New Acquisition: A summer to remember: Jeff Wall's Depictions of everyday events

This article provides an overview of the art historical significance and contemporary context for the Art Gallery of New South Wales purchase in 2014 of 'Summer Afternoons' 2013 by Canadian artist Jeff Wall. 'Summer Afternoons' a large scale photographic diptych is the first work by Wall to enter the collection. The two photographs are what Wall characterizes as 'near documentary'. In this case the scene is the artist's mid-1970s apartment in London, the subjects are a male nude in the left photograph and a female nude in the right hand photograph. The article addresses the cinematographic qualities of Wall's still photographs which present near documentaries in newly created situations rich with the potential for narrative trajectories enriched by the memories, conjectures and the imaginings of each viewer.