Art Deco Exhibition

This afternoon B and I made our way into the city to visit the Art Deco Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.

We caught the train and on arrival in the city crossed over Princes Bridge to the other side of the Yarra River.

View of South Bank from Princes Bridge

As we approached the gallery I snapped a photo of the exterior.

National Gallery Exterior View

The entrance, in tune with the theme of such a major exhibition, was a glorious Art Deco archway.

Gallery Entrance

And so on to the exhibition...

When we first walked into the exhibition space there was this wonderful painting by Tamara De Lempika (pictured on the program). It was a real thrill to see one of her paintings in the original. I have long admired her stylish deco art. The Telephone, as this one is called, it very typical of her art. But this was just the start of the exhibition. We moved on to other rooms and gasped in awe at the beautiful things on display. I didn't dare take pictures, so have scanned the below images from the program.

The exhibition covered all areas of the Art Deco movement. From furniture, cutlery, china, glassware, textiles, fashion, posters, bakelite radios (as pictured), photography, all of it was exquisite. There were photo slide shows of famous deco interiors and also the Foyer from the Strand Palace Hotel 1930–31 was set up as a physical object in all its glory.

This picture is of Josephine Baker, and the exhibition had a film of her dancing the Charleston. It was hilarious, though probably in her day it was terribly risque. I saw couple of children trying to dance like her.

By the time we reached the end of the exhibition we were somewhat footsore and dazed from seeing so many fine works of art.

However, on leaving I did take a photo of this gorgeous Mercedes Benz.

It is a 1936 Mercedes Benz 540K Cabriolet C, the only model of its kind in Australia and one of only 419 540Ks ever made.

Finally, one of the features of the National Gallery of Victoria is the Water Wall.

When the gallery first opened 40 years ago, everyone thought of it as a giant fish and chip shop window. It is however rather beautiful. This photo is taken from inside looking out into the entrance courtyard.