HAMILTON Gallery is set to open two new exhibitions, Chromatica: The Art of Colour and Recent Acquisitions: New Works to the Collection.

Together, these exhibitions celebrate the gallery’s diverse collection, highlighting significant treasures and unveiling new works.

Chromatica is a carefully curated exhibition of striking artworks, sourced from the Gallery’s collection, ranging from antiquities to contemporary art.

It reveals how artists across time have used colour to evoke emotion, tell stories, and capture the world around them, while also exploring the history, science, and psychology behind colour.

Audiences are encouraged to experience the rich world of colour through works by renowned artists, including Howard Arkley, Sidney Nolan, Patricia Piccinini, John Olsen, Tim Storrier, Utagawa Hiroshige and many others.

Running concurrently, Recent Acquisitions offers visitors the opportunity to admire the very latest additions to the collection, a collection which continues to expand through the support of the Hamilton Gallery Trust, friends, donations, bequests, commissions and Council.

Spanning from historical to contemporary works, Recent Acquisitions unveils the gallery’s newest treasures.

Gallery director, Joshua White explained, there was a common underlying thread in the growth and expansion of the Hamilton collection, and that is generosity.

“The Hamilton Gallery was initiated by an act of local philanthropy, and this generous vision, which continues today, makes this gallery a rich and always developing resource for the benefit of all,” he said.

 One of the donations, featured in the Recent Acquisitions exhibition is titled Mount Shadwell from Mount Noorat (c.1857) by artist Eugene von Guérard, a significant addition that complements the Trust’s 2022 acquisition of a work by the same artist titled, Mount Arapiles towards the Grampians (c.1870).

Together, these paintings deepen the gallery’s representation of Australian landscapes and are expected to be of particular interest to locals, history buffs and art enthusiasts.

The return of these artworks to the public arena brings with it insights into the remarkable career of one of the greatest landscape painters to ever work in Australia.

 Mr White said, “these exhibitions highlight the international significance of the Hamilton Gallery collection, including our two new von Guerard artworks, and we look forward to a New Hamilton Gallery where we can properly house and display these works to further the cultural identity of our unique region”.

Recent Acquisitions will unveil artworks by Albert Namatjira, Eugene von Guérard, Alex Seton, Louise Zhang, Kathryn Ryan, Ivan Durrant, Jenni Kemarre Martiniello, Tony Tuckson, Troy Emery, Anne Fleming, The Höchst Porcelain Factory (Germany) and many more.

 Both exhibitions will be officially opened on Tuesday, December 3, at 6pm by special guest Angelo Candalepas, the architect appointed to develop the concept designs for the New Hamilton Gallery.

For more information on exhibitions and upcoming events, see hamiltongallery.org, the Hamilton Gallery Facebook page, or join the mailing list.