4 August 2008
During an earlier showing at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan, the exhibition attracted 30,000 visitors. Utopia: the Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye includes 120 works from 65 institutions and private collections. It is the largest collection of works by a single Australian artist to travel outside Australia.
'The Emily exhibition has proved a great success with Japanese audiences, 100,221 visitors is almost twice the number we expected for the exhibition,' said the Director of the National Museum of Australia, Craddock Morton.
'Australians will be able to see the exhibition of works of one of our greatest contemporary artists at the National Museum in Canberra from 22 August,' Mr Morton said.
The exhibition, developed and presented by the National Museum of Australia, tells the story of Emily Kame Kngwarreye (c 1910–1996) an Aboriginal artist who lived and worked in the desert in the centre of Australia.
The works are being air-freighted from Japan to Australia where Utopia: the Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye will open at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra on 22 August until 12 October 2008.
For more information about Utopia: the Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye visit www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions
For interviews, images and more information please contact Dennis Grant on
02 6208 5351, 0409 916 481 or d.grant@nma.gov.au