National Australia Bank ‘Seventies Collection’ Artistically, the decade of the 1970s was a period of excitement and
Art acquisitions and lectureships also provided artists with financial
confidence with a cultural buoyancy underpinned by a period of strong
confidence and career professionalism that engendered the ambition to
economic prosperity. In Melbourne, the new building for the National
achieve. The commercial gallery dealer networks also began to evolve
Gallery of Victoria had recently opened (August 1968) with The Field
with a program of regular artist solo exhibitions that helped establish
exhibition presenting, with great conviction, a new contemporary
career credibility and continuity. Combined with the imprimatur of art
international style within the context of the post-war generation of
museum acquisitions, the 1970s cemented a sense of confidence
artists coming into their artistic maturity. Above all, as the seventies
in contemporary Australian art that was consolidated by the auction
unfolded, there was a celebration of stylistic plurality in contemporary
houses creating a secondary market for contemporary art.
Australian art. Within this context, the entity that would emerge as the National This plurality was in part energized, monetarised, and sustained by the
Australia Bank began its collection of the art of the 1970s. Little over a
excitement of an immersion in contemporary art. During the 1960s,
decade later, there was an exuberant celebration at the opening of the
one of the significant forms of patronage had been through art prizes, including major national prizes such as the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a plethora of smaller regional art prizes hosted by municipal councils and societies. Private patronage for contemporary art was highlighted when the newly formed magazine Art and Australia (May 1963), in its initial editions ran a series of articles highlighting private collections in Australia, including those of James Fairfax, Aubrey Gibson, and Margaret Carnegie, which ranged across the history of Australian art, but also emphasised the vitality of contemporary art. The emphasis and promotion of private and corporate collections during the 1970s saw the rise of a new group – including the Besen and the JGL collections among others – that had a significant focus on contemporary art. As well, many corporate collections such as the ANZ, Elders IXL, and Westfarmers, with a strong emphasis on historical ar t began to move towards a representation of
exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria of The Seventies: Australian Paintings and Tapestries- from the collection of the National Australia Bank in 1982. It was also the first time the public would formally learn the new name and seven-pointed star logo of Australia’s newest bank – the National Australia Bank, which had come into existence in 1982 with the merger of the National Commercial Bank of Melbourne and the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, an entity which was rebadged during 1983. The Seventies: Australian Paintings and Tapestries exhibition, held at the NGV from 15 October to 28 November 1982, consisted of 102 paintings displayed in the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery and six tapestries woven by the Victorian Tapestry Workshop displayed in the Great Hall. The National Australia Bank Art Committee was established in 1975 for the collection; its formation being indicative of the bank’s increased support of the arts, and in particular of visual art. It echoed the visionary engagement of the Art Committee’s chair, Sir Andrew Grimwade, then a Director of NAB, who in 1976, also accepted the
contemporary art.
role of President of the NGV Council of Trustees.
The establishment of the Australia Council in 1973, and as a statutory
The Art Committee appointed the eminent art dealer, Georges Mora
body in 1975, introduced support for artists through grants, access
as its art consultant. Although during the 70s art included a complex
to overseas studios, and support for exhibitions. The federal and
field of activities encompassing a wide range of genres such as
state governments also increased support for public galleries, and
Conceptual and Process Art, Performance Art, Environmental and
helped develop a regional gallery network focused on contemporary
Land Art, Video and Film Art, Art Language and Community Art, it
art acquisitions, exhibitions, and the development of art schools.
was decided that the focus for the NAB collection would be paintings
14
N AT I O N A L A U S T R A L I A B A N K C O L L E C T I O N
