Nora Sumberg

Sumberg’s shift into landscape included the introduction of architectural elements and props, frequently depicting expressive, labyrinthine mazes or Italian Villa Garden features such as topiary, gazebos, statues and columns. Sumberg's construction of space was unconventional and complex, with multiple or hidden horizons and the cropping and over-lapping of contradictory, slightly tilted perspectives (often the result of separately painted panels joined together), giving perhaps a subjective account of wandering through the many windings and turnings of such gardens. These works followed a residency at the Australia Council’s Besozzo Studio, where Sumberg studied 19thC Italian Villa gardens. These paintings were typically large, multi-panel works. Noted Australian poet and art critic Gary Catalano, wrote: "Too little of the art I see forces my eye to change gear, and I like Sumberg's paintings for just this reason".

Australian artists who have inspired Sumberg include Clarice Beckett and Ken Whisson, the former for her mastery of mood and understatement and the latter for his linear, expressive brushwork. Many recent paintings, such as 'Discombobulation 2', 2004, include abstract elements combined with broadly evoked terrain, foliage and large bodies of water. Poetic and philosophical titles are important to Sumberg. For example: 'Anyone Who Thinks He Understands Nature Should Look Again', 'The Listener', 'Upon a Red Cloud Floating', 'Mostly Awake' and 'Frequencies'.

Jenny Zimmer, reviewing Sumberg's 1990 exhibition 'Purely Painting' at Michael Wardell Gallery, wrote that Sumberg: "transforms sun and cloud and the effects of each on the other into bursts of sensation. Though infused with the nature worship of European romanticism, Sumberg's effects are modern".

Sumberg completed a Diploma in Fine Arts (painting) at Caulfield Institute of Technology, Chisholm (now Monash University) followed by Postgraduate Studies at the New York Studio School, New York, in 1978. She attained Master of Fine Arts at Monash University in 1996.

Nora Sumberg (born 1956) is an Australian landscape painter whose work has over time become increasingly lyrical, abstract and atmospheric. Her art is characterized by intense, floating swathes of colour, impressionistic and ambiguous terrain and glowing, multi-directional light sources. Examples of Sumberg's art are held in The National Gallery of Victoria, The Queensland Art Gallery, The Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Smorgan Collection. Sumberg is also the granddaughter of Voldemar Sumberg, the Minister for Social Affairs under the Otto Tief Government in Estonia. Estonian culture is important to Sumberg and she has an artist residency in Tallinn in 2011.