In 2008 Rockhampton Art Gallery was given a collection of 157 modern British prints by Melbourne scientist and art collector Dr Douglas Kagi.
Now, for the first time in ten years, the public can see a selection of the prints, as part of the Inside Out exhibition series, showcasing artworks not ordinarily available for public view.
Inside Out gives a behind the scenes view of the Gallery as it prepares to relocate the collection to the new gallery in 2021.
With over 2,000 artworks in the collection, and each one taking on average one day to prepare for the relocation, work has already commenced for move.
KAGI: Collection of British Prints is a selection of 39 works dating from 1968 – 2007.
It comprises prints by such significant figures in twentieth century art as Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore and Graham Sutherland, modernists who first came to prominence in the 1930s and 40s. It also includes artists who made particularly important contributions to printmaking during the 1960s and beyond, including Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, Allen Jones, Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi.
Chair of Rockhampton Regional Council’s Community Services Committee, Cr Rose Swadling, said that the Inside Out exhibition gave people of Rockhampton a wonderful opportunity to see behind the scenes of Rockhampton Art Gallery as it continues preparations to move to the new gallery.
“Visitors will be immersed in the day-to-day functioning of the Gallery. They will not only see the marvellous works that are on display, but they may also see the Gallery’s curatorial and collections staff and volunteers at work,” she said.
The period from the 1960s to the 2000s was a boom period in British printmaking, partly due to a rise in the status of screen-printing as a fine art medium. With its capacity to print large areas of solid colour, combined with the development of photoprinting techniques, screen-printing was suited to diverse kinds of imagery and was eagerly taken up by both established and emerging artists in the 1960s and 70s.
Pop art was at its height in the 1960s and early 70s but this exhibition also includes works that represent art movements that defined art history and culture internationally in the second half of the twentieth century, including Abstraction, Modernism and Postmodernism.
KAGI: Collection of British Prints will be on exhibition as part of Inside Out at Rockhampton Art Gallery from 2 November 2019 – 16 February 2020. Admission is free. Rockhampton Art Gallery is owned and operated by Rockhampton Regional Council.
