09/07/2021

Artlab prepared artworks now on display at the South Australian Museum for the exhibition, Before and Now - Arrkurla nakala, kurunga lyaata-ntama, closing 12 September 2021.

Conservator preparing watercoloursAquila Evill, Senior Paper Conservator, preparing frames for the watercolours.

Before and Now, Arrkurla nakala, kurunga lyaata-ntama is an exhibition featuring significant watercolours from the collections of the SA Museum by Hermannsburg watercolourists, including Albert Namatjira, alongside contemporary works created by their descendants.

The Hermannsburg School began in the 1930’s at the Hermannsburg Mission, located 125km west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The art movement depicted the vibrant colours and scenes of the Australian outback painted with watercolours in a western-style. Albert Namatjira was a pioneer of the Hermannsburg School and painted in this style, capturing Australia’s vivid landscapes in his striking watercolours.

Artlab’s exhibition preparation included humidifying and flattening the watercolours with significant planar distortion to ensure the paintings would not be in direct contact with the glazing once framed. The artworks were window matted using Japanese paper and archival mat board and housed in timber frames.

Before and Now
Arrkurla nakala, kurunga lyaata-ntama
South Australian Museum
Closes 12 September 2021