Past exhibitions 2015

Employing a diversity of materials, Brett Whiteley created startlingly expressive three-dimensional works largely inspired by his love of nature and its animate forms.

Drawing on the Gallery’s collection, this exhibition explores the complex relationship between protest and art.

Celebrating the 40-year career of leading Aboriginal painter Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, a founder of the Papunya Tula Artists.

Drawn from across the country and from the 1930s to the present, these works from the Gallery’s collection give evidence to the complex knowledge Indigenous Australians have of water and its myriad forms.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli, this exhibition from the Gallery’s collection explores how Australian artists responded to World War I.

A pioneer of photographic portraiture, Julia Margaret Cameron remains one of the most influential photographers of the 19th century.

The debut presentation of an important new acquisition – Jazz by Henri Matisse – alongside works by other major European modernist artists in the Gallery’s collection.

An installation by Indian artist Jitish Kallat, as part of Go East: The Gene & Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Collection.

This exhibition presents material submitted during the competition to select an architect to produce a concept design for the Gallery’s expansion, the Sydney Modern Project.

Uncovers rarely seen material from the Gallery’s archive to present stories of artists Cecil Bostock, Weaver Hawkins and Dora Ohlfsen from World War I.

The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes is an annual exhibition eagerly anticipated by artists and audiences alike.

One of the most influential artists of her generation, Rosemary Laing has a sustained interest in the nature of place and landscape, and the relationship between technology, labour, time and speed.

A small selection of works from this year’s scholarship winner and finalists.

A rare opportunity to view significant contemporary Asian artworks from the private collection of Australian philanthropists Gene and Brian Sherman.

An exhibition of photographs of women by women, from the Gallery’s collection, including works by Anne Zahalka, Miwa Yanagi, Yvonne Todd and Rosemary Laing.

Tracing the evolution of the medium and its many uses from the 1840s until today, this major exhibition investigates the role that photography has played in shaping our view of Australia and Australians.

Reveals Brett Whiteley as an artist who uses all manner of styles, movements and other influences – from surrealism via Duchamp to pop art as well as contemporary events and his own life.

A dynamic and popular exhibition featuring a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts, 2014.

In her wall-to-wall project for the Gallery’s entrance court, American artist Kay Rosen conjures with big questions of possession, occupation and cultural territory.

Featuring works by Aboriginal artists Christian Thompson, Tony Albert, Vernon Ah Kee, r e a, Julie Gough and Darren Siwes, this exhibition explores what it means to embody the experiences of ancestors or history.

A major survey of Australian and international pop art, featuring over 200 works from local and overseas collections including the Andy Warhol Museum, Tate and MoMA.

This first in a series of curated exhibitions on Australian drawing features Australian artists for whom drawing is central to their practice and who work in and from the landscape.