2010 past exhibitions

Stranger than fiction

Open:

28 November 2009 – 17 December 2010

Venue:

Macquarie Cases, Macquarie Wing

The Library isn’t just about books. It is also about bones and baubles, old boxes and buttons. The Library didn’t plan to collect these strange objects but they arrived along with the cartons of corporate records, family papers, literary manuscripts, pictures, photographs and books that have accumulated in the Mitchell Library over the last 100 years.

This display is just a small selection of the hundreds of objects that form the Mitchell Library realia collection. Realia is a curious library term. It describes those real and tangible objects that speak of past lives and historic events. These objects add an unexpected richness and intimacy to the collections.

Caption: artisan unknown, Queen [Cora] Gooseberry’s rum mug, c. 1800, bronze, R252,DS Mitchell bequest item

Mari Nawi: Aboriginal Odysseys 1790 - 1850

Open:

20 September 2010 – 12 December 2010

Venue:

Galleries, Mitchell Wing

Exciting new research has revealed the significant role Aboriginal men, and some women, played in Australia’s early maritime history. The focus of this exhibition is the Eora and Darug people from the Sydney area, who sailed on English ships through Port Jackson to destinations in Australia and throughout the world during the period 1790-1850. Theirs was a canoe culture and they called these ships mari nawi meaning ‘large canoes’. 

Curated by the acknowledged authority, Dr Keith Vincent Smith, Mari Nawi: Aboriginal Odysseys will feature rarely seen oil paintings, journals, letters, maps, sketches, objects and rare printed books drawn from collections throughout Australia.

The Governor - Lachlan Macquarie 1810 to 1821

Open:

3 July 2010 – 10 October 2010

Venue:

Exhibition Galleries

Lachlan Macquarie was sworn in as fifth Governor of New South Wales on 1 January 1810. His vision was to transform the colony from a penal outpost to a prosperous British settlement.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lachlan Macquarie’s governorship, the State Library of NSW will present the exhibition The Governor: Lachlan Macquarie 1810 to 1821. On display will be Macquarie’s personal letters, journals, maps and paintings, as well as objects such as the intriguing Macquarie Collector’s Chest, that tell the story of his contribution to colonial Australia.

Image: artist unknown, Lachlan Macquarie, c. 1819, watercolour on ivory, MIN 236 a128650

Moran Prizes 2010

Open:

7 August 2010 – 5 September 2010

Venue:

Galleries, Mitchell Wing

Moran Prizes 2010 is hosted in conjunction with the Moran Health Care Group and incorporates the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize. Following the exhibition at the State Library, the exhibition is toured nationally by the Moran Health Care Group.

The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize was established by the Moran family in 1988 to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary and is the richest portrait prize in the world. The exhibition of finalists is a vibrant and eclectic collection of 35 portrait paintings. Entry conditions for the competition stipulate that both the painter and their subject be Australian citizens, but it is not required that the artist’s subjects be well known.

For more information on the Moran Arts Foundation and viewing access to all semi-finalists, please visit the host website at www.moranprizes.com

Image: Louise Hearman, Matt, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Finalist

Photos 1440 – A Day, A Minute, A Moment

Open:

3 July 2010 – 1 August 2010

Venue:

Macquarie Street foyer and Level 1 gallery

There are 1440 minutes in a day. In these minutes photographers capture a moment. These moments make up a day.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s photography exhibition Photos 1440 is presented by the State Library of NSW as part of Canon’s EOS Festival of Photography. The exhibition features prints and multimedia of the best published and unpublished work by Sydney Morning Herald photographers from 2009 to the present as well as a selection of historic images from the Herald’s vast archive. Two ‘slide nights’ featuring some of Australia’s finest photojournalists will be presented in association with the exhibition.

Image: Photographer: James Brickwood
Photograph shows Julie Mullen from Annandale with her 10 month year old son Hendrix swimming in Mahon Pool, Maroubra, Friday 5th March 2010

World Press Photo 2010

Open:

3 July 2010 – 25 July 2010

Venue:

Galleries, Mitchell Wing

This annual exhibition features the award-winning photographs from the prestigious World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Showcasing approximately 200 photographs in ten theme categories including: news, nature, portraits, arts and entertainment, sports, and daily life, this is the Library’s most popular guest exhibition.

World Press Photo is sponsored worldwide by Canon and TNT. The exhibition has been brought to Sydney by Canon Australia and supported by Getty Images, JC Decaux and TNT.

Image: Pietro Masturzo, World Press Photo of the Year 2009

ONE hundred exhibition

Open:

9 March 2010 – 16 June 2010

Venue:

Galleries, Mitchell Wing

To celebrate the Mitchell Library’s centenary in March 2010, the exhibition ONE hundred reaches down into the riches of the Library’s incomparable and internationally renowned collection and presents just one hundred items which tell, in their unique and surprising way, some aspect of the Australian and Pacific story.

Founded on the personal collection of wealthy Sydney book collector, David Scott Mitchell, who also provided a sizeable endowment, the Library has been actively collecting for a century. Ranging in date from the late 1400s to 2008, the exhibition includes manuscripts, pictures, maps, books, oral histories, and objects: a rollcall of the famous and the notorious; the quiet achievers and the noisy larrikins; the conventional and the rebels; the remembered and the unjustly forgotten, all with a fascinating story to tell. Who’s in and who’s out. Come and see.

Image: Edward Charles Close (1790 – 1866), The costume of the Australasians in sketchbook, 1817, watercolour