Australian portraiture of the mid-twentieth century was rich with the influence of European modernism, exemplified by the work of artists including Arthur Boyd, Judy Cassab and Clifton Pugh. This collection display explores the role of elements such as abstraction, expressionism and psychology in Australian portraiture, while examining the impact of the Second World War and the major political upheavals of the twentieth-century on Australian social and cultural life. Continuing on from the display in Gallery 2, The Iconoclasts creates a vivid visual essay of innovation and transformation in Australian art, providing a rich introduction to today’s contemporary artists represented in the concurrently showing exhibition Portrait23.
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