Vision: Art, Architecture and the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
Vision: Art, Architecture and the National Gallery of Australia delves into the design of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) by architect Col Madigan AO of Edwards Madigan Torzillo and Briggs. Located on Ngunnawal Country, in the heart of the nation’s capital, its architecture is a grand demonstration of a functional and sculptural Brutalist 1970s style, constructed in local concrete from around Canberra.
Like the building with its commandeering cement structure, the book is oversized and bold, asking to be immediately read; and invites casual page turning through striking black and white images that fill double pages – often never-before-seen photographs from NGA’s archive, including those by renowned Australian photographers David Moore and Max Dupain.
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Vision is structured by these images – photographs revealing the elegant, geometric style of the architecture, alongside drawings and plans – while text punctuates the pages, dotted with quotes. Opening with a foreword by NGA’s current director, Nick Mitzevich, the book is followed by an eye-opening Introduction to Place written by the Gallery’s Assistant Director, First Nations Engagement, Wierdi and Birri Gubba peoples, Bruce Johnson McLean. The book continues with a major essay by internationally respected architectural historian Professor Philip Goad, aptly titled “Concrete Ambitions,” and reflections from National Gallery curators Lucina Ward and Simeran Maxwell on the Gallery’s first exhibition.
Vision: Art, Architecture and the National Gallery of Australia celebrates the story behind this iconic structure on its fortieth anniversary. As Mitzevich shares, this book reveals the “design of an unconventional, even radical, building in which to house the national collection.”
Originally published in Art Almanac’s March 2023 print issue.
