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‘Plenty’
COLLECTION FOCUS
Jun 2023 - Jan 2024

Over the centuries, artists have used their skills to pause the flow of time in detailed paintings of flowers and fruit, and studies of 'mother and child'. The resulting celebrations of abundance and nurture testify to our deep reliance on the natural world, and each other, to sustain our own lives.

Displayed across adjacent galleries within the International Art Collection, ‘Plenty’ not only draws on the beauty of such images but also looks beyond this to examine how these two groups of paintings might contribute to a truth-telling about the impact of European settlement on First Nations peoples in Australia.

‘Plenty’ was on display within in Galleries 7 and 9, Philip Bacon Galleries, QAG, until 28 January 2024. This resource includes artworks displayed in rotations one and two.


 


Cultural sensitivity warning
QAGOMA would like to respectfully advise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers that this resource contains images and references to the deceased, references to massacres and mentions of derogatory language. 

Feature image: Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe / England/Australia QLD 1850–1928 / Sedgeford outstation on the Alpha run 1884 / Watercolour over pencil on wove paper / Gift of the artist's son in her memory 1964 / Collection: QAGOMA

Collection artworks featured in ‘Plenty’

Artwork Madonna and Child encircled by roses this artwork made of Oil on oak panel, created in 1650-01-01

Madonna and Child encircled by roses c.1650s

Artwork Madonna and Child encircled by flowers and fruit this artwork made of Oil on oak panel, created in 1610-01-01

Madonna and Child encircled by flowers and fruit c.1615

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ESSAY: ‘Plenty’

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