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Art and Design

Discover stories about the unique work of Australian artists, architects and designers.

Art and Design

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Architecture

The Bridge: the arch that cut the sky

The journey to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge would take almost 100 years. In this 5-part series, travel through history to experience the story of realising a city’s dream. 

The Bridge website

Architecture: arrival of modernism

Architectural modernism was a revolutionary rejection of past styles and the use of architectural ornament.

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Architect of the screen: Eric Thompson as architect, artist and filmmaker

by Erica Aronsten

Eric Thompson’s career as an architect, artist and filmmaker highlights the close connection between architecture and design in the development of the film industry.

Several men in white coats sketching a young woman modelling

Harry Seidler collection

Designs and photographs from Australia's best known modernist architect.

Decoration and Glass magazine

by Sarah Morley

Decoration and Glass, a magazine for home builders, architects and decorators has been digitised in colour as part of the Library’s Digital Excellence Program. 

Decoration and Glass, Published by Australian Glass Manufacturers Co. Ltd, Dowling Street waterloo, NSW, Australia, 1 July, 1936

Francis Greenway: convict architect

Francis Greenway (1777- 1837) produced some of the finest colonial buildings in Australia.

The Garden Palace

Sydney’s Garden Palace was a magnificent building with a grandeur that dominated the skyline and captivated society from its opening in 1879. Three years later it was destroyed in a devastating fire.

Architecture: nineteenth-century Sydney

Convict architect Francis Greenway was convinced of the importance of architecture to the development of early Sydney.

Drawings and paintings

The Wallis album

The discovery and acquisition of a fascinating album compiled by Captain James Wallis reveals the artistic collaborations between a commandant and a convict.

The TAL & Dai-ichi Life Derby Collection

This extraordinary collection of natural history illustrations contains 745 watercolours in six volumes, the collection conveys Europe’s naïve yet genuine sense of wonder at Australia’s unique natural history.

Convict artists in the time of Governor Macquarie

Many used their art to record and interpret the landscape and people of the early settlement.

Stories in the sun

by Maria Savvidis

The Library holds vast collections on Australian children’s book publishing in the ‘golden age’ of the 1970s and 80s.

Illustration of a dense thicket of plants and the animals among it.

Conrad Martens and George Edwards Peacock: Sydney artists

Artists have always been attracted to the natural beauty of Sydney Harbour and its foreshores.

Papua New Guinea (PNG): Forty years of independence

Although European navigators visited and explored the Papua New Guinea islands for 170 years, little was known of the Papua New Guinea inhabitants until the late 19th century.
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The story of May Gibbs

May Gibbs, author, illustrator and cartoonist, has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations of Australians with her lovable bush characters and fairytale landscapes.

Hope you're still going strong! [tennis] c. 1916, colour postcard by May Gibbs

A French sailor-artist on the South Seas

by Anna Corkhill

An enquiry from France brings to light a gem of nineteenth century travel illustration.

L’extrémité des alamedas à Lima

Graphic design

We tell the world: signwriting, decorating and Althouse & Geiger

by Michael Bogle

The Library’s collection offers glimpses into Sydney signwriting and decorating firm Althouse & Geiger that once boasted, 'We tell the world everything it wants to know'.

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Electric image: 1980s poster art and one Sydney band

by Margot Riley

An eye-catching poster got the message out for an emerging Sydney band in 1980.

A screenprinted poster depicting an industrial fan, the words "Electric Fanz" and the band members.

Everything: a 1980s anarchist-feminist magazine

by Helen Cumming

A feminist newspaper from the early 1980s brings back memories of lively co-op meetings, nutritious sandwiches and high ideals.

A two-colour illustration of a woman working on one side and with housework on another, with the words "A woman's work is never done".

Mythical country: Vietnam in 1950s posters

by Sheila Ngoc Pham

Looking through Vietnamese art posters collected in the 1950s elicits complicated feelings all these years later.

A woman stands in front of a wall of Vietnamese art posters, smiling.

Australian Inspiration

This is the story of Julie Paterson, one of Australia’s best known contemporary textile designers, and her design journey of drawing inspiration from the collection.

 

edge of piece of fabric with red print of waratah bud

Endgame

by Maggie Patton

Hundreds of delightful and intriguing endpapers can be found in the State Library of NSW collection.

An assortment of four endpapers in various styles and colours.

The Bowman flag

Our first coat of arms? The first recorded use of the kangaroo and emu supporting a shield is found on the Bowman Flag of 1806.

Fred Harris Tattoo Studio

by Geoff Barker

Sometime around 1916, Fred Harris opened a small tattoo shop in Sussex Street, Sydney.

Tattooing a man's head with a butterfly, Sydney, 17 December 1937