Nicholson Museum Past Exhibitions

Charles Nicholson: Man and Museum

Sir Charles Nicholson

Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903) was both a man of his time, and in many ways, ahead of his time. Serving as Vice-Provost from 1851 to 1854 and Provost (Chancellor) from 1854 to 1862, he played an important role in establishing the University of Sydney and developing its cultural and artistic life.

This exhibition features a selection of his extraordinary benefaction of art and antiquities to the University. On the 200th anniversary of Nicholson's birth, Man and Museum celebrates his life and achievments, and the legacy he left for future generations in the shape of the Nicholson Museum.

Exposed: Photography and the Classical Nude.
4 January - 17 April 2011

Featured in the Sydney Festival

Exposed is a celebration of the significant role photography has played in capturing varying interpretations of the classical nude.

This engaging exhibition brings together nearly 100 photographs involving the worlds of fashion, theatre, film, music and dance, and canvassing themes from the artist’s studio to the effects of war.

Sometimes surreal and often humorous, this diverse collection includes works by some of the great names, including Max
Dupain, Robert Doisneau, Lee Miller, Eadweard Muybridge, Leni Riefenstahl, Clarence White and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Image:
George Hoyningen-Huene, Untitled (Horst on a cast of the Parthenon horse) 1931.

Click here for a review of the exhibition published in The Australian

Classical Fantasies:The Age of Beauty

The re-discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 1730s and the subsequent rise of Neo-Classicism in the second half of the 18th century, the Classical past became a powerful influence on thought and the material appearance of the everyday world.

The Classical Fantasies exhibition traces the development of Neo-Classicism through some of the leading figures of the movement, such as the art historian Johann Winckelmann, the collectors and commoisseurs Sir William Hamilton and Charles Townley, the antiquarian Baron d'Hancarville, the architect Piranesi, the patron Thomas Hope, the great man of letters Johann von Goethe, and the artist Wilhelm Tischbein.

Until December 2010

Image: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema The Pottery Workshop 1871 (detail). Copyright Manchester City Art Gallery.

Gold Eye of Horus bead

Beauty and Betrayal: Ancient and Neo-Classical Jewellery

Gold, silver and coloured stones crafted in the past remain beautiful today. Worn as jewellery the metal and stone enhance the beauty of a person, indicate their wealth and status, provide protection or stand as a reminder of a loved one. In 18th and 19th century Europe jeweller’s were inspired by the ancient craftsmen and recreated ancient styles for the modern wearer.

Beauty brings desire and with it the potential for betrayal. Eriphale betrays her husband for a necklace, Jason leaves Medea once she has helped him acquire the golden fleece. The beauty of Helen, whose jewellery Schliemann claimed to have discovered at Troy, brought misery to thousands.

This exhibition presents many examples of ancient and Neo-Classical jewellery from the Nicholson Museum and other Australian collections.

From June 30 - November 21 2010

The sky's the limit: Astronomy in Antiquity

How did the antient Egyptians know when the Nile was about to flood? Why was Stonehenge built? Which zodiac sign did Augustus use to legitimise his rule? The answers were in the sky...

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Egypt: Life and Death in the Black Land

From the cradle to the grave... immerse yourself in the Egyptian world among the artefacts of daily life and the residue of death.

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Shattered Glass: Illuminating the Past

From the Bronze Age furnaces of Mesopotamia to the tables of the Roman Emperor Nero, glass was a prized and magical material. Despite its fragility, many beautiful pieces of glass have survived through the ages, some in tombs, some underwater in
shipwrecked cargoes.

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Unearthed Tales #2: A Fascination with Death

The bodies of mummies, the bones of saints, and the statues of gods jostle for attention with Hercules, Agatha Christie, and Oliver Cromwell.

Throughout 2008

Sigmund Freud’s Collection: An Archaeology of the Mind

An exhibition of Egyptian, Greek, Italian, and Chinese antiquities from the private collection of Sigmund Freud – together with photographs taken in 1938 by Edmund Engelman; home movies of her father taken by his daughter, Anna; and a recreation of the famous couch and desk.

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Irrawang
To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the birth of Australian historical archaeology, this exhibition features artefacts recovered from the site of James King's Irrawang Pottery Manufactory, near Raymond Terrace.

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The Acropolis Restoration Project and the New Acropolis Museum

The Parthenon in Athens is one of the world's most famous and instantly recognisable buildings. It is an iconic cultural symbol of the modern Greek state, and a reminder of a shared cultural heritage that reaches back to the 5th century BC; a defining period in the history of democracy, theatre, architecture, philosophy and more.

An exhibition of images of the restorations and of the New Acropolis Museum will be on display in the Nicholson Museum.

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Faces of Power: Imperial Portraiture on Roman Coins

Using coins from the Nicholson Museum's extensive but little-seen collection, this exhibition traces the history of the imperial families of ancient Rome.

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Lebanon: from Baalbek to Beirut

Using artefacts from antiquity to the modern day, as well as the large format photography of Rowan Conroy, this exhibition highlights the heritage of this extraordinary country.

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