Visual arts | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Visual arts

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Collection guide
Power Collection

Ten signed stencil prints by Pablo Picasso. 54 sketchbooks of John Power, a small group of personal papers of Power, and 262 books relating to art and architecture.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Phillips Collection

About 350 photographs, including glass negatives, and a small number of pencil sketches, majority depicting paddle steamers sailing or moored on the Murray or Darling rivers.

Collection guide
Illustration of different types of birds, including a cockatoo and kingfisher, sitting on branches

Ellis Rowan & Geo. Murray & Co., Australian birds, c. 1890, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136190048

Paradise of birds

See some of the many talented bird artists from the 19th and 20th centuries in our collection.

Blog
A detailed historical map of Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, depicting early settlement areas, marked camps, and referenced landmarks such as gardens and marine camps. Includes a list of ship names from the First Fleet and geographical details.

Francis Fowkes, Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, in the County of Cumberland, 1789, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230578175 

Nan Kivell Collection

About 5,000 books, pamphlets and periodicals, over 11,000 paintings, drawings and prints, around 800 maps and over 300 manuscripts mostly published 1770–1900. Largely relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific including Antarctica.

Collection guide
First Australians
Collection guide
Mitchell Collection

Oral history interviews with prominent Australian women.

Collection guide
Collection guide
McGee Collection

About 350 titles and a total of about 3000 issues of comics published between 1940 and 1960. Most are Australian publications, although many are reprints of US or British publications.

Collection guide
Matt Aberline sitting in front of an illuminated painting of wildflowers
Matt Aberline: The Guardians & the Power of Participatory Art

Acclaimed artist Matt Aberline gave an engaging talk on The Guardians, his latest large-scale installation at the National Library of Australia.

Event
Video
Collection guide
Mathews Collection

About 5000 books, pamphlets, reprints and journals published 1760-1940 in English, French, German, Italian and Russian. They relate to all aspects of ornithology in all parts of the world, with a special focus on Australian birds.

Collection guide
A beach on an overcast day with a stream of sunlight and water crashing on rocks. 4 people on the beach in 2 groups with 3 small boats in the background.

Conrad Martens, View nr Charmouth, Dorset, 1825, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134391843

Martens Collection

145 original works of Conrad Martens, consisting of four oil paintings, 91 watercolours, and 51 sepia wash, pencil and wash, or pencil drawings, plus a number of his lithographs

Collection guide
An illustrated book cover with 3 kangaroos and 3 emus in the foreground surrounded by native flora, with a lake and trees in the background

 Joseph Lycett, Views in Australia, or, New South Wales & Van Diemen's Land delineated, in fifty views with descriptive letter press, dedicated by permission to the Right Honble. Earl Bathurst, 1824, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1022559244

Lycett Collection

An album with 20 watercolours and 22 individual watercolours by Joseph Lycett. Most of the pieces focus on studies of Aboriginal people and drawings of native plants.

Collection guide
First Australians
Collection guide
Lawlor Collection

Papers including letters, newspaper cuttings, published caricatures, original cartoons, letters and literary manuscripts, mostly related to Australian and New Zealander writers, journalists, composers and artists.

Collection guide
Cover for 'J.W. Power: An Australian Avant-gardist' featuring white text and an abstract illustration on an orange background
J.W. Power: An Australian Avant-gardist

Ann Stephen and ADS Donaldson

Book

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