The Newcastle Art Gallery (formerly the Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle Region Art Gallery) is a large, public art museum in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

, Australia.

History

Founded in 1945 with an art collection consisting of 123 works donated by

Roland Pope Roland James "Rowley" Pope (18 February 1864 – 27 July 1952) was an Australian cricketer best known for representing the Australian national cricket team in one Test match in 1885, and later also known as an ophthalmologist and philanthropis ...

which was conditional on the construction of a gallery to hold it, the museum opened its doors in 1957 and moved to a new, purpose-built museum building in 1977. As a Sydneysider, Pope's collection reflect was Sydney centric. Under the directorships of the gallery's first two directors Gil Docking and David Thomas, both from Melbourne, saw the collection expand to include artists from Melbourne and Adelaide. Newcastle Art Gallery on Laman Street

A purpose built building was completed in the 1970s and officially opened by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

on Friday 11 March 1977. This building stands today as an example of 1970s geometric architecture in the brutalist tradition.

Collection

The Newcastle Art Gallery collection represents an overview of

Australian art Australian art is any art made in or about Australia, or by Australians overseas, from prehistoric times to the present. This includes Aboriginal, Colonial, Landscape, Atelier, early-twentieth-century painters, print makers, photographers, and ...

from colonial times to the present day and includes various media, such as, paintings, works on paper, photography and sculpture. The collection scope includes several important Indigenous barks and poles as well as a substantial collection of contemporary

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 racehor ...

. Newcastle Art Gallery holds the largest collection of modern

Japanese ceramics , is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and Japanese art, art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Kilns have produced earthenware, pottery, stoneware, Ceramic glaze, glazed pottery, glazed stoneware, porcelain, and Blue and white porcel ...

in the southern hemisphere.

Ceramics

Newcastle Art Gallery has a significant collection of Australian and Japanese ceramics. This collection encompasses the leading ceramists; Les Blakebrough, Louise Boscacci, Penny Byrne,

Pippin Drysdale Pippin Drysdale (born 18 May 1943) is an Australian ceramic artist and art teacher. She is regarded as the foremost interpreter of the Australian landscape in the field of ceramics. Her works are known for their intensity of colour and linear ...

Marea Gazzard Marea Gazzard (02 June 1928 – 28 October 2013) was an Australian sculptor and ceramicist. Life and work Born Marea Medis in Sydney, Australia, Gazzard studied ceramics at the East Sydney Technical College, now the National Art School, from ...

, Victor Greenaway,

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott Gwyn Hanssen Pigott OAM (1935–2013) was an Australian ceramic artist. She was recognized as one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists. By the time she died she was regarded as "one of the world's greatest contemporary potters ...

, Col Levy, Jenny Orchard, Peter Rushforth and Bernard Sahm.

Japanese ceramics

The Japanese collection encompasses both

Mingei The concept of , variously translated into English as "folk craft", "folk art" or "popular art", was developed from the mid-1920s in Japan by a philosopher and aesthete, Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961), together with a group of craftsmen, including ...

'folk art' and Sodeisha 'crawling through mud association' - avant garde non-functional ware. This collection encompasses the leading Japanese ceramists; Shôji Hamada, Takeichi Kawai, Kanjirô Kawai and Kentichi Tomimoto.

Sculpture

Three-dimensional art work in the collection encompass a diverse range of materials including marble, steel, spinifex grass, wood, ceramic, glass, feathers, engines and many other source materials. Artists represented by sculptures in the collection include

Karl Duldig Karl (Karol) Duldig (29 December 1902 – 11 August 1986) was a Jewish modernist sculptor.

Robert Klippel Robert Klippel AO (19 June 192019 June 2001) was an Australian constructivist sculptor and teacher. He is often described in contemporary art literature as Australia's greatest sculptor. Throughout his career he produced some 1,300 pieces of ...

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 ...

, Margel Hinder, Akio Makigawa, Kathleen Shillam,

Hossein Valamanesh Hossein Valamanesh (2 March 1949 – 15 January 2022) was an Iranian-Australian contemporary artist who lived and worked in Adelaide, South Australia. He worked in mixed media, printmaking, installations, and sculpture. He often collabora ...

Rosalie Gascoigne Rosalie Norah King Gascoigne (née Walker; 25 January 191725 October 1999) was a New Zealand-born Australian sculptor and assemblage artist. She showed at the Venice Biennale in 1982, becoming the first female artist to represent Australia there ...

, Fiona Hall and

Patricia Piccinini Patricia Piccinini (born 1965 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is an Australian artist who works in a variety of media, including painting, video, sound, installation, digital prints, and sculpture. Her works focus on "unexpected consequences", conv ...

. Iconic Australian artist

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitions ...

is represented by several art works including the large scale ''Black Totem II'' which is located near the entrance of the gallery.

Prints and drawings

Newcastle Art Gallery holds a significant collection of prints and drawings. Notable drawings from George Lambert,

Godfrey Miller Godfrey may refer to: People * Godfrey (name), a given name and surname * Godfrey (comedian), American comedian, actor Places In the United States * Godfrey, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Godfrey, Illinois, a village * Godfrey, Kansas, a ...

, Rah Fizelle and

John Passmore John Passmore AC (9 September 1914 – 25 July 2004) was an Australian philosopher. Life John Passmore was born on 9 September 1914 in Manly, Sydney, where he grew up. He was educated at Sydney Boys High School.Sydney High School Old Boys ...

are represented in the collection. The print collection includes colonial era material such as Richard Browne engravings and work by

S. T. Gill Samuel Thomas Gill, also known by his signature S.T.G., was an English-born Australian artist. Early life Gill was born in Periton, Minehead, Somerset, England, in 1818. He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Gill, a Baptist minister, and his f ...

, Eugène von Guérard, Walter Preston and

Joseph Lycett Joseph Lycett (c.1774 – 1828) was a portrait and miniature painter, active in Australia. Transported to Australia for forging banknotes, Lycett found work in the colony as a painter specialised in topographical views of the major town ...

. The collection includes complete suites, series and folios by artists such as, Arthur Boyd, John Coburn,

Imants Tillers Imants Tillers (born 1950), is an Australian artist, curator and writer. He lives and works in Cooma, New South Wales. Early life and education Imants Tillers was born in Sydney in 1950, the child of Latvian immigrants. In 1973 he graduated fro ...

, Jesse Traill,

George Baldessin George Baldessin (19 May 1939 – 9 August 1978) was an Italian–Australian artist. Early life and education George Victor Joseph (George) Baldessin was born on 19 May 1939 in San Biagio di Callalta, Veneto, Italy.Zimmer, JennyBaldessin, Geor ...

Bea Maddock Beatrice Louise "Bea" Maddock (13 September 1934 – 9 April 2016) was an Australian artist. Biography Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Bea Maddock studied art education at the University of Tasmania, Hobart and taught secondary school in her hom ...

, Mike Parr,

Margaret Preston Margaret Rose Preston (29 April 1875 – 28 May 1963) was an Australian painter and printmaker who is regarded as one of Australia's leading modern art, modernists of the early 20th century. In her quest to foster an Australian "national art", ...

, Thea Procter,

Jan Senbergs Jan Senbergs ( lv, Jānis Šēnbergs; Latvia, 1939) is an Australian artist and printmaker of Latvian origin. Life and work World War II forced Senbergs sand his family out of Latvia to Germany and eventually to Australia, arriving in Melbou ...

and

Salvatore Zofrea Salvatore Zofrea OAM (born 1946) is an Italo-Australian artist and painter.Marlene Antico Fine Arts'Zofrea ExhibitionAccessed 06-20-2008 Life and work Zofrea was born in Borgia Italy, on the 1st January 1946, and emigrated to Australia in 19 ...

Photography

Photography is represented by some of Australia's leading contemporary artists including Jane Burton,

Destiny Deacon Destiny Deacon (born 1957) is an Indigenous Australian photographer and media artist. She has exhibited photographs and films across Australia and also internationally, focusing on politics and exposing the disparagement around Indigenous Austr ...

, Fiona Hall,

Bill Henson Bill Henson (born 7 October 1955) is an Australian contemporary art photographer. Art Henson has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National Gal ...

, Rosemary Laing,

Julie Rrap Julie Rrap (also known as Julie Parr, Julie Brown or Julie Brown-Rrap, born 1950) is an Australian contemporary artist who was raised on the Gold Coast in Queensland She was born Julie Parr, and reversed her name to express her sense of opposit ...

, Darren Siwes and Robyn Stacey.

Painting

Newcastle Art Gallery holds one of the most significant collection of paintings in Australia. This collection spans colonial work by Joseph Lycett, Australian Impressionists such as,

Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, sou ...

, Hans Heysen, Elioth Grüner,

Sydney Long Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

and

Lloyd Rees Lloyd Frederic Rees (17 March 18952 December 1988) was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings. Most of Rees's works are preoccupied with depicting the effects of light and emphasis is placed o ...

through to the leading twentieth-century modernists such as, Newcastle-born

William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

and other modernists

Grace Cossington Smith Grace Cossington Smith (20 April 189220 December 1984) was an Visual arts of Australia, Australian artist and pioneer of Modernist art, modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. ...

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

Robert Dickerson Robert Henry Dickerson (30 March 1924 – 18 October 2015) was an Australian figurative painter and former member of the Antipodeans group of artists. Dickerson is one of Australia's most recognised figurative artists and one of a generation of ...

Charles Blackman Charles Raymond Blackman (12 August 1928 – 20 August 2018) was an Australian painter, noted for the ''Schoolgirl, Avonsleigh'' and ''Alice in Wonderland'' series of the 1950s. He was a member of the Antipodeans, a group of Melbourne painter ...

. Newcastle born artists

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 ...

and

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen, AO (born 7 June 1945) is a former Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, C ...

are represented.

Video and new media

An area of growth within the collection is new media and video art.

Shaun Gladwell Shaun Gladwell (born 1972) is an Australian contemporary artist whose work spans moving image, painting, photography, sculpture, installation, performance and virtual reality. Early life Gladwell was born in Sydney in 1972 and graduated from Syd ...

and TV Moore and

Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017 she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in th ...

are represented in this collection.

International art

While the Newcastle Art Galley's collection is focused primarily on Australian art, the collection has some significant work from international artists. Renowned American minimalist

Carl Andre Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures and for the suspected murder of contemporary and wife, Ana Mendieta. His sculptures range from large public art ...

gifted ''Steel

\Sigma

16'' (pronounced steel sum 16) to the gallery in 2011. Made from 136 hot-rolled steel plates, each 30cm x 30cm x 1cm, this work is important to the collection because of its connection to the city of Newcastle. Andre made the work while in Newcastle in 1978 at the now close

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

Key artists

, David Boyd,

Rupert Bunny Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (29 September 186425 May 1947) was an Australian painter. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, he achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in '' fin-de-siècle'' Paris. He gained an honourable mentio ...

, Judy Cassab,

, John Coburn,

Karl Duldig Karl (Karol) Duldig (29 December 1902 – 11 August 1986) was a Jewish modernist sculptor.

Donald Friend Donald Stuart Leslie Friend (6 February 1915 – 16 August 1989) was an Australian artist and diarist who lived much of his life overseas. He has been the subject of controversy since the posthumous publication of diaries in which he wrote of sex ...

Joy Hester Joy St Clair Hester (21 August 1920 – 4 December 1960) was an Australian artist. She was a member of the Angry Penguins movement and the Heide Circle who played an integral role in the development of Australian Modernism. Hester is best known ...

Emily Kame Kngwarreye Emily Kame Kngwarreye (or Emily Kam Ngwarray) (1910 – 3 September 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She is one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of Austr ...

Margaret Olley Margaret Hannah Olley (24 June 192326 July 2011) was an Australian painter. She was the subject of more than ninety solo exhibitions. Early life Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She was the eldest of three children of Jo ...

, Brian Robinson, Alex Seton,

Ken Thaiday Snr Ken Thaiday (born 1950), known as Ken Thaiday Snr, is an artist from Erub (Darnley Island), one of the Torres Strait Islands. He is known for his headdresses (dhari (headdress), dhari), masks, shark Totem#Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peo ...

Michael Zavros Michael Zavros is an Australian artist. Early life and education Zavros studied printmaking at Queensland College of Art in the 1990s. Awards Zavros has won three Australian drawing prizes: The Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award in 2002, Th ...

Redevelopment plans

The City of Newcastle together with Newcastle Art Gallery continue to advocate and plan for an extension to the current gallery, with the aim to expand the overall exhibition space by 250% and allowed for more of the 7000 items in the collection to be more accessible to the public. The $40million expansion requires the art gallery to be closed for 2 years.

Benefaction

During her lifetime, Sydney based artist Margaret Olley donated over 46 art works to Newcastle Art Gallery from artists such as, Robert Barnes,

Cressida Campbell Cressida Campbell (born 8 July 1960) is an Australian artist. She was born in Sydney in 1960 to Ruth and Ross Campbell. She studied at East Sydney Technical College in 1978 and 1979. Her older sister is actress Nell Campbell. Her first husba ...

Ray Crooke Ray Austin Crooke (12 July 19225 December 2015) was an Australian artist known for his landscapes. He won the Archibald Prize in 1969 with a portrait of George Johnston. Early life Ray Crooke was born in Auburn, Victoria in 1922. He spent time ...

Margaret Cilento Phyllis Margaret Cilento (23 December 1923 – 21 November 2006) was an Australian painter and printmaker. Biography Cilento was born in Sydney, Australia on 23 December 1923. She studied at East Sydney Technical College. In 1947, Cilento went ...

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 ...

, Vicki Glazier,

Nicholas Harding Nicholas Harding (1956 – 2 November 2022) was a British-born Australian artist, known for his paintings, in particular portraits. Early life Harding was born in London, England in 1956. In 1965 his family emigrated to Australia, settling ...

Ben Quilty Ben Quilty (born 1973) is an Australian artist and social commentator, who has won a series of painting prizes: the 2014 Prudential Eye Award, 2011 Archibald Prize, and 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. He has been described as one of Aus ...

and Craig Waddell. Dr William Bowmore, a Newcastle resident, is responsible for some of Newcastle Art Gallery's international works of art including work by

Jules Dalou Aimé-Jules Dalou (31 December 183815 April 1902) was a 19th-century French sculptor, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism. Early life Born in Paris to a working-class family of Huguenot background, he was raised ...

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produc ...

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (né Gaudier; 4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving. Biography Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 1910, ...

and

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

. Bowmore also donated Brett Whiteley's 1978

Wynne prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

winning painting '' Summer at Carcoar.'' John Olsen's ''The sea sun of 5 bells'', 1964, was donated by Ann Lewis AO following her death; it had previously hung in her dining room from the ceiling for 45 years.

Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation

Newcastle Art Gallery is supported by the Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation which is not for profit charity. Since 1978 the foundation has helped to raise millions of dollars for the gallery, particularly for the acquisition of art work.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* Art museums and galleries in New South Wales Tourist attractions in Newcastle, New South Wales

Art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

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