The Field Revisited

The Field Revisited
NGV Federation Square
To August 26




View of The Field Revisited, NGV 2018.


Trevor Vickers, Untitled, 1968 (remade 2017).


Tony McGillick, Arbitrator 1968.


Mel Ramsden, No Title, 1966


L: Robert Hunter, Untitled 1968. R: David Aspen, Fifth Force 1968.


Wendy Paramor, Diablo 1967


Sydney Ball, Ispahan 1967



'The National Gallery of Victoria’s inaugural exhibition at its new premises on St Kilda Road in 1968 was The Field, the first comprehensive display of colour field painting and abstract sculpture in Australia. Regarded as a landmark exhibition in Australian art history, The Field was a radical presentation of 74 works by 40 artists who practised hard-edge, geometric, colour and flat abstraction, many of which were influenced by American stylistic tendencies of the time. With its silver foil–covered walls and geometric light fittings, The Field opened to much controversy and helped launch the careers of a generation of Australian artists, including Sydney Ball, Peter Booth, Janet Dawson and Robert Jacks. Eighteen of the exhibiting artists were under the age of thirty, with Robert Hunter the youngest at twenty-one years of age.' NGV Website