The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the

Perth Cultural Centre The Perth Cultural Centre is an area of central Perth, Western Australia, near the James Street Mall. It is home to a number of cultural institutions including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, State Library of ...

, in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. It is located near the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-op ...

and

State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Culture and ...

and is supported and managed by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries of the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

. The current gallery main building opened in 1979. It is linked to the old court house – The Centenary Galleries.

History

The Art Gallery was originally housed in the

Jubilee Building The Jubilee Building is part of the Western Australian Museum in Perth, Western Australia. Designed in the Victorian Byzantine style by George Temple-Poole and supervised by his 1895 successor John Harry Grainger, it was opened in 1899. The ...

with the State Museum and Library. The Jubilee Building, which was intended to be a public library only, was to be opened in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"স� ...

in 1887, but instead, only the first stone for the foundation was laid. The foundation stone was laid for the Art Gallery in July 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York, shortly after the

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western ...

. Several notable individuals were involved with the development of the

and Art Gallery, including John Winthrop Hackett, James Battye,

Ludwig Glauert Ludwig Glauert MBE (5 May 1879 – 1 February 1963) was a British-born Australian paleontologist, herpetologist and museum curator. He is known for work on Pleistocene mammal fossils, and as a museum curator who played an important role in nat ...

, George Pitt Morison and

George Temple-Poole George Thomas Temple-Poole (born George Thomas Temple, 29 May 1856 – 27 February 1934) was a British architect and public servant, primarily known for his work in Western Australia from 1885. As Superintendent of Public Works, and then P ...

. Sir

James Dromgole Linton Sir James Dromgole Linton (1840-1916) was an English painter in oil and watercolour, and a lithographer. Life Linton was born in London on the 26th December 1840 and attended Leigh's School of Art. At the beginning of his career he was an ill ...

recommended purchases for the State Art Collection. The Art Gallery Administration Building is housed in the former Police Quarters, designed by architect

Hillson Beasley Hillson Beasley (30 April 1855 – 7 October 1936) was an English-trained architect who relocated to Australia, executing his major buildings in Melbourne (1886–96) and Perth (1896–1917). In his later career he was the Principal Architect o ...

, who also designed

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gove ...

. It was built during the

economic boom An economic expansion is an increase in the level of economic activity, and of the goods and services available. It is a period of economic growth as measured by a rise in real GDP. The explanation of fluctuations in aggregate economic activity ...

created by the 1890s

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...

. The Administration Building moved into the Police Quarters in the 1970s during the

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

mining boom. The Main Gallery Building was built in 1977, and was also spurred by the mining boom. Western Australia was also placing more importance on cultural institutions, and the government was inspired by the upcoming 150th anniversary of federation in 1979. Construction of the Alexander Library began in the same period. The architect of the main gallery building was Charles Sierakowski from the

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facil ...

, who worked with engineer Philip Nadebaum and architectural company, Summerhayes and Associates.It was designed in the Bauhaus method with a

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

exterior, which was popular in European design. The slab and shear head column system was an innovative architectural feature in Western Australia at the time. In 2017 AGWA announced plans to redevelop its rooftop as focus for sculpture, events, restaurants, film, etc., in a project called "AGWA Elevate". This was scheduled to open before the gallery's anniversary in 2020. The state government pledged $10m towards this project. In the same year, "Six Seasons", a high-profile project to increase the focus on AGWA's

Indigenous art Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

, was initiated, with a new dedicated permanent Indigenous gallery inaugurated alongside "Plain Speak", a special exhibit for the Perth International Arts Festival.

Collections and exhibitions

Converted courtroom in the Art Gallery of Western Australia June 2018

The Aesthetic Movement inspired aspects of the Art Gallery's collection. Ongoing exhibitions include Indigenous traditional and contemporary art from the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aus ...

and Western Australia, and Western Australian art from the 1820s to 1960s, alongside topical displays on key themes drawn from the collection. ''Desert River Sea: Kimberley Art Then and Now'' is a major project begun around 2013, exploring

Indigenous Australian art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carvin ...

with funding support from

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

to the tune of A$1.8m. In 2019, ''Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley'' was mounted, a culmination of a six-year project between AGWA and Aboriginal artists and six art centres of

the Kimberley The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...

. There is a separate website dedicated to the project. Each year, AGWA exhibits work by talented graduating high school artists in its ''Year 12 Perspectives'' exhibition. In 2018, there were 55 works exhibited.

Awards

;The Lester Prize The Lester Prize, formerly the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture is one of Australia's richest

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

prizes. Forty finalists are exhibited at AGWA during October and November each year. In 2007 Tina Wilson founded The Black Swan Prize and ARTrinsic Inc to manage it. In 2016 the award moved to AGWA, at which time Wilson stepped down from her role as patron. In April 2019, the prize was renamed The Lester Prize in recognition of the award's main patron, Richard (Dick) Lester . , in addition to the main Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture (worth ), the awards include the Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize; the Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize; the Barton Family Foundation Installers' Prize; and the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, with a total prize pool of . In 2022, 720 entries were submitted from across the country.

Gallery

File:John Longstaff - Breaking the News, 1887.jpg,

John Longstaff Sir John Campbell Longstaff (10 March 1861 – 1 October 1941) was an Australian painter, war artist and a five-time winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture. His cousin Will Longstaff was also a painter and war artist. Longstaff was know ...

, '' Breaking the News'', 1887 File:Down on his luck Frederick McCubbin.jpg,

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

, '' Down on His Luck'', 1889 File:Heysen Droving.jpg, Hans Heysen, '' Droving into the Light'', 1921 File:The Foundation of Perth.jpg, George Pitt Morison, '' The Foundation of Perth 1829'', 1929

References

External links

*
Department of Culture and the Arts

See the Gallery's bathroom at the Art Museum Toilet Museum of Art
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Western Australia Museums in Perth, Western Australia Culture of Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth Art museums established in 1979 Statutory agencies of Western Australia Perth Cultural Centre Brutalist architecture in Australia