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National Gallery of Australia

Unknown Artist
Hopi People of the United States of America
Three-horned Kachina Doll called "Payik-Ala" c.1930
wood, features, paint, string
32.0cm height
Collection: National Gallery of Australia

Currently only 3% of the National Gallery of Australia's collection is on display at any one time. The "Wall to Wall" exhibition, at the Gallery in Canberra in January 1999, showed off some of the works usually in storage.

It included a vibrant collection of Pop art including Warhol's Mao Tse-Tung series, a bold collection of Arthur Boyds, tribal art collected by Surrealist artist, Max Ernst, and an extraordinary vibrant juxtaposition of red-themed works in the Red Room. "Wall to Wall" was an example of the Gallery's commitment to enhancing public access to more of the collection.

The Gallery's corporate plan for 1999-2001 discusses ways of achieving greater access. Amongst its major initiatives are the removal of the entrance fee to the Gallery, and a shift in lending policy. Director, Brian Kennedy, says in his Vision Statement, "We have changed our Loans Policy to make it easier for works of art to be borrowed from the Gallery's collections, and we are delighted to announce that a number of national, state and regional galleries have engaged with us as our first partners in a program of loan, transfer or exchange of works of art from the Gallery's collection."

You can access information about all the works held by the Gallery from the Gallery's website using their artsearch database.

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