We were in Canberra to attend the dinner celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Howard Government election; a good opportunity to catch up on some of the exceptional exhibitions available there. Tom Roberts at the NGA is reassuringly impressive, Celestial Empire: Life in China 1644-1911 at the National Library is fascinating and absorbing; unexpectedly accompanied by a delightful surprise: Hardy Wilson’s Peking. This wonderful collection of pencil drawings by Australian architect /artist William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955) makes an excellent companion to Celestial Empire in an adjoining gallery.

Many are familiar with Hardy Wilson’s Old Colonial Architecture in New South Wales & Tasmania. Begun in 1912, it is his beautiful and enduring hymn of praise to the finest examples of Georgian architecture in Australia. Less well known is his 4 month journey to China in 1921, just 10 years after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Hugely impressed by Peking and its imperial grandeur, Hardy produced a series of drawings which he later presented to the National Library in 1935 and which are now on show, possibly for the first time. The Peking drawings are richly detailed, beguiling, handsomely presented, timeless. Wilson was another of those artists who could ‘paint with pencil’.

The National Library holds over 250 works by Hardy Wilson. This is a beautiful and opportune showing of part of that important collection. It runs until 22 May.