Video Festival Video installation in association with the Australian Video Festival 1988-10-21 to 1988-11-27 The Great Australian Art Exhibition For the occasion of the Bicentenary – Comprehensive review of Australian art over 200 years Barry Pierce 1988-10-15 to 1988-12-11 Venice: The Renaissance Italian paintings on loan to the Gallery to coincide with the visit of the President of Italy 1988-11-09 to 1988-12-11 David Moore – Fifty Years of Photographs Retrospective Sandra Byron 1988-12-20 to 1989-01-26 Masterpieces from Tokyo's Idemitsu Collection 105 Japanese ceramics from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts Jackie Menzies

1990s Year Exhibition Dates Exhibition Title Exhibition Summary Exhibition Curator Exhibition CataloguePress/Reviews/Notes 1991 1991- ? to 1991-02-17 Contemporary Japanese ceramics New works by Japan's leading traditional and avant-garde potters, selected from the annual Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition 1991-02-02 to 1991-04-07 Roger Kemp etchings First major exhibition of Kemp's etchings 1991 – ? to 1991-02-23 Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes à Court Collection Cross-section of contemporary Aboriginal art spanning the continent 1991-? to 1991-02-03 Bette Mifsud Installation of large phototransparencies 1991-? to 1991-02-17 Treasures from the Shanghai Museum Works of Ancient Chinese art from the collections of the Shanghai Museum, including ceramics and tomb figures from the Han and Tang dynasties 1991-? to 1991-03-10 Swiss Artists in Australia 1777-1991 In celebration of the 700th anniversary of Switzerland, exhibition focuses on seven important Swiss-Australian artists – John Webber (1751-1793), Wilbraham Liardet (1799-1878), Nicholas Chevalier (1828-1901), Louis Buvelot (1814-1888), Sali Herman (1898-1993), Paul Haefliger (1914-1982) and Joe Felber (1915-?) Barry Pierce 1991-? to 1991-03-31 Machina: Persona Arthur Wicks installation – Four working machines as installation and performance: Helicopter, Boat, Car and two Figures Wendy Symonds 1991-02-16 to 1991-06-16 The Magic of the Paris Opera: 300 years of French style 220 historical pieces – costumes, jewels, drawings and stage models from the collection of the 300-year history of the Paris Opera. Coincides with France's Year of the Art of Living. 1991-02-26 to 1991-04-21 Elwyn Lynn Retrospective – key examples of Lynn's painting and collage Peter Pinson 1991-03-20 to 1991-05-26 Albert Tucker retrospective 160 works by Australian expressionist Albert Tucker. Exhibition from the National Gallery of Victoria.