ALA Showcase Curator's Tours: All Things Bright and Beautiful

The Australian Library of Art showcase, on level 4, is regularly refreshed with content from the amazing collections that make up the Australian Library of Art. Documenting the art and craft of the book in Australia and beyond, come and discover rare antiquities, woodblocks from the birth of the printing press to printed material from the early 20th century, the sketching tools, diaries and printing plates of major Australian artists, unique artworks and publications from the significant Lindsay collection of Pat Corrigan, as well as a wide variety of artists’ books – a key strength of these collections.

Current display: All Things Bright and Beautiful

Scarlet, crimson, ultramarine, indigo … there’s a sensual pleasure in the words alone.  

Human beings have made pigments from the earth, plants, insects, and even deadly toxins.  This display explores our love affair with colour, including our long history of sacrificing health for beauty.   

It tells some of the stories of colour through the Australian Library of Art’s collections of illustrated books and artists’ books.  They include the accidental invention of mauve, the first of the coal tar dyes, the green which killed children in their nurseries in Victorian England and yellow, a colour once synonymous with decadence. 

Compare the colour choices of the doyen of design, Christopher Dresser, to those of his contemporaries George and William Audsley, who condemned the use of such “garish pigments” as vermilion, ultramarine, emerald-green, and chrome yellow in architectural decoration. 

Technology brightened the life of the Victorians.  Lovely or lurid, it all depends on your point of view. 

Dive into a world of colour, from the 19th century explosion of synthetics to the Day-Glo colours of Op Art.