Opening of New Gallery and Display Spaces at the National Gallery of Australia

This Thursday 26 November the National Gallery of Australia officially opened a suite of new permanent display spaces and galleries dedicated to the display of works from the national art collection and bringing to completion the Stage One renovations and improvements to the original 1970s building.

The new spaces located off the main foyer of the National Gallery of Australia include a specially designed gallery for Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly series, the Gallery’s most popular Australian work, dedicated showcases for decorative arts, a small gallery for Melanesian art, the first permanent space for the display of photography and the first permanent gallery in Australia dedicated to Polynesian art.

The new showcases dedicated to decorative arts will highlight aspects of the Gallery’s extensive collection of late 19th and 20th-century fashion and textiles by some of the field’s leading designers. The first display focuses on the work of three of the most influential figures in fashion in the late 20th century: Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo. It will be complemented by a rotating display drawn from the National Gallery of Australia’s extensive Australian and international jewellery collection.