Jeffrey Smart, Self portrait, 1993
The University of Queensland was one of the first in Australia to acquire works of art and to use bequest funds for this purpose. With more than 2 500 works, the University of Queensland Art Collection is Queensland's second largest public art collection.
The Collection comprises works by major Australian artists from the colonial era to the present, and the Nat Yuen Collection of Chinese antiquities. In addition, The University Art Museum will develop the National Collection of Artists' Self Portraits, the only collection of its kind in Australia.
Established as the result of a bequest and originally known as the Darnell Collection, the Collection has continued to evolve with focussed acquisitions and the support of important bequests and gifts. These have included the Stuartholme-Behan Collection of Australian Art, permanently loaned to the University in the mid 1970s, also the Graeme Bennett Collection of 53 important Australian artworks, and the Malcolm Enright Collection of 71 contemporary artworks gifted in 1999.
From 1976, the Collection was housed in the University Art Museum in the Forgan Smith Tower. In April 2004, it moved to the Mayne Centre.
- The Collection's holdings of key nineteenth and early twentieth century Australian and pioneering Queensland artists include some works of national significance.
- There are works by modernist artists active in Melbourne and Sydney in the period between the wars, and Queensland artists who contributed to developments in Modernism in Australia.
- The Collection contains major holdings of works by key Australian post-war artists, in particular Jon Molvig, who contributed greatly to the development of expressionism in Queensland, his students and contemporaries.
- Development of the contemporary collection has focussed on acquiring key works by artists who have made significant contributions to Australian art, in particular contemporary Queensland artists and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
The Darnell Collection
Originally known as the Darnell Collection, the UAM Collection began in the 1940s as the result of a legacy of £17,000 bequeathed to the University by John Darnell, who died in 1930. While funds were originally applied to the endowment of a special library collection, the University redirected the remainder of these funds towards the establishment of the Fine Art Library in the 1940s.
Dr J.V. Duhig, academic and prominent Brisbane art collector, Professor Cummings and Professor H.C. Richards were instrumental in the formation of the Darnell Collection of more than 400 works of art. They were assisted by prominent artists and advisors including Daryl Lindsay, Lloyd Rees, Lucy Swanton, Lillian Pedersen, Sydney Long, Roland Wakelin, Max Ragless and Vida Lahey.
Nineteenth to early twentieth century
The Collection contains holdings by key nineteenth and early twenthieth century Australian artists including Rupert Bunny, Charles Conder, Robert Dowling, E. Phillips Fox, George Lambert, John Longstaff, and Arthur Streeton. It includes some works of national significance.
Rupert Bunny, Summer Sunset c.1904 Robert Dowling, Werrat Kuyuut and the Mopor people, Spring Creek, Victoria, 1856
There are also key holdings of pioneering Queensland artists including Edward Fristrom, Oscar Fristrom, Percy Stanhope Hobday, Anne Alison Greene, Bessie Gibson, Walter Jenner, Godrey Rivers and Vincent Sheldon.
The Collection includes a large number of works on paper, including artist prints, drawings and watercolours.
Modernism
The Collection contains a number of works by modernist artists active in Melbourne and Sydney in the period between the wars. There are significant holdings by Sam Atyeo, Frank Hinder, Margaret Preston, Thea Proctor, and Roland Wakelin. Of particular interest are works by Queensland artists such as Vida Lahey, Kenneth Macqueen and Daphne Mayo, who contributed to developments in Modernism in Australia.
The post-war period
The post-war period coincides with the establishment of the University of Queensland Art Collection. Its development over the past six decades has focussed primarily on contemporary Australian art. The collection contains major holdings of works by key Australian post-war artists including Charles Blackman, John Brack, Ray Crooke, Lawrence Daws, Donald Friend, Joy Hester and Sidney Nolan.
The contribution of Newcastle-born artist, Jon Molvig, to the development of expressionism in Queensland is an area of special interest and there are strong holdings by Molvig's students and contemporaries.
Sir Sidney Nolan, Ned Kelly c.1973 Donald Friend, St. John and scenes of the Apocalypse, 1955
© The Sir Sidney Nolan Estate/www.Bridgeman.co.uk
Contemporary art
Development of the contemporary art collection has focussed on acquiring key works by artists who have made strong contributions to the development of Australian art. There are holdings of works by contemporary Queensland artists including Gordon Bennett, Eugene Carchesio, Rosella Namok, Scott Redford, Luke Roberts, Madonna Staunton and Judy Watson. The Collection also has holdings by contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
Judy Watson, Bone chamber, 1990 Carl Warner, Untitled, 2004
All images, collection of The University of Queensland