Australia and New Zealand

Dear Readers, wishing you a happy new year 2020! It is said that sometimes medium is that message. This fact is highlighted time and again in the art world as artists explore different methods and media to capture and convey creative impulses. This month we bring to you the works of a celebrated artist – Sidney Nolan, in this beautiful book by Paula Dredge. Read on…

The newest addition to the Artist’s Materials series offers the first technical study
of one of Australia’s greatest modern painters.
Sidney Nolan (1917–1992) is renowned for an oeuvre ranging from views of Melbourne’s seaside suburb St. Kilda to an iconic series on outlaw hero Ned Kelly. Working in factories from age fourteen, Nolan began his training spray painting signs on glass, which was followed by a job cutting and painting displays for Fayrefield Hats. Such employment offered him firsthand experience with commercial synthetic paints developed during the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1939, having given up his job at Fayrefield in pursuit of an artistic career, Nolan became obsessed with European abstract paintings he saw reproduced in books and magazines. With little regard for the longevity of his work, he began to exploit materials such as boot polish, dyes, secondhand canvas, tissue paper, and old photographs, in addition to commercial and household paints. He continued to embrace new materials after moving to London in 1953. Oil-based Ripolin enamel is known to have been Nolan’s preferred paint, but this fascinating study—certain to appeal to conservators, conservation scientists, art historians, and general readers with an interest in modern art—reveals his equally innovative use of nitrocellulose, alkyds, and other diverse materials.
From the book description

This book will fascinate the students of art techniques and art aficionados alike. Highly recommended for gaining an advanced understanding of applied art. Widely available at leading book stores.

For the readers who enjoy art about nature, here is an excellent collection of Birds of New Zealand.

Buller’s Birds of New Zealand includes the complete set of 95 artworks from both editions of A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Walter Buller and the subsequent supplement, specially photographed and reproduced at original size and in full colour using high quality modern printing techniques. Each bird painting is accompanied by a selection of Buller’s original, descriptive text as well as up-to-date taxonomic information in English and te reo Māori.
Uniquely, Buller’s Birds of New Zealand features fresh reproductions of the original watercolour-and-pencil paintings for Buller’s iconic second edition and its supplement, made possible by the author’s rediscovery of these works at the Ornithological Branch of the British Natural History Museum. Bright, luminous and clear, Keulemans’s masterpieces are seen here for the first time as the artist intended.
From the book description.

Hope you will enjoy this amazing collection. Let us know what you think. This collection is available at a limited number of stores, on order.