John Salvana, Landscape Boggabri NSW, (detail). Oil on wood 200mm x 325mm, Courtesy: the artist and Tamworth Regional Gallery. Image: Lou Farina

This exhibition explores the view from the year 1919 in the art world in Australia. It examines the different styles, themes, media and diversity of art making in this period.

The exhibition looks at the context of this era, relating the art making to world events and current attitudes. Marking the 100th anniversary of the Tamworth Regional Gallery, this exhibition is of high relevance for its focus on the original collection and its donors; and the social and cultural milieu in which the works were produced. It is of critical importance to the history of Tamworth as an expression of its links to the wider artistic world in Australia. Loans secured through the AGNSW and the National Portrait Gallery complement the Tamworth Regional Gallery collection.

Key art works from the Gallery’s founder John Salvana, Hans Heysen, Sydney Long, Elioth Gruner, Norman Lindsay, Lionel Lindsay, Grace Cossington-Smith,  Margaret Preston and Grace Crowley all feature in the exhibition. The focus on the early decades of the twentieth century and the Australian art scene, particularly in Sydney, allows for a discussion of the key artistic debate of the time, between traditional and modernist artists.

Exhibition opens: 1 June 2019