Brummels Gallery in

South Yarra, Melbourne South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popul ...

, Australia, was a commercial gallery established by David Yencken in 1956 to exhibit contemporary Modernist Australian painting, sculpture and prints, but after a period of dormancy became best known in the 1970s, under the directorship of Rennie Ellis, as the first in Australia to specialise in photography at a time when the medium was being revived as an art form. The gallery closed in 1980.

Foundation of a gallery for Australian art

David Yencken (born 1931), Chairman and Joint managing director Merchant Builders Pty Ltd., and later to be

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

Elisabeth Murdoch Chair of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning 1988–1997, established Brummels on the top floor of 95 Toorak Rd., South Yarra, above Brummels

espresso bar A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

, whose proprietor, Pat Collins, joined in the venture. It was the second gallery in Melbourne to exclusively show Australian art. (the first was Australian Galleries in Collingwood, which opened 5 months earlier). The gallery was opened on Monday 8 October 1956 at 5.50 pm by Sir Daryl Lindsay then about to retire as Director of the NGV and who was easing its resistance to

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. The show presented artists from both Sydney and Melbourne and included Jewish migrants

Sali Herman Sali Herman (12 February 1898 – 3 April 1993) was a Swiss-born Australian artist, one of Australia's Official War Artists for the Second World War. Life and career Herman arrived in Melbourne in 1937 and enlisted in the Australian Army in ...

, whose ''Two Soldiers Sleeping on a Train'' was bought by a Melbourne family, and Judy Cassab (a future

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor ...

winner); alongside George Bell; Elaine Haxton, who showed works made on a visit to Communist China with an Australian cultural delegation; with a landscape by Charles Bush, and a wood carving by sculptor

Clifford Last Clifford Frank Last OBE (13 December 1918 – 20 October 1991) was an English people, English sculptor, the son of Nella Last, author of a World War II diary on which the TV film ''Housewife, 49'' was based. Early life Clifford Last was t ...

. Brummels Gallery continued to promote significant Australian artists, many of whom had sought refuge in the country after World War II, including a one-man exhibition by

; abstract paintings, drawings and sketches for ceramic murals by John Howley,

Donald Laycock Donald Laycock (1936–1988) was an Australian linguist and anthropologist. He is best remembered for his work on the languages of Papua New Guinea. Biography He was a graduate of University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and later ...

and

Lawrence Daws Lawrence Daws (born 1927) is an Australian painter and printmaker, who works in the media of oil, watercolour, drawing, screenprints, etchings and monotypes. In the 1980s he started making computer prints, and was possibly the first establi ...

with pottery by Tom Sanders (10–15 December 1956) opened by architect Peter McIntyre;

Anita Aarons Anita Aarons (6 November 1912 – 3 January 2000) was an Australian-Canadian artist. Life Born in Sydney, Aarons studied at the East Sydney Technical College and the National Art School in Sydney before moving to New York City, where she gra ...

Ola Cohn Ola Cohn (born Carola Cohn; 25 April 1892 – 23 December 1964) was an Australian artist, author and philanthropist best known for her work in sculpture in a modernist style and famous for her ''Fairies Tree'' in the Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne. ...

, Vincas Jolantas,

Inge King Ingeborg Viktoria "Inge" King (; 26 November 1915 – 23 April 2016) was a German-born Australian sculptor. She received many significant public commissions. Her work is held in public and private collections. Her best known work is ''Forward S ...

, Julius Kane,

Clement Meadmore Clement Meadmore (9 February 1929 – 19 April 2005) was an Australian-American sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures. Biography Born Clement Lyon Meadmore in Melbourne, Australia in 1929, Clement Meadmore studied aeronautical ...

, Andor Meszaros,

Lenton Parr Thomas Lenton Parr AM (11 September 1924 – 8 August 2003) was an Australian sculptor and teacher . Sculptor Born in East Coburg, Victoria, Lenton Parr spent eight years in the Royal Australian Air Force (Svc No. A33223) before enrolling to st ...

, Günther Stein, Tina Wentcher,

Teisutis Zikaras Teisutis 'Joe' Zikaras (often spelled "Tesutis") (5 July 1922 – 10 May 1991) was an Australian sculptor born in Panevėžys, Lithuania. He earned a diploma at the School of Fine Arts, Kaunas, Lithuania, where his father Juozas, creator of Lith ...

in ''Twelve Melbourne Sculptors'' (1957), opened by

Neil Clerehan Neil Clerehan (29 December 1922 – 10 November 2017) was an Australian architect and architectural writer. Early life and training Neil Clerehan was born in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton on 29 December 1922. He developed an interest in archi ...

(who himself held a sculpture show there that year, as did Vincas Jolantas); watercolours by

Guy Grey-Smith Guy Grey-Smith () was an Australian painter, printmaker and ceramicist. Grey-Smith pioneered modernism in Western Australia, and has been described as "one of Australia's most significant artists of the 20th century". Biography Early life Guy ...

(also 1957), drawings by Teisutis Zikaras, a group show of Eric Thake, James Meldrum,

Douglas Annand Douglas Shenton Annand (22 March 1903 – 14 December 1976) was an Australian graphic designer and artist. Early life Born at Toowoomba, Queensland, to Frederick Annand and Helen Alice Robinson. Douglas attended Tudor House School, located ...

, Charles Bush, and Kenneth Hood (all 1957); silversmithing and jewellery by Matcham Skipper (1958); drawings by

Jon Molvig Helge Jon Molvig (27 May 1923 – 15 May 1970) was an Australian expressionist artist, considered a major developer of 20th-century Australian expressionism, even though his career 'only' lasted 20 years. He was born in the Newcastle, New South ...

(mid-1958), sketches, costumes, and designs for the

Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust is a theatre and performing arts company that was founded in September 1954, with the aim of establishing drama, opera and ballet companies nationally. Founding In 1954 the Australian Elizabethan Theatre T ...

Barry Kay Barry Kay (1932 – 1985) was an Australian stage and costume designer of international renown. After having studied painting at the Académie Julian in Paris and theatre design in Melbourne, he settled in London in 1956. In the course of h ...

, 20 April – 2 May 1959; Antonio Rodrigues wooden sculpture (1959). Exhibitions were held by

Desiderius Orban Desiderius Orban, (; 26 November 18844 October 1986) was a renowned Hungarian painter, printmaker and teacher, who, after emigrating to Australia in 1939 when in his mid-50s, also made an illustrious career in that country. One of The Eight i ...

John Brack John Brack (10 May 1920 – 11 February 1999) was an Australian painter, and a member of the Antipodeans group. According to one critic, Brack's early works captured the idiosyncrasies of their time "more powerfully and succinctly than any Aust ...

Clifton Pugh Clifton Ernest Pugh AO, (17 December 1924 – 14 October 1990) was an Australian artist and three-time winner of Australia's Archibald Prize. One of Australia's most renowned and successful painters, Pugh was strongly influenced by German Expr ...

, Dorothy Baker and others. This first manifestation of Brummels closed briefly after a fire, and after Pat Collins moved to Hobart to open

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's first liquor-licensed restaurant, the gallery reopened in October 1962 with a posthumous show of graphic works by Latvian Janis Riekstins. Thereafter, occasional exhibitions in the space were held, and as late as 1968 Ojars Biseniek's abstractions shown there were reviewed (dismissively) by

Patrick McCaughey Patrick McCaughey (born 1942) is an Irish-born Australian art historian and academic. McCaughey was born in Belfast, his father being Davis McCaughey. He migrated with his family to Melbourne, Australia. when he was ten years old. His secondary ...

in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' 13 March 1968

Australia's first gallery of photography

In the early 1970s, advertising photographer and photojournalist

Rennie Ellis Reynolds Mark Ellis (11 November 194019 August 2003) was an Australian social and social documentary photographer. He also worked, at various stages of his life, as an advertising copywriter, seaman, lecturer, television presenter and founder of ...

with deputy director Robert Ashton reopened the space as ''Brummels Gallery of Photography''. Assisted with two Arts Council grants, it was non-profit, and the first privately run art gallery in the country to be devoted specifically to photography. It was particularly a showcase and outlet for Australian photographers though it also attracted shows from international photographic artists

Charles Gatewood Charles Robert Gatewood (November 8, 1942 – April 28, 2016) was an American photographer, writer, videographer, artist and educator, who lived and worked in San Francisco, California. Biography Early years Gatewood was born November 8, 1 ...

(''Sidetripping'' 1975) and

Sarah Moon Sarah Moon HonFRPS (born Marielle Warin; 1941) is a French photographer. Initially a model, she turned to fashion photography in the 1970s. Since 1985, she has concentrated on gallery and film work. Biography Marielle Warin was born in Vernon, ...

. On 14 December 1972, the gallery opened with ''Two Views of Erotica: Henry Talbot/Carol Jerrems'' (14 December 1972 – 21 January 1973), launched by photographer and filmmaker, Paul Cox, who was soon to open '' The Photographers Gallery'' around the corner in Punt Rd South Yarra. This period brought a reawakening to the photographic medium as an art form not seen since the Pictorialist era, and saw the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

open the first photography department in a government-run institution, under the curatorship of

Jennie Boddington Jennifer "Jennie" Boddington (née Blackwood) (1922 – 15 November 2015) was an Australian film director and producer, who was first curator of photography at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne (1972–1994), and researcher. Early ...

. From 1977, the gallery was sponsored by the camera manufacturer

Pentax is a brand name used primarily by the Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company Ricoh for DSLR cameras, lenses, sport optics (including binoculars and rifle scopes), and CCTV optics. The Pentax brand is also used by Hoya Corporatio ...

and was renamed ''Pentax Brummels Gallery of Photography''. In 2015 the

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

shopfront Shopfront Arts Co-op is a theatre facility, with three rehearsal studios, sound studio and digital film editing suite, located in Carlton, New South Wales, Australia. Also known as Shopfront Theatre For Young People, its stated aim is to pr ...

still bore this signage in faded letters across its upper facade. The gallery closed in January 1980, the month before the premature death of its inaugural exhibitor, Carol Jerrems. Having run for eight years, the gallery had advanced the standing of photography as art and the careers of many Australian photographers including Warren Breninger,

Godwin Bradbeer Godwin Bradbeer (born 1950) is a New Zealand-born artist now living and working in Melbourne, Australia. Bradbeer is known for large-scale figurative drawing and has been exhibited internationally since the 1970s. He has taught at the University ...

, Ponch Hawkes, David Moore, Gerard Groeneveld, Peter Leiss, Steven Lojewski, Rod McNicol, Wesley Stacey, Robert Ashton, Ian Dodd, Sue Ford,

George Gittoes George Noel Gittoes, (born 7 December 1949) is an Australian artist, film producer, director and writer. In 1970, he was a founder of the Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney. After the Yellow House finished, he established himself in Bu ...

, Ashe Venn, John Williams,

Jon Rhodes Jon Rhodes is an Australian photographer who has been described as a "pioneer" in "the development of a collaborative methodology between high art photography and ustralianAboriginal people living in remote communities". Rhodes' work is repr ...

, Geoff Strong, Jean-Marc Le Pechoux and Henry Talbot.

Selected exhibitions 1972–1980

Around seventy photography exhibitions were shown during this period, including: * 1972,14 December–21 January; ''Two Views of Erotica: Henry Talbot and Carol Jerrems'' * 1972 Group Exhibition ''Friends'' (incl. Wesley Stacey) * 1973 Group Exhibition ''Children'' (incl. Rennie Ellis) * 1973, August; Graham McCarter and Anthony Browell * 1973 Robert Ashton ''Faces and Places'' * 1973 Wesley Stacey ''Towards a Self-Portrait'' * 1973/4 Shane McCarthy solo * 1974 Peter Leiss ''Urban Labyrinth'' * 1974 December; joint show by Carol Jerrems showing 32 images from her ''A Book About Australian Women, and Robert Ashton exhibiting images from his book ''Into the Hollow Mountains: A Portrait of Fitzroy'' * 1974 Sue Ford ''Time Series'' (exhibited the same year at NGV) * 1974, July; Matthew NIckson, Euan McGillivray, Jacqueline Mitelman * 1975 Warren Breninger,

''Mortal Trash is Immortal Diamond'' * 1975, September; John Williams * 1975

''Rainbow Way'' (also shown Coventry Gallery, Sydney) * 1976 Robert Ashton ''Between Light and Dark'' * 1976 Ponch Hawkes: ''Our Mums and Us'' * 1976 Jon Lewis solo * 1976, June; Jutta Hosel and Irvin Rockman joint show * 1976, November; '' David Moore Retrospective 1940–76'' * 1976 Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer, J. Bradbeer ''Eyelid to Eyelid'' * February 1977

Phillip Adams Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to: Sports * Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback * Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter * Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 1 ...

opens Sarah Moon exhibition, announces the renaming of the gallery to the Pentax Brummels Photography Gallery * 1977 Jane England solo * 1978 February 4–March 4; Geoff Strong * 1978 Group Exhibition ''Down Under, Down Under Show'' (incl. Geoff Parr, Marion Hardman) * 1978, 3 August to 3 September: Rod McNicol and Carol Jerrems joint exhibition * 1978

''Sidetripping'' * 1978, April; Steven Lojewski, 'Recent Photographs' * 1978, April/May; Gerard Groeneveld * 1978, May 17–June 17: Peter Leiss, ''The Enneagram Series'' * 1978, November; Peter Turner * 1979, January;

, Stella Salman * 1979, March; Bruce Haswell ''Realisme'' * 1980, January; Emma Shmith, ''Photographic Allsorts''

Legacy

In 2012, the importance of Brummels to photography in Australia was recognised in the

Monash Gallery of Art The City of Monash is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne with an area of 81.5 square kilometres and a population of 200,077 people in 2016. Demographics Monash has a diverse pop ...

retrospective exhibition ''Brummels: Australia's First Gallery of Photography'' 22 October 2011 – 22 January 2012, which was attended by 15,639 visitors. Research done by the Australian Centre for Photography shows that Brummels was established fifth in order of photographic centres worldwide.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 1956 establishments in Australia 1980 disestablishments in Australia Art museums and galleries in Melbourne Art museums and galleries in Victoria (state) Contemporary art galleries in Australia Photography museums and galleries in Australia Organizations established in 1956 Organizations disestablished in 1980 Photography in Australia