Visual arts | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Visual arts

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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
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
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
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 5000 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
Watercolour image of two pardalotes
Nature Journaling Workshop

Nature journaling is a wonderful way to document the natural world around you and learn more about it at the same time.

Event
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
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
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
Cover of a pamphlet with illustrations

Australian Journalist & John Skinner Prout, The emigrant in Australia, or, Gleanings from the gold-fields, 1852, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-111497902

Prout Collection

Explore the Prout Collection, featuring 2 oil paintings, 41 watercolours, and 38 pencil and wash drawings by John Skinner Prout, created between 1841 and 1848. This collection showcases stunning Tasmanian landscapes, including scenes of Hobart, Mount Wellington, and Port Arthur, alongside views of New South Wales and Victoria. Prout, a self-trained artist who emigrated to Australia in 1840, captured the essence of the Australian landscape, leaving a lasting influence on colonial art.

Collection guide
Whats On Kate Warren Fellowship presentation_0.jpg

Watch Dr Kate Warren's Fellowship presentation titled 'Cut-out-and-keep: magazines and the popularisation of Australian art in the 1950s and 1960s'.

Q&A with 2022 National Library of Australia Fellow Dr Kate Warren

Kate’s research focused on the role of popular magazines in Australian art history and arts communication in the 1950s and 1960s.


 

Blog
Research program
Two colourful birds standing on branches eating fruit

Ellis Rowan, [Lorikeets (Geoffroyus heteroclitus)], 1917, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138740512

Rowan Collection

919 watercolours and gouaches of flowers and birds of Australia and Papua New Guinea painted 1870-1920, plus a small quantity of personal papers.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Ryan Collection

More than 1,000 comics, mostly published in Australia and including some overseas titles reprinted in Australia, from the 1940s to 1970s, as well as fanzines and personal papers.

Collection guide

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