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From Two Foxes to a Rock Wallaby
This year Monash University celebrates the 40th
anniversary of the establishment of its prestigious art Collection
in 1961, along with the foundation of the Clayton campus. The first
ViceChancellor, Professor Louis Matheson, allocated an annual
sum of 500 pounds for art acquisitions to adorn the campus buildings.
Encouraged by his close friendship with Clifton Pugh, Professor
Jock Marshall (foundation professor of Zoology & Comparative
Physiology, Dean of Science and a fervent conservationist) instilled
the idea of a contemporary Australian art Collection, that would
enhance the all native flora planting policy for the new campus.
Two Foxes, a painting by Pugh, was the first purchase, followed
by works by Charles Blackman and John Perceval.
Eric Westbrook, then Director of the National
Gallery of Victoria, launching an art exhibition at Monash in 1964,
commented that the Collection contained some esteemed Australian
artists, but considered it was 'overly Antipodean' in character.
A Tom Roberts portrait, and a major bequest of prints by 19th Century
English, French and Old Dutch masters and Australian prints, bestowed
on the fledgling Collection some historical authority. A key development
occurred with the appointment of Patrick McCaughey, a 23yearold
art critic for The Age and teaching Fellow in the English department,
as first adviser to the Collection in 1968. McCaughey's first contentious
recommendation was an early allwhite painting by Robert Hunter
(from his first show at Tolarno Galleries). It incited some doubt
amongst the wellmeaning members of the art advisory committee,
but after considerable persuasion, the painting was bought and has
been extensively exhibited both on and off campus ever since. The
Hunter work together with McCaughey's second purchase, a Robert
Jacks painting, heralded a period of representation of some of the
best known artists from the 1968 Field exhibition at the National
Gallery of Victoria that introduced a generation of young local
artists. The Collection had come of age, and continued to pursue
with considerable innovation the work of young emerging artists,
making a virtue out of financial necessity.
By the mid 1970s, a new department of Visual
Arts with an adjunct teaching gallery were opened on the seventh
floor of the Menzies building. Both McCaughey, the department's
new foundation chairman and Grazia Gunn, the collection curator,
pursued an exhibiting policy which ensured that the gallery performed
a public exhibiting role, with curated exhibitions of contemporary
art that attracted both broad public and campus audiences as well
as positive reviews. Jenny Watson's Yellow Painting John, (purchased
in 1976), consolidated the policy of acquiring major works by young
emerging artists. In 1982, Margaret Plant, the new Professor of
Visual Arts, introduced the policy of retrospective purchasing along
with a preference for conceptual sculptures such as those by Fiona
Orr and Victor Meertens.
By 1987 the Gallery had relocated to its current
site in the building designed by architect Daryl Jackson and commenced
operation as the Monash University Gallery, administratively separate
from the Faculty of Arts. Since then, Jenepher Duncan, the Director
of the Monash University Gallery, has been largely responsible for
the acquisition policies and development of the Collection. During
the 1990s, ongoing support from the University's senior management,
together with additional funds from the University's burgeoning
capital works program, encouraged the unprecedented growth of the
Collection.
Currently, the Collection consists of some 1,200
works by 330 artists and has acquired key works by some of Australia's
best established and emerging artists, crossing several generations.
Younger artists such as Patricia Piccinini, James Angus, Kate Beynon,
Adam Cullen, Louise Weaver, Ricky Swallow, David Noonan and Constanze
Zikos are well represented and emerging artists still make up a
good percentage of the annual purchasing program. Earlier this year
the LowDown: Recent Acquisitions, Monash University Collection,
exhibition showcased three generations of artists and several overarching
themes evident in the Collection including cultural and sexual identity,
minimalism, early conceptualism, systems and seriality to grunge
culture. Throughout its history from the sixties to the present,
the Collection has received some outstanding gifts that have complemented
the growth of the acquisition program. External loans are in constant
demand and the Collection is now acknowledged as one of national
significance.
In December, the Monash University Gallery will
proudly celebrate two significant, cultural achievements relating
to the Collection: its 40th anniversary exhibition and complete
digitisation of its records for future online access and research.
Nicola Vance, Marketing and Administrative
Manager, Monash University Gallery. The gallery is open TueFri
105 and Sat 25pm. Phone (03) 9905 4217, or visit www.monash.edu.au/mongall
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