The Manly Art Gallery and Museum (MAGAM), located in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the local government area of Nor ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, was the first metropolitan-based regional gallery in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and holds an extensive collection of Australian

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

and 130 works by Antonio Dattilo Rubbo. Since 1982, MAGAM has also been a museum of beach culture and the history of Manly and the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...

. The permanent collection numbers over 6,000 objects in a range of media including paintings, works on paper, ceramics and museum objects, documents and photographs.

History

Manly Art Gallery and Museum is the oldest metropolitan purpose-built regional gallery in NSW having been established on its present site in West Esplanade in 1930. The first committee of the Manly Art Gallery was appointed in 1924 and included Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, Percy Nolan, Charles Bryant, Herbert Marriner, Hermon Slade, Henry Forsyth and Percy Gledhill and the collection was initially housed in the Town Hall. The present building was formerly an outdoor concert pavilion opened in 1922 and its adaptive re-use was made possible with the closure of the proscenium arch. The Newly adapted building was opened by the

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Co ...

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Phillip Street Phillip Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. While the street runs from King Street in the south to Circular Quay in the north, the present street is effectively in two sections, separa ...

. At the time of the building opening the collection already housed 200 exhibits including 79 paintings and 62 historical photographs. In March 1939, Antonio Dattilo Rubbo presented 100 works to the young gallery including his own paintings, works on paper, watercolours and etchings. This donation included works by W. Lister Lister, Harold Septimus Power,

John Seymour Lucas John Seymour Lucas (21 December 1849 – 8 May 1923) was a Victorian English history painting, historical and portrait painter, as well as an accomplished theatrical costume designer. He was born into an artistic London family (he was the neph ...

and

Grace Cossington Smith Grace Cossington Smith (20 April 189220 December 1984) was an Australian artist and pioneer of modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. Examples of her work are held by every ...

. An annex to house this collection was opened in 1940, and is known as the Dattilo-Rubbo Room, and on his death he bequeathed more of his paintings and £500 to the gallery. P S Garling donated 55 paintings in 1947, including works by

George Washington Lambert George Washington Thomas Lambert (13 September 1873 – 29 May 1930) was an Australian artist, known principally for portrait painting and as a war artist during the First World War. Early life Lambert was born in St Petersburg, Russia, th ...

and

William Piguenit William Charles Piguenit (27 August 1836 – 17 July 1914) was an Australian landscape painter. Early life Piguenit was born in Hobart, Tasmania, to Frederick Le Geyt Piguenit and Mary Ann née Igglesden. Frederick had been transported to Va ...

. In 1966, during the chairmanship of Keith Jones, the gallery was extended with an additional gallery, a storeroom, a new ceiling, a new entrance through the Rubbo annexe and improved lighting. Many works were acquired for the gallery through the Manly Art Prize (1962–1984). In 1968 Clarice Thomas held the first ceramic exhibition and a major bequest by Lady Askin in 1984 has made the ongoing display of these works possible. In 1981, Clarice Thomas was appointed full-time Director of the gallery after acting as Honorary Director for some fourteen years and a grant was received from the NSW Ministry for the Arts contributing towards the cost of building a museum to adjoin the gallery. These additions and renovations provided a new entrance and reception and the Dattillo Rubbo Room was doubled in size. After reopening in 1982 the name became Manly Art Gallery & Museum.

Directors

* Clarice Thomas 1981–1982 (Gallery) * Warren Wickman 1982 (Museum) Joint Gallery & Museum Director since 1983: * Peter Timms (1983–1986) * Michael Pursche (1987–1998) * Therese Kenyon (1999–2011) * Jackie Dunn (2011–2013) * Michael Hedger (2013-2022) * Josephine Bennett (appointed 2022)

Collection

The collection includes contemporary and early Australian and contains over 1,000 watercolours, prints, etchings, drawings and paintings. There are also some international artists in the collection. Many works were donated by artists including

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 modernists of the early 20th century. In her quest to foster an Australian "national art", she was al ...

Thea Proctor Thea may refer to: * Thea (name), a given name * Ancient Greek term for goddess, including an alternative spelling of Theia * ''Thea'', the former name of the tea plant genus, now included in ''Camellia'' * Thea, a village in the municipal unit M ...

Will Ashton Sir John William Ashton, OBE, ROI (20 September 1881 – 1 September 1963) was a prolific Australian Impressionist artist and director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1937 to 1943. Early life Ashton was born in Clifton, ...

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 ...

. In 1930, Colonel Alfred Spain presented

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe ...

’s 1899 work ''The Flower Sellers'' to the collection. Since 1945 MAGAM has been collecting ceramics through an active acquisitions program and by donation and now has approximately 350 works. They are displayed on rotation in the Lady Askin Ceramics Room, including works by Peter Rushforth, Ivan Englund,

Janet Mansfield Janet Mansfield (19 August 1934 – 4 February 2013) was an Australian potter known for her salt glazed works. She was also a publisher and author. Early life and education Mansfield was born in 1934 in Sydney, Australia. She trained at th ...

and Gwyn Hanssen Piggott. Over 1300 items of

swimwear A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, ...

are held in the collection representing changes in fabric technology, fashion and social attitudes.Museums and Galleries NSW
Retrieved 16 August 2012

References

External links

Manly Art Gallery & Museum
on Manly Council website {{authority control Museums in New South Wales Art museums and galleries in Sydney Art museums established in 1930 1930 establishments in Australia Ceramics museums Manly, New South Wales