Teaching and Innovation The Xipell Collection Our Head of Art, Mr David Williamson, gives us an overview of a beautiful collection of Australian Art, the ‘Xipell Collection’ which has been left to the School by past student Jos Xipell (1949), who passed away earlier this year. The historically significant collection of Australian Art will be housed in ‘Dorset’. I first had the opportunity to meet Jos in his home about 8 years ago. I was immediately struck by his willingness to share his collection and to talk about his lifetime collecting Australian art. His house was full of art, and his love for his wife, family, and horse racing was evident through the many photographs which filled his home. Art books were prominent on every bookshelf and table, usually open at a page or with a sticky note hanging out to remind him of an artwork or for reading at another time. Every wall was filled salon style with the works he had collected. He talked with great fondness of certain works and recounted stories of conversations he had with particular artists and how he acquired this piece or that. He was passionate, and I was overwhelmed. I remember him saying that some of the works in the collection might not be the artist’s best, but they were ‘what he could afford’.
Jos’ passion for art was ignited by his art teacher, Ian Bow, at Camberwell Grammar in the 1940s. Jos said that Bow influenced the students to seek out original subjects for themselves regardless of theme, from the local scene to social issues. In December 1960 Jos saw the collection of the late W.R Seddon offered for sale by Joel’s Auction House. Jos later wrote that that experience planted the seed of forming a collection of his own. Jos said that to embark on collecting works of art was like setting out on an adventure, not knowing where it would take you. It was an addiction – pleasurable and full of wayward tracks, frequently frustrating, and sometimes triumphal. The choice of the collector is always affected by what is available and how wide the embrace could be.
NOLAN, Sidney Robert (1917–1992) Australia, Quilting the Armour (Ned Kelly Series), 1970–71
TJAPALTJARRI, Clifford Possum (1932–2002) Australia (Indigenous), Sugar Ant Dreaming
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ANGAS, George French (1822–1886) Britain/Australia, Interior of Mount Gambia, c. 1844
