HIDDEN TREASURES the Maitland Collection HIDDEN TREASURES the Maitland Collection HIDDEN TREASURES the Maitland Collection Maitland Regional Gallery 2003 ISBN 0-646-42897-7 first printing edition of 1,000 230 High Street, Maitland, New South Wales 2320, Australia © artists, authors and Maitland Regional Gallery All rights reserved. This publication is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the permission in writing from the publisher and authors. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. All opinions expressed in the material contained in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publisher. Maitland Regional Gallery is fully funded by Maitland City Council. cover image: Dale FRANK, Back from the City 1976, P76-05, courtesy Dale Frank and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery Foreword 4 Peter Blackmore Maitland Regional Gallery 5 Jill Stowell & the Maitland Collection Selected works 8 Maitland Prize lists 42 Biographies 44 Acknowledgements 47 3 Foreword Hidden Treasures: The Maitland Collection showcases the permanent collection of the Maitland Regional Gallery. The works in this exhibition have been selected from over 600 paintings, prints and drawings. They reflect the various histories of art in Australia over the last 50 years and highlight the contribution that locally based artists have made to these histories. The Maitland Collection holds representative works of Australia’s most important artists from the twentieth century. These include Lloyd Rees, Sir Sidney Nolan, Brett Whiteley, Sir Hans Heysen, Robert Dickerson, Charles Blackman, John Coburn and Donald Friend. The early central desert dot painting by Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri is particularly unique. It is, quite simply, the most important Aboriginal artwork held in any regional gallery in Australia and it represents the only internationally significant art movement ever to emerge from this country. Another unique feature of the Maitland Collection is the suite of African bronzes and carvings kindly donated by William Bowmore. Bowmore became the first Freeman of the City of Maitland in 1986. Also represented are artworks by influential writers and administrators such as Elwyn Lynn and James Gleeson. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Maitland Collection is the number of early works acquired from artists who later went on to substantial careers. Important early works by Brian Dunlop, Neil Emmerson, Dale Frank and Tim Johnson can be found at Maitland. The Maitland Collection also showcases the work of artists from the broader Hunter region. While works by John Olsen, Margaret Olley and Sir William Dobell are familiar to us all and are included in the collection, the Gallery has also supported a very broad range of locally based practice. John Martin, the former Mayor of Maitland, is well represented, as is senior Hunter Valley identity Max Watters. Of particular interest are figurative landscapes by locally based and internationally renowned crime-writer, Barry Maitland. Hidden Treasures: The Maitland Collection marks Maitland City Council’s commitment to the visual arts in the Hunter Region. It showcases the best artists from Australia including many with strong local connections. On behalf of Maitland City Council and the people of Maitland, I hope that you enjoy this exhibition. Cr Peter Blackmore Mayor of Maitland 4 Maitland Regional Gallery & the Maitland Collection The works of art in the permanent The judges chosen each year constitute collection of the Maitland Gallery have a roll-call of leading gallery directors, been amassed in various ways. Like other curators, teachers and artists; evidence regional galleries, Maitland has been the of the long-standing prestige of the prize. recipient of many gifts from generous In recent times the escalating price of individuals. Further works have been paintings has usurped the value of the purchased with funds raised by an active prize and thus its attraction to nationally Gallery Society. But the history of the prominent artists. This and the growing collection is closely linked to the Maitland maturity of the art scene in the Hunter Art Prize, at the time of its inception in has led to many more local artists winning 1957 one of the first valuable art prizes in the major award. Since the prize-winning NSW outside Sydney. works in the collection cover almost fifty years of Australian art history, they reveal Established through cooperation significant changes in style and ethos, between the Hunter River Agricultural from the bold hard-edge abstraction of and Horticultural Association, Maitland the 1960s to the post-modern ironies of City Council and the Maitland Branch today. of the Arts Council of NSW, the Prize achieved a national profile through the As the gallery acquired prize-winning many contacts in the wider art world works by prominent artists, both national of Jean Oberhansli, wife of the then and local, it also attracted donations manager of the Bradmill textile works. from generous individuals. William The Prize only became acquisitive in Bowmore, who has enriched many 1965. Since that date the winning works public collections in Australia, has been have been presented to the Maitland particularly generous to Maitland. He was City Art Gallery by the Maitland Show made a Freeman of the City of Maitland Association. in recognition of his gifts which include paintings by Ray Crooke, Shay Docking Many notable artists were attracted to and Margaret Olley as well as drawings the prize and later to minor awards for by Sir William Dobell and Brett Whiteley. works on paper and a prize specifically for local artists. Over the years Hunter A particularly significant gift made business firms have contributed generous in 1979 consisted of a group of tribal sponsorship. West African sculpture, which includes 5 some historically important bronzes. the gallery in 1973 as Secretary of the Few galleries in Australia have anything Maitland City Art Gallery Society and in equivalent, though Mr Bowmore divided 1984 was appointed part-time Director his African collection between Maitland with financial assistance from the NSW and the Australian Museum in Sydney. Ministry for the Arts. The importance of another Bowmore gift It was always Margaret Sivyer’s vision was only recently recognised. A small to instigate a rich and varied annual Aboriginal painting presented in 1979 program of exhibitions. In the nineteenth- was discovered to be the work of Tim century heritage mansion, Brough Leura Tjapaltjarri, one of the founding House, leased since 1975 by the Council fathers of the Papunya art community in from the Reserve Trustee, the National the Western desert north of Alice Springs. Trust, the calendar contained regular Mrs I.F. Cantwell is another notable events with a particular focus on art in benefactor, having donated works education. The Tertiary Student Award by Lloyd Rees, Donald Friend, James was established in 1976 for students of Gleeson and Sir Sidney Nolan. the area’s art schools. The Secondary Student Prize (1978) has catered for a Important gifts from the Gallery Society growing number of schools in the Lower include prints and drawings by Lloyd Hunter. Rees, John Olsen and Louis Kahan. However, the history of the Maitland Several winners of the Tertiary Student City Art Gallery, now the Maitland Award have established notable careers Regional Gallery, extends far beyond its and many of their winning works were collection. acquired for the collection. Important early pieces from 1978 and 1980 by It was not until 1975 that the expanding Michael Bell arrived in this way, as well collection found a permanent home in as an early gestural abstract by Chris Brough House, though Margaret Sivyer Langlois. Other significant winners have was only made full-time Director in 1993, been Jane Lander (1981), Neil Emmerson three years after the administration of (1982) and Peter Atkins (1984). A prize the gallery passed from the control of for plant and wildlife illustration was the Gallery Society to the Maitland City established in 1992 and in 2003 the Council. She began her involvement with Pambulong Award for Aboriginal Students 6 was inaugurated. Survey exhibitions in Trevor Weekes and Joy Longworth. A 1994 and 1996 brought together works by survey of the painting and sculpture of many previous winners. Lezlie and Peter Tilley toured to other regional galleries in 2000. Painter and Margaret Sivyer, who was awarded former Mayor of Maitland, John Martin, an OAM in 1990, pioneered two other multiple winner of the Maitland Prize, was major initiatives. She felt strongly that the invited several times to exhibit. history of artmaking in the area should be preserved. The gallery curated several Other important projects included exhibitions by the group of women artists, exhibitions which pioneered installations many of them students of John Passmore and fibre-based artmaking. The Fibre and Brian Cowley, who came together Artists of the Hunter brought together in the late 1950s. Norma Allen, Mary some remarkable artists. Large Beeston and Rae Richards were also sculptural works were frequently shown featured in well-researched individual to advantage in the formal domestic surveys. No other gallery in the region has ambience of the old house. In 1984 a documented its exhibitions so assiduously, notable exhibition was drawn from the nor has compiled such comprehensive Rodin bronzes in the Bowmore collection. files on the area’s artists. Ceramics with glass by Julio Santos and Setsuko Ogishi were a regular focus. Margaret Sivyer has also been keen to support a more recent generation of As the gallery moves into a new phase artists. Every year saw at least one large of its development in its splendid new group exhibition based on environmental home, it is important that we honour a or commemorative themes. A wide and proud past.