PERTH.- This focussed exhibition showcases works from the Kerry Stokes Collection, one of Australia’s most significant and respected private collections. Although a personal selection, the 26 works on display represent the major art movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of great change and experimentation in European art.

For nineteenth-century painters, the pictorial challenge was to leave the studio and paint out of doors directly in front of the subject, capturing the fleeting changes of light and atmospheric conditions. Starting with an early coastal scene by the great Realist painter Gustave Courbet, A Private View takes audiences on a journey past captivating Impressionist landscapes by Claude Monet and Australia’s own John Peter Russell, Post-Impressionist Breton scenes, and a superb Fauvist view of the Parisian cathedral Notre-Dame by Henri Matisse.

The subjects of the twentieth-century works are far more diverse, and include an example of Jean Dubuffet’s unconventional art brut approach, a Dada assemblage by Christian Schad, and an enigmatic painting pondering the meaning of life by the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte. Also on display are outstanding paintings by Pablo Picasso, including Bottle and tobacco pouch, Fontainebleau 1921, which critic John McDonald has described as “the most impressive work of Synthetic Cubism in any Australian collection”.

Stefano Carboni, AGWA Director, said, “The Gallery is truly privileged that the Kerry Stokes Collection has chosen AGWA as the place to unveil a selection of extraordinary art works from a lifetime of collecting. This is a rare opportunity for Western Australians and visitors to WA, to view these works that are not usually accessible to the general public.”

A Private View: Modern Masters from the Kerry Stokes Collection is on display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 22 November 2013 – 3 March 2014.