Art Nation

5:30pm – Sunday, August 1 on ABC1

This week on Art Nation visual arts commentator Chris McAuliffe reviews the latest blockbuster exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. European Masters: St�del Museum, 19th-20th Century brings together a remarkable collection of masterpieces from the St�del Museum in Frankfurt. Alongside paintings by German artists are works by the greatest French, Belgian, Dutch and Swiss masters of the period. The exhibition features some powerful German Expressionist paintings and sculpture, rarely seen in Australia. A high point is the presence of no fewer than ten works by Max Beckmann, the quintessential Expressionist artist.

Guilty Pleasures is a new segment on Art Nation where cultural identities admit to their ‘secret shame’. First up is sculptor William Eicholtz whose secret shame is a passion for the TV series So You Think You Can Dance. So taken by it, Eicholtz is creating a series of sculptures based on 2008 contender Rhys Bobridge.

To close the show, bluegrass band The Wilson Pickers perform from their album Shake It Down.

Art Nation is repeated on ABC2 – Sunday August 01 at 7.00pm