Certainly very pretty, these shoes were displayed in the ‘Exposition Universalle de Paris’ of 1867, which was a trade show which featured the very best that French industry and commerce had to offer. These four pairs of dress boots were made in the same basic style – an ankle boot shaped with a slightly pointed toe and a Louis-style heel – but created in different materials. It was common practice for winter boots to be made out of velvet or heavier materials, while summer boots were made of lighter materials.

Startlingly narrow, these shoes represent the fashionable ideal for small feet which lasted from the 1830s to the 1890s. It’s also likely that their impossible slimness prevented them from being able to be worn, which has allowed them to remain in near perfect condition.

The painting is located at NGV International on Level 1 in the European 14^th-16^th century gallery.

Can you tell us briefly about your background?

I’m a Kiwi who crossed the Tasman more than twenty years ago to study graphic design in Melbourne. My love of books cultivated an interest in book design, and that has been my primary focus over the last ten years.

How did your design inspiration for the gift book series come about?

The fact that the books were intended to be gifts immediately sparked the idea of precious objects, wrapped up in beautiful gift paper. On a subliminal level, I heard the dreamy tones of Sarah Vaughan singing ‘My Favourite Things’: brown paper packages tied up with string. It all seemed to reinforce the concept of the book design looking like a gift, complete with a gift tag (printed on the cover to contain the title) and wrapping paper folded cleverly to form the book jacket.

Can you tell us about the process of designing the jacket (which impressively folds out to become gift-wrapping paper)? 

Determining the folds of the jacket took a long time. It was imperative that the artist’s work was cropped perfectly when folded and that the subtitle was positioned centrally on the cover. I created many mini mock-ups in working this out. I find that nothing beats a physical mock-up to determine how to layout the artwork; in this case, the challenge was to ensure the jacket folded up correctly!

Was there anything unique about designing with reproductions of art?

There were definitely unique boundaries to work within. It was paramount that the design respected the work of art. My initial idea was to create a pattern for the gift-paper-jacket by rotating and repeating the works of art – perhaps a natural inclination for a designer, but not so respectful of the works. Placing a work upside down was completely out of the question. In the end, the design was resolved by making sure that each work of art appeared in its entirety on the unfolded jacket.

I know you’re not meant to say so, but do you have a favourite between Curious Cats, Dashing Dogs and Flourishing Flowers?

It’s like children. Of course, if I was to have a favourite it would be Curious Cats. What can I say? I’m a cat person!

Curious Cats, Dashing Dogs and Flourishing Flowers are all available in the NGV Shop for $19.95 each.

Something not often considered by our audience is that as the NGV Collection is of such high quality many of our great treasures are often lent to exhibitions both in Australia and overseas. Consequently the hang of the collection is constantly changing as works come and go.

This month, Paul Cezanne’s The uphill road (1881) has returned from Tokyo and Claude Lorrain’s River landscape with Tiburtine Temple at Tivoli (c. 1635), Giobanni Paolo Panini’s The Cumaean Sibyl delivering the Oracles (c. 1741) and Bernardo Bellotto’s Ruins of the Forum, Rome (c. 1743), have all come back from a very successful exhibition in Geelong.

Also, some areas of the collection are so rich that we can’t display them all at once. So we have just returned to European Painting 17th-18th C on Level 2 the very popular portrait of Luigi Boccherini, the famous 18th century cellist with the skinny legs, which has not been shown for about a year.

We hope you enjoy the return of these popular paintings.

When we acquire a multimedia work, the original version provided by the artist becomes sacrosanct and our task is to document, preserve and protect the disc or cassette as we would a painting, photograph, sculpture or drawing. For this reason, when cataloguing a multimedia acquisition, popping the original master copy into a player is not an option.

Meeting any work of art in storage is a very different experience to meeting the same work in a gallery or exhibition context. In the case of multimedia works, my job can be a particularly peculiar experience as it often involves cataloguing the piece without being able to see the art. Most multimedia works are recorded on hardware that is indistinguishable from what we might buy ourselves for use at work or home. Often the only outward sign that these cassettes or discs retain art is the presence of the artist’s signature on a label and aside from such inscriptions there is usually little ‘information’ to record. It’s very odd to be so close to and yet so far from an artwork – to know that what lives within is so much bigger than the exterior suggests. Occasionally, however, an artist does something special – they treat the outside as a creative act too.

If you type Yinka Shonibare into the Google Images search engine you will be struck by his distinctive textile designs. Vibrant, colourful, steeped in history and tradition, they mark his work out as his own just as clearly as any signature could. In 2008 the NGV acquired A masked ball (Un ballo in maschera), 2004. It’s an arresting work; dramatic, beautiful, unsettling and graceful. There are all sorts of confrontations and echoes in the setting, choreography and costumes. The dancers in the film are clothed in Shonibare’s textile designs…, and although you’re unlikely to ever see it on display, so is the box the work came in.

I think my favourite multimedia cataloguing experience remains Going places sitting down, 2004, by Hiraki Sawa. This three channel video projection is very appealing. It portrays a world that is sometimes magical, sometimes bizarre but always engaging – whether your fascination be with the how, the why or the way it invites you to simply enjoy. The NGV acquired Going places sitting down in December 2006, however, prior to this it was included in the exhibition Six good reasons to stay at home. In consequence I saw the work in full before encountering it in storage. Given this foreknowledge it shouldn’t have surprised me to find, that in a delightful act of continuity, Hiraki Sawa provided a customised box to house his creation. It’s a simple box – a lot like the boxes we are taught to make at school, shallow with a sliding lid – and it is adorned with an image of the rocking horse that appears repeatedly in the films. Inside I discovered a certificate of authenticity, three DVDs and video cassettes all neatly packed away…, along with a bag of marbles and a packet of ‘vivid’ coloured chalk sticks. Like his films, the packaging is a bit magical, a little bizarre, it’s engaging and something to enjoy…, in fact the invitation to hopscotch was almost irresistible.

Links: works by Yinka Shonibare in Collection Online

Yinka Shonibare’s A masked ball (Un ballo in maschera) is on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road until late September 2012

Other works recently installed that have a major impact include one of my favourite works from the collection, Tony Tuckson’s Untitled – yellow (1970-73), which although we have had it on loan since 1986,  we only recently acquired it with the help of the Loti Smorgon AC and Victor Smorgon AC fund. Tuckson’s late Abstract Expressionist style is about gesture, and you can see the confidence with which the artist applies the paint, or indeed, where he doesn’t. There is a wonderful harmony between the brown of the raw masonite board, the white, cream and yellow paints. His understanding of composition is incredible, reduced here to blocks of paint. However there are also accidents present from the production of other works in his studio: splatters of red and black paint which Tuckson has left to become part of this work. This too takes confidence.

Tuckson was also influenced by Aboriginal Art which he collected and curated during his time at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He was struck by the raw timber and uninhibited brushstrokes of the pukamani poles on Melville Island, and the influence is certainly evident in Untitled – yellow. It is wonderful to be able to display this painting alongside hollow logs from Arhnem Land in the NGV’s Indigenous collection.

This is one of those works you have to see – I remember art historian Daniel Thomas explaining how paintings such as this need to dwarf and overwhelm you, and this large two panel work certainly does that.

Another work which I am quite excited about is Christian Waller’s Destiny 1916, a new acquisition for the collection of Australian painting. Ever since I first set eyes upon Waller’s prints I have admired their wonderful Moderne/Art Deco style. She also produced stunning stained glass windows. Due to their scarcity, until recently I have not been well acquainted with her painting. Waller studied at the National Gallery School under Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall, and married fellow student Napier Waller. The National Gallery of Australia has his portrait of her from 1932 entitled Christian Waller with Baldur, Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills.

Waller’s Destiny is quirky to say the least – it reflects her interest in Mysticism and Theosophy and provides quite a stark contrast to the other works in gallery 7. I think this is a fascinating work, however I encourage you to come in and decide for yourself.

Many ‘fully’ catalogued artworks are just one conservation treatment shy of full medium analysis, one census record short of a complete artist’s biography, one eureka moment away from a confirmed production date, title or attribution. While the task of cataloguing is a process of discovery, cataloguers aspire to know what’s what. We secretly like our art signed and dated and believe that the only good reference is a primary one. The term ‘mixed media’ makes us cry.

The Cataloguing Department records and verifies the physical and historical particulars of art in the NGV Collection in collaboration with curators, registrars and conservators. Our goal is to one day see each and every artwork fully documented and described and we aim to ensure that the terms of reference used are as consistent as possible.

Cataloguing takes patience, perseverance, attention to detail…, and it helps to be a bit of an art nerd. With one foot placed in collection management, another in research and a toe or two in art handling and conservation, cataloguers require a broad range of skills and often train as curators, archivists, conservators or artists before discovering that the path they tread leads to…, Cataloguing Land.

Although the NGV’s Cataloguing Department has little in common with a theme park, it does sometimes feel like another world. Our work is carried out behind the scenes, often in storage, sometimes in conservation labs or photography studios and occasionally in gallery spaces or private homes. The tools of the cataloguing trade are many and varied – they need to be. The NGV acquires a broad range of art – Australian, International, Ancient, Contemporary, 2-D, 3-D and digital.

We work with hefty bronze sculptures, delicate ochre paintings and intricate installations. We hold our breath as we lift fragile ceramics to check the base for inscriptions, we climb ladders and drill lids back onto storage crates. Our ‘useful box’ contains a variety of tape measures, set squares, torches, magnifying lenses and of course gloves. Of equal importance are our research tools. We utilise a number of traditional and online resources including books, catalogues and magazines, local and international archives, databases, indexes, auction records, and newspapers.

The information compiled by cataloguers is shared with you in a variety of ways. It makes its way on to display labels, appears in published exhibition checklists and image captions for media kits, brochures and even postcards of works in the collection and is also accessible online.

During my years as a cataloguer I have worked with a wonderful variety of artworks and through them I have learnt that there is a great deal to see at the NGV.

The maker of the shoes, Rayne, designed elegant shoes, and by the 1950s had received three royal warrants. In 1936, Rayne was granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Mary- an honour that was repeated by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, and then again by our present Queen, whose wedding shoes were made for her by Rayne in 1947. In addition, Rayne made shoes for Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, Princess Diana, and even Wallis Simpson, wife of the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII).

My most recent book purchase has been a first edition copy of Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967). It was ex-library and irresistibly cheap. Published in 1967 by Cheshire Press, it has an incredible green, and somewhat psychedelic cover and wonderful 60s bubble typeface. It also uses a cut up image of the central figure of Botticelli’s Primavera 1482 which can be found in the Uffizi in Florence. (To the left of this there is also an image of a girl from what looks like an Australian Impressionist painting that I am struggling to identify!) Joan was of course the wife of our previous Director Daryl Lindsay, and the book was in part inspired by the William Ford painting At the Hanging Rock 1875 that is currently on display at NGV Australia.

I find myself reading Lindsay’s beautiful book because of my work on the upcoming Fred Williams exhibition. I’m very interested in the mythology associated with the Australian bush. It is fascinating how Australian people have related to the bush, its beauty and its threats, and how this pervades much of our cultural output.

Thanks to Williams, I also find the incredibly impressive volumes about this artist by past NGV Directors Patrick McCaughey and James Mollison, and exhibition curator Dr Deborah Hart weighing on my desk. I have the great pleasure of working closely with Deborah to bring the exhibition to Melbourne. As the eminence of his monographic authors implies, Williams is one of our most significant landscape artists, and his work can be found in the collections of the Tate in London, and the Met in New York, as well as all of Australia’s major galleries. He was also the first Australian artist to have a solo exhibition at MoMA, New York.

Williams stands out for me because he is one of the most technical and academic painters, yet he does not alienate his audience. You only need to see and experience his work, you don’t need to know about it in advance. This exhibition is certainly not to be missed, make sure you come along.

→ NGV Collection Online

→ Yayoi Kusama an infinite consciousness directed at the cosmos essay by Mami Kataoka Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo