Plaque of Amenemhat IV, Probably Byblos, Lebanon 12th Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat IV, about 1808- 1799 BC Gold H 2.9 cm, W 3.1 cm, D 0.1 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Statue of Ramses II as a high-priest, Abydos, Egypt 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramses II, about 1279-1213 BC Limestone H 171cm, W 71.5cm, D 98cm © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Ornament of a winged scarab holding a sun-disc, Provenance unknown, possibly Thebes, Egypt 12th Dynasty, reign of Senusret II, about 880-1874 BC Electrum, lapis lazuli, cornelian and feldspar H 1.8cm, W 3.5cm, D 3cm © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Relief of a mother, possibly a queen, and her son Provenance unknown Ptolemaic Period, about 305-30 BC Limestone H 15.5 cm, W 19.2 cm, D 4 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Head of colossal statue, probably of Amenemhat III Bubastis, Egypt 12th Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat III, about 1854-1808 BC Granodiorite H 83cm, W 85cm, D 71cm © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Statue of a lion erected by Amenhotep III, re-inscribed by Tutankhamun Gebel Barkal, Sudan 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III, about 1390-1352 BC Red granite H 117cm, W 216cm, D 93cm © The Trustees of the British Museum.
The National Gallery of Victoria has just announced the latest instalment of their Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, which has seen the likes Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and most recently Pierre Bonnard, grace our shores from some of the world’s most prominent art institutions. In 2024, the series will present Pharaoh—an enormous celebration of over three thousand years of ancient Egyptian art.
Pharaoh is the most ambitious loan of ancient Egyptian artefacts that the British Museum has ever offered to international audiences, and most will be displayed in Australia for the very first time. Over 500 works and artefacts are being exhibited, spanning from the 1st Dynasty (c.3000 BCE) to the Roman period (4th century CE).
Alongside monumental art commissions by king Tutankhamun, Ramses II, and Queen Nefertari are a comprehensive display of ancient Egyptian jewellery, coffins and funerary objects, and examples of significant architecture and sculptures, including tomb and temple architecture—notably a massive re-assembled limestone wall from an Old Kingdom mastaba tomb, elaborately carved with hieroglyphic texts.
One of the most successful iterations of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series was 2019’s Terracotta Warriors, so another comprehensive historical exhibition is sure to be a blockbuster for the NGV.
“Pharaoh seeks to introduce a new generation of visitors to the perennially fascinating visual culture of ancient Egypt through an unprecedented exhibition of sculpture, architecture, jewellery and more from the British Museum in London,” says NGV director, Tony Ellwood AM. “The NGV’s exhibition will place precedence on the exceptional craftsmanship of the ancient Egyptians, highlighting their refined artistic sensibility and technical skill.”
Pharaoh
National Gallery of Victoria
14 June—16 October 2024
The paintings of Betty Kuntiwa Pumani form a part of a larger, living archive on Antaṟa, her mother’s Country. More than maps, they speak to ancestral songlines, place and ceremony.
A presentation of works by Robert Mapplethorpe curated by the British editor Edward Enninful, Enninful x Mapplethorpe, at the 2025 Ballarat International Foto Biennale, finds resonance in opposites while turning binary thinking on its head.
Auckland-born and raised artist Lisa Reihana is ever the optimist, creating two new works signifying social cohesion to hang outside two Australian arts venues—Ngununggula, and Sydney Contemporary at Carriageworks —just as dark divisions seek to undermine the value of migration and Indigenous sovereignty.
Embodied, the first iteration of Arts Project Australia’s new exhibition series, Limitless, sees artists Bronwyn Hack and Mark Smith create their most ambitious works yet, with the body at the centre of it all.
The everchanging nature of what constitutes a home is celebrated and explored in Boundaries: Transcended, now showing at the Bank Art Museum Moree.
Over 70 fabulous garments of exquisite craftsmanship – some made of silk with gold and silver embroidery and dazzling designs – have been assembled within a context of over 150 paintings, posters, wood block prints, magazines and decorative arts. Although many of the items have never been previously exhibited in Australia, most are now in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, with many specifically acquired for this exhibition.
