AUSTRALIA

  
   
   
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AUSTRALIAN ART

Australian art, like the other aspects of its culture, has been classified according to the many external influences on this country. This has led to a particularly intertextual approach to conveying ideas, ideals and concepts. Therefore, its visual arts (such as paintings, sculptures, ceramics and sketches) are, in part or in whole, inclusive of Aborigine, Colonial and modern art, while also including elements of the classic era and the landscape. What Australian art does seem to hold as a common theme is the fact that, rather than simply inventing images for aesthetic value, it represents social themes and values. Hence, it actually reveals much about the country, whether directly, or by encouraging the personal interpretation of the viewer.

The first examples of art are the many rock paintings found all over the continent, dated as far back as 5000 years. These were created by the indigenous Aborigine tribes and told tales of their lives and customs in fascinating 2-dimensional images.

Image of Melbourne, Federation Square, Australia
Melbourne, Federation Square, Australia
When the Europeans arrived in the 1600’s and 1700’s, they began to create artistic images of their discoveries. Their art was influenced by the natural beauty and arid scenery of Australia. Paintings depicted the seemingly endless stretches of red sand and the bizarre creatures that could not be found anywhere else in the world. Interestingly, a major factor that differentiated portrayals of Europe from those of Australia was the natural lighting that characterised the two different landscapes. This created an entirely new ‘look’ that became iconic of Australian art.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, art became very ‘safe’, depicting inanimate objects and using media like watercolours and oil paintings. It was only really in 1919 that some prominent artists, De Maistre and Styeo, introduced the idea of the abstract. Since then, art has developed in leaps and bounds, encouraging self-expression and the use of whatever style or medium would best accomplish this. Naturally, this process has occurred in waves and trends; from surrealism in the 1940’s to Asian-style art in the 1950’s to modernism in the 1960’s, self-expressionism in the 1970’s and photographic art in the 1980’s (generally speaking).

In any culture, art is inextricably linked to the lives and values of the people that created it. For this reason, art is an important part of the anthropological examination of these nations, not least of all a complex nation like Australia.