'Women’s work 1902' and 'Women’s work 1912'

TY - ADVS

T1 - 'Women’s work 1902' and 'Women’s work 1912'

A2 - Johnson, Helen

N1 - Acrylic painting on canvas, aluminium tube Curator: Kyla McFarlane These two works respond to two paintings in the Queensland Art Gallery permanent collection: Leisure Moments by A. M. E. Bale (1902) and Monday Morning by Vida Lahey (1912), both paintings by women. The works I produced each adopted certain elements from Bale and Lahey’s paintings, respectively, and introduced into them imagery associated with broader historical occurrences that corresponded to the moments in which the original paintings were produced. Both Bale and Lahey’s paintings present anodyne domestic interior scenes in fairly wealthy settings, disconnected from the world at large. The paintings I produced in response bring Bale’s work into relation with the Boer War, and with an idea of colonial Australia as a giant baby with its fingers in the jam jar; and Lahey’s work into relation with the Brisbane Workers’ Strike, which occurred in the same year as her painting was produced, along with caricatures of aristocratic gentlemen, the likes of whom had their clothes cleaned by the women of the house on such washing days as depicted in Lahey’s painting. These two works were commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery for acquisition to their collection via the Future Collective fund. As such, they are now part of the permanent collection of the Queensland Art Gallery. The acquisition process was competitive, with in-house curators pitching proposals to the Future Collective committee. I worked with curator Kyla McFarlane to propose these works for the collection.

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

UR - http://learning.qagoma.qld.gov.au/artworks/womens-work-1902/

M3 - Commissioned or Visual Artwork

PB - Queensland Art Gallery - Gallery of Modern Art

CY - Brisbane, Qld, Australia

T2 - The Australian Collection

Y2 - 29 September 2017

ER -