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Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street
It was among the first Sydney galleries to show avant-garde sculpture, including that of Bob Klippel, and allowed artists to choose what works to put on show. This was a point of difference from many other galleries. John Peart's work was also exhibited at Watters, from when he first arrived in Sydney from
Sydney
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 Mountain ...
, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibitions and works by some of the most prominent non-mainstream artists in Australia of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Tony Tuckson
John Anthony Tuckson (18 January 1921 at Port Said, Egypt – 24 November 1973 at Wahroonga, Australia), was an Abstract Expressionist artist, an art gallery director and previously a war-time Spitfire pilot. He died of cancer.
Education
Th ...
, James Gleeson
James Timothy Gleeson (21 November 1915 – 20 October 2008) was an Australian artist. He served on the board of the National Gallery of Australia.
Early life
Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby in 1915 and attended East Sydn ...
, Richard Larter
Richard Larter (19 May 1929 – 25 July 2014) was an Australian painter, often identified as one of Australia's few highly recognisable pop artists. Larter also frequently painted in a Pointillist style. He took advantage of unusual techniques w ...
, Robert Klippel, and Garry Shead.
History
The gallery was opened on 18 November 1964 in Liverpool Street in Darlinghurst by former coal miner, Frank Watters. As a gay man in an era when coming out of the closet was dangerous, Watters had painted a picture titled ''He's a Queer!'', but never shown it in the gallery, keeping it turned to the wall in his bedroom instead. He painted very little after that one, because it scared him. The gallery moved in 1969 to a former pub in Riley Street, in the heart of what was then the red light district, that was built in the 1850s.
It was among the first Sydney galleries to show avant-garde sculpture, including that of Bob Klippel, and allowed artists to choose what works to put on show. This was a point of difference from many other galleries. John Peart's work was also exhibited at Watters, from when he first arrived in Sydney from Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
as a teenager, to the end of his career. The gallery supported him through a radical change of direction in style, even when art investors did not.
The gallery also represented Marr Grounds
Marr Grounds (21 October 1930 – 25 March 2021) was an American/Australian artist, known for his sculpture and environmental art, as an educational innovator in his career as lecturer in architecture, and as the co-founder of the Tin Sheds a ...
, co-founder of the Tin Sheds
The Tin Sheds was the common name of the Sydney University Art Workshop was an Australian art workshop in Sydney, New South Wales, founded in 1969. Its name lives on in the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, ...
in Sydney, whose first solo exhibition, ''Morphological structures'', was held at Watters in 1975. He said that he was "treated fantastically" by Watters. Watters also sold works by Imants Tillers and Aleks Danko.
Artist Tony Tuckson
John Anthony Tuckson (18 January 1921 at Port Said, Egypt – 24 November 1973 at Wahroonga, Australia), was an Abstract Expressionist artist, an art gallery director and previously a war-time Spitfire pilot. He died of cancer.
Education
Th ...
, formerly a Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
pilot and later deputy director of the Art Gallery of NSW
The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...
(AGNSW), was a great champion of the gallery, and the final exhibition there was dedicated to his work.
Watters Gallery finally closed its doors on 24 November 2018, after 54 years, with Frank Watters' collection of around 150 paintings and sculptures to be auctioned by Shapiro Auctioneers in 2019.
Frank Watters died in May 2020.
Recognition and legacy
For its 50th anniversary, an exhibition was held at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney, entitled ''Five Decades at Watters Gallery''. Presentations and discussions were held by Watters Gallery artistsEuan Macleod
Euan Macleod (born 1956) is a New Zealand-born artist. Macleod was born in Christchurch, New Zealand and moved to Sydney, Australia in 1981, where he lives and works. He received a Certificate in Graphic Design from Christchurch Technical Col ...
, Chris O'Doherty
Christopher O'Doherty, also known by the pseudonym Reg Mombassa, is a New Zealand-born Australian artist and musician. He is a founding member of the band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet (alongside his brother Peter O'Doherty).
E ...
(aka Reg Mombassa), Ann Thomson
Ann Thomson (born 1933) is an Australian painter and sculptor. She is best known for her large-scale public commissions ''Ebb Tide'' (1987) for the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre and ''Australia Felix'' (1992) for the Seville World Expo ...
, Joe Frost, as well as curator and art writer Glenn Barkley
Glenn Barkley (born 1972) is an Australian artist, independent curator and writer based in Sydney, Australia. As an artist he is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne and Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami and his works ...
, and Sonia Legge, who discussed the future of the gallery.
Before the gallery closed, Watters offered two senior curators from AGNSW to pick any works from his collection that they wanted. They chose 32 works, collectively valued at over A$1m, including a huge painting by Richard Larter
Richard Larter (19 May 1929 – 25 July 2014) was an Australian painter, often identified as one of Australia's few highly recognisable pop artists. Larter also frequently painted in a Pointillist style. He took advantage of unusual techniques w ...
of his wife Pat Larter
Patricia Larter (1936–1996) was an Australian artist who worked across mail art, video, photography, performance and painting. She was "one of the leading figures in the movement known as 'international mail art'". She is credited with coinin ...
with her genitalia expose, called ''Five in a Row Show''. He also donated his archive to the AGNSW Library.
An exhibition at University of Technology Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...
Gallery, entitled ''The Watters' Gift'' was held from 20 May to 17 July 2020), recognising Watters' legacy, after he had donated 67 works by 27 Australian artists to the university, which was most significant gift in its history.
References
Further reading
*External links
* {{coord missing, New South Wales Contemporary art galleries in Australia Art museums and galleries in Sydney 1964 establishments in Australia 2018 disestablishments in Australia