Opening: Clarice Beckett / Encounters with Port Phillip Bay
Her Worship the Mayor, Cr Debbie Taylor-Haynes and Councillors of Bayside City Council invite you to the opening of Clarice Beckett: Paintings from the National Collection and Encounters with Port Phillip Bay.
Clarice Beckett: Paintings from the National Collection presents an intimate, rarely seen collection by one of the most original artists of early twentieth century Australia.
Deeply sensitive to the effects of colour, light and atmosphere, Beckett painted the life and scenery of her coastal home in Bayside with an eye for the commonplace and fleeting effects of nature. Her work captures a world on the cusp of modernisation, evoking both the natural environment and simple pleasures of suburbia.
In 1972, the artist’s sister Hilda Mangan donated a group of Beckett’s works to the National Gallery. It is this collection that will be on view for the first time, their freshness and vitality recently restored by extensive conservation treatment.
Clarice Beckett: Paintings from the National Collection is a National Gallery Touring Exhibition supported by The Australian Government through Visions of Australia.
Drawing from Bayside City Council’s Art and Heritage Collection, Encounters with Port Phillip Bay explores the longstanding tradition of artists engaging with Melbourne’s expansive and picturesque coastline.
Artworks depicting the lure of the Bay as a land of promise in the earliest days of colonial settlement as well as during the property boom of the 1880s sit alongside portrayals of seaside leisure, from day trippers of the late 19th century to party goers of the 21st century.
A body of work by Vicki Couzens explores First Nation’s connection with the coastal environment, while artists such as Clarice Beckett, Lynne Boyd and Gregory Alexander capture the hypnotic effects of light and atmosphere over the Bay.
Exhibition dates: 7 March – 26 April 2026
Location
Bayside Gallery
Brighton Town Hall, Corner Wilson and Carpenter Streets, Brighton, Victoria 3186
Contact Details
Image one credit: Clarice Beckett, Sandringham Beach c 1933, oil on canvas, 55.8 x 50.9 cm, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1971.
Image two credit: Katherine Hattam, William Buckley forgot how to speak English 2018–19, gouache, charcoal and book spines on collaged book pages on linen, 122 x 121.5 cm. Bayside City Council Art and Heritage Collection. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2020.
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