Cultural Gifts Program media site

This media site contains images of a selection of items recently donated to Australian public cultural institutions under the Cultural Gifts Program, which is administered by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

For information visit the Cultural Gifts Program website.

Conditions of use

These images are provided to media organisations via this website solely to publicise the Cultural Gifts Program. They are not to be redistributed or on sold to third parties. All images must be reproduced in full, without cropping, bleeding, tinting or any other distortion. No overprinting of text is allowed on the images. The images must be accompanied by full caption details.

001

Caption:
Treadle powered omnicycle
1870s–80s
steel, leather and rubber
Museum Victoria

Description: This large wheel tricycle, known as an omnicycle was made in the United Kingdom during the tricycle craze of the 1870s–80s. This tricycle is believed to have been owned by a Geelong surgeon.

002

Caption:
Charles Rodius
1802–1860
William Cox

1830

8.1 x 6.5 cm

Anna Cox

1830
pencil on card
7.9 x 6.2 cm.

State Library of New South Wales

Description: These two pencil miniature portraits are of the colonial pastoralist and road builder William Cox and his second wife Anna Cox. The State Library of NSW holds more than 60 works by Rodius who was a fine portraitist of both European and Aboriginal people. His reputation has grown in recent times and is beginning to be reflected in sale room prices.

003

Caption:
Grace Cossington Smith
Australia 1892–1984
The bridge in building
1929–30
oil on pulpboard
75 x 53 cm
National Gallery of Australia

Description: Grace Cossington Smith was one of the leading modernists of her generation. This work showcases her talents as well as capturing the excitement surrounding the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This gift will complement the collection of early modernist works already held at the National Gallery of Australia.

004

Caption:
Suzuki Harunobu
Japan 1725–1770
Descending geese of the koto bridges (Kotoji rakugan) from the series Eight elegant indoor views
c1768–70 Edo ( Tokyo)
colour woodcut on paper
chûban 20.1 x 26.3cm (image and sheet)
Art Gallery of South Australia

Description: Harunobu’s print is filled with the visual puns so appealing to the Edo viewer of the period. The flying geese on the painted screen behind the couple, as well as the autumn maples about to fall outside, are metaphors for transience and do not augur well for this romance. Even the dog, an exotic pet popular amongst Edo residents, turns his head in disinterest and implies that the passion of the lovers will soon cool.

005

Caption:
Kitagawa Utamaro
Japan 1750–1806
The courtesan Hanazuma of Hyôgoya from the series Brands of sake linked with six selected courtesans
colour woodcut on paper
1790s, Edo ( Tokyo)
ôban 36.8 x 24.5 cm (image and sheet)
Art Gallery of South Australia

Description: A glimpse of the power of advertising in the Edo period! Hanazuma, the chief courtesan of the Hyogoya house in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, endorses the products of a sake company. The distinctive style of Utamaro’s art is shown here in the sensuous lines created by the curvilinear posture of the courtesan balanced against the empty space that forms her environment.

006

Caption:
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Japan 1798–1861
Hatsuhana in prayer under the Gongen waterfall at Hakone from the series Stories of wise women and faithful wives
c1841–2, Edo ( Tokyo)
colour woodcut on paper
ôban 35.8 x 25.5 cm (image)
36.5 x 25.5 cm (sheet)
Art Gallery of South Australia

Description: Hatsuhana, the stoic wife of a warrior, was said to have prayed for one hundred days under an icy waterfall. This genre of print, depicting a pious woman prepared to suffer penance for her family’s well-being, articulated the highly conservative Confucian values promoted by the Tokugawa regime.

007

Caption:
Ryuryukyo Shinsai
Japan c1764–1820
Carp in water weeds
c1800s, Edo ( Tokyo)
colour woodcut with blind printing, metallic dust on paper
surimono 21.2 x 18.6 cm (image and sheet)
Art Gallery of South Australia

Description: Surimono were limited edition prints commissioned to celebrate specific occasions. This surimono designed by Shinsai, a student of Hokusai, is an exquisitely produced work of art where the finely detailed carp is viewed through the embossed design of a fisherman’s net.

008

Caption:
Utagawa Hiroshige
Japan 1797–1858
Valley of Yamabushi in Mimasaka Province (Mimasaka yamabushidani) from the series Famous views of 60-odd provinces
1856, Edo ( Tokyo)
colour woodcut on paper
ôban 34.0 x 22.8 cm (image)
35.2 x 24.2 cm (sheet)
Art Gallery of South Australia

Description: Hiroshige excelled in the depiction of landscape in different moods and weather, such as this scene of a rain swept valley. The lines of sleeting rain are reminiscent of the convention used for portraying finely detailed hair on images of beautiful women in the popular ukiyo-e prints of Edo’s pleasure district.

Arts and culture