Title

Democratically Dispersed: Regional Public (Print) Keepers.

Author

Mann, Allan.

Publication date

1997

Type

Conference paper

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Democratically Dispersed: Regional Public (Print) Keepers.
by Allan Mann

Our National and State Galleries house print collections which are seen as rivalling some monumental international collections ... Jane Kinsman curator of international prints at the National Gallery of Australia, has been quoted comparing the international collection at the NGA to that of MOMA in New York (1).

My intention is to highlight the significance, wealth and breadth of our 'secret & hidden' print collections, held away from the main metropolitan centres [yet rivalling the state collections in certain instances] which are available to those interested in prints and are almost unknown and certainly unheralded, on their doorsteps.

During my investigations into regional public print collections, I discovered that of the fifty nine regional public galleries with permanent collections around Australia, forty seven galleries, 80%, possess prints, as integral components of their whole collection.

Newcastle Region Art Gallery's collection was established following a bequest by Dr. Rowland Pope in 1945. Among this bequest were 10 prints, including works by Thea Proctor and Sir. Lionel Lindsay.

Overall the gallery houses some 3000 works, of which there are 700+ prints, ranking this regional print collection among the country's most extensive. Newcastle is justly proud of its collection of prints, although this is matched by several other regional galleries who also have large and no less impressive collections of prints.

Newcastle City Council who own the gallery are significant supporters and sponsors and the gallery is fortunate to receive their backing. This support to date has enabled the gallery to continue an active policy of acquiring works including excellent prints. Apart from purchases, many important prints have been given to this gallery as gifts and a feature of this print collection is it's diversity.

The Newcastle Gallery has an encyclopedic collection of the history of Printmaking in Australia which reflects national rather than regional developments. Such a broad collection presents a who's who of Australian Printmaking.

Another feature is the number of 'suites' or 'series' such as John Coburn's 'Seven Days of Creation'; Tillers & Baldessin's 'According to Des Esseintes'; Bea Maddock's 'Forty pages from Antarctica'.

Newcastle Region Gallery has an active print exhibiting policy. Four catalogues have been published about this print collection...'Australian Prints in the Newcastle Region Art Gallery 1812 -1945; 1946-1964; 1965-1981; 1981-1995; with this latest published only last year.

The gallery library and collection are available for study and research.

New England Regional Art Museum owns a significant collection of works on paper and for over a decade has had a policy to acquire prints.

This Art Museum is fortunate to have had wide support, with donors such as Howard Hinton (who collected from 1929 1948), Chandler Coventry and more recently Max Miller, ranking it among the leading regional print collecting galleries in Australia.

Chandler Coventry donated a collection of prints to the art museum in 1983 and this has been steadily built upon by acquisition and donation.

The Art Museum gained further support for its development program, from a group of artists including Cressida Campbell, John Coburn, Kevin Connor, Colin Lanceley, Alun Leach Jones, John Olsen, Jan Senbergs and Ann Thomson, who together with the backing of Pat Corrigan, produced prints to be included in the limited edition portfolio 'For New England'. If there is a weakness here it may be the period between the late 1940's and late 1950's a time not covered by either Hinton or Coventry; but the Art Museum has a policy of acquiring prints whenever possible, to bridge this gap.

There are over 3000 works in the Art Museum of which more than one third are prints.

To single out prints of importance does not do justice to the broad scope of the New England Regional Art Museum's collection. There is a wealth of early prints ranging from Colonial Australia to the 1950's including Blake, Brierly, Crane, Emanuel, Garrett, Hilder, Hinder, Leason, Lindsay, Spowers and Ure Smith. Most leading contemporary Australian printmakers, are also represented including: Ball, Blackman, Coburn, Cress, Eager, Hadley, Kuo, Lanceley, Leach Jones, Lester, Littlejohn, Nolan, Olsen, Plapp, Thomson, Walker, Winch and Zofrea.

The New England Art Museum has toured several exhibitions which were specifically print shows and the collection is accessed for study or research by appointment.

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Launceston in Tasmania, was established in 1891. It is one of only three regional public galleries in this state.

In 1927 an important collection of material was made available to the Government by John Watt Beattie, who collected widely across all mediums, forming part of this.

City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery is remarkable for a regional gallery having a collection which resembles a small state collection. Of the 7000+ works, 4500 are works on paper and of these, approximately half are prints. Having had $4 million spent on refurbishing and expanding facilities, the gallery reopened in 1988.

Here the print collection began in the 1940's with some interesting bequests of Australian books and prints . It grew and took on form when professional directors began to work at the gallery, and in the mid-sixties James Mollison developed a strong link with the Lindsay family, following which, large gifts of complete collections were given, particularly those of Lionel and Norman Lindsay. Ron Radford concentrated upon building up the 19th and early 20th century Australian Prints and an enormous amount were acquired during this 1972-80 period eg. rare 19th century prints; relief prints by major printmakers involved in the Modem Movement in Melbourne of the 1920/30/40's . The relief prints have been further expanded by the present director with assistance from Roger Butler, Curator of Australian Prints at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Ballaarat's print collections strength, is in it's breadth of coverage of 19th & 20th century Australian works and within this, it's specialised sections. It could be argued that here is an Australian Print collection which rivals the Australian National Gallery's in certain aspects, particularly historically.

Highlights are Major James Taylor's 'Panoramic View of Sydney', works by Eugene Von Guerard, Nicholas Chevalier, Christian Waller, Ethel Spowers, S.T. Gill, and the early Lindsays, including historical and contemporary books with plates by Major T. L. Mitchell, Bea Maddock and early works by the first visitors to Australia.

Both Eric Thake and Noel Counihan helped build up study collections of their work by donating prints, plates and working drawings. All are of exceptional quality.

The gallery has published catalogues specifically on Printmaking, indeed perhaps the first catalogue to deal with the history of prints in this country Outlines of Australian Printmaking was published in 1976.

Once again the gallery has a dedicated exhibition space for prints and drawings and facilities for study and research.

Fremantle Arts Centre housed in the former women's hospital and asylum buildings, was established in 1972, with the collection developing from that point. However the City of Fremantle art collection began in 1958, with the donation by local businessman Claude Hotchin, of forty-three works by Australian artists.

The inaugural director, Ian Templeman, initiated the Fremantle Print Award in 1976 with sponsorship from Shell, who continue to sponsor the award, with the intention to promote and encourage Printmaking and printmakers in Western Australia, and from across the country, via a national competition and exhibition. It has been those annual award-winning prints, which have formed the basis of this significant print collection and to which other prints have been added via the acquisition policy.

This largely contemporary collection of 340 prints, while highlighting West Australian work, clearly reflects the trends, transitions, and movements in Printmaking since the 1970's, in the whole of Australia.

There was also a donation by Dr. Ian Bernadt to the Centre, of some 40 50 Japanese wood block prints. These do not relate to the collection's overall direction, but are nevertheless striking in their scale and delicacy, being very fine examples of the 18th & 19th century Ukiyo e style. Yet another recent donation by Dr. Douglas Kagi has been of works by Colin Lanceley.

Current storage and display facilities are fair, but spread throughout several buildings. However due to recent operational changes a high profile permanent venue is being sought in which to house this important collection and to enable greater flexibility and activity.

The award winning works from the Print Award are permanently framed, and the Centre provides residencies for artists in conjunction with other funding bodies and operates an active arts education program.

Catalogues of the annual Fremantle Print Award Exhibition and of a 1986 & 1992 retrospective exhibition of prints which toured regional Western .Australia. have been published by the Centre, with of course From Silkscreen to Computer Screen 20 years of the Fremantle Print Award catalogue and touring exhibition, from 1996.

As might be expected, some of Australia's leading artist I printmakers are counted among the works included in the print collection here ... Jock Clutterbuck; David Rose; Basil Hadley; Jorg Schmeisser; Ray Arnold; Alun Leach Jones; Ruth Johnstone; Mike Parr; Sally Morgan and Dean Bowen; to name a few. Approximately one third of the artists represented in this collection are women.

I feel it is important that I emphasise the wide distribution and extent of public print collections 'democratically dispersed' across our vast country and it would be remiss of me not to mention galleries such as - Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery, NSW; Wollongong City Gallery, NSW - with it's Redback Graphix works; The Araluen Centre for Arts & Entertainment, Northern Territory; Toowoomba Art Gallery, Queensland.; Naracoorte Art Gallery, South Australia; Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria; Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria.; Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria.; Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria - a surprising 1000 prints including many Hogarth's etc. and Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria., all having significant and uniquely varying print collections, which I have not elaborated upon here.

The greatest threat to the vast majority of the regional public galleries (print collections) is the economic rationalist mentality, de accession does take place, as the public gallery system reviews its policies to meet the goals and fit the agenda of our society today as it is driven by... the fast food, seven minute attention span, consumer mentality. Notes:
1. MacMillan Sally; The Australian, Review 9; August 18-19, 1990. Bibliography:
Shiell Annette & Yule Jane (Editors); Australian Art Museums and Public Galleries Directory. Art Museums Association of Australia Inc., Melbourne, 1994.
Mackie Maggie & Butler Roger (Editors); Imprint Volume 23 1 2. Print Council of Australia, Melbourne, 1988.
© Allan Mann 1997
Paper presented at the Third Australian National Print Symposium : National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, April 1997

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02 Dec 2024