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The National Gallery’s Australian art collection is now one of the best collections of Australian art. You started with the Commonwealth collection but nothing much else. It was a huge job. How did you approach building the collection?

Vale James Mollison AO 20 March 1931 – 19 January 2020 James Mollison, the founding Director of the National Gallery of Australia, spent more than two decades building, shaping and carefully nurturing the

I followed instructions from government – through the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board – to put together a definitive collection of Australian art. I have to qualify that; the then Art Advisory Board thought that Australian art comprised paintings mainly; sculpture got a small look in, prints and drawings were of no interest really, nor were the decorative arts. But they did ask me to put together the finest possible collection of Australian work for the Gallery that was then to open in 1976.

national collection. Among Australian art’s most admired figures, James

You were ahead of your time in recognising that prints and drawings,

will always be remembered for his foresight in acquiring Jackson Pollock’s

decorative arts and photography were an important part of the whole

Blue poles 1952 and his extensive input into architect Col Madigan’s

story. Had you had seen examples of this in collections elsewhere?

design of the building, among many other incredible achievements.

I grew up in Melbourne. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) contains

We pay tribute to James with an extract from his conversation with Anne Gray, former Head of Australian Art, from the 2003 publication Building the Collection.

marvellous prints and drawings and a collection of decorative arts at least equal in quality to the collection of paintings. It never occurred to me that some things were better art than others because of their category. How did you persuade the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board of this? I waited. I can remember putting a proposal to the Board that we set aside $2,000 a year from which we would buy a comprehensive collection of Australian prints. For $100 you could get a Margaret Preston print or the rarest impression of Norman Lindsay. But they said, ‘No. We will do without prints and drawings in the collection. You get back to work and find us the paintings we want.’

Above: Founding Director James Mollison pictured in 1975 with Sidney Nolan’s Death of Sergeant Kennedy at Stringybark Creek, 1946, enamel on composition board, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, gift of Sunday Reed 1977 © National Gallery of Australia Photo with permission of The Canberra Times

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nga.gov.au

Opposite (left to right): the founding Director holding a staff meeting at the former NGA facilities at Fyshwick; Mr Mollison and art critic Robert Hughes inspect Blue poles 1952 when it first arrived in Australia Page 50: Mr Mollison escorts Prince Charles around the National Gallery

So you just waited until the time was right? I was prepared to wait.


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Articles inside

THE ART OF GIVING Directors of the National Gallery’s Foundation Board

9min
pages 64-67

PARTNERSHIPS

6min
pages 62-63

GARDEN OF TREASURES The history and highlights of our Sculpture Garden

10min
pages 56-61

A CHAPTER IN PRINT Retiring Senior Curator Roger Butler reflects on helping founding Director James Mollison form the print collection

5min
pages 54-55

VALE JAMES MOLLISON, AO

11min
pages 50-53

POLES APART

1min
pages 48-49

LOANS IN LOCKDOWN What happens when an artwork on loan is temporarily stranded in lockdown?

5min
pages 36-39

COVID ON COUNTRY Coronavirus has left an economic, social and emotional impact on vulnerable Indigenous communities and their arts centres

5min
pages 32-35

OUT OF THE BLUE

10min
pages 40-47

WHEN VIRTUAL BECOMES REALITY Jess Johnson, in New York, and Simon Ward, in New Zealand, collaborated virtually during lockdown

6min
pages 30-31

CREATION IN ISOLATION From embracing TikTok and producing art on toilet paper to virtual galleries, how some Australian artists responded to the pandemic

7min
pages 26-29

NEW ACQUISITIONS

3min
pages 10-11

DIRECTOR’S WORD

4min
pages 6-7

HEART IN THE DARKNESS Bill Henson, who released new works of a pre-pandemic Rome during lockdown, talks isolation and artistic process

7min
pages 22-25

#MUSEUMFROMHOME

7min
pages 12-13

ART CLASS

3min
page 9

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED The Vincent family became an Instagram

3min
pages 14-15

EDITOR’S LETTER

3min
page 8

APPLAUSE Artist Angelica Mesiti, who spent the lockdown in her home studio in Paris, reflects on connection in isolation

3min
pages 18-19
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