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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Culture and Customs
Cultural Institutions
Art Galleries

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Art Galleries

Subject

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Cooperative

Casula Powerhouse: Celebrating Art, Community and Cultural Diversity

Education Department Art Gallery

Museum of Contemporary Art

The Archibald Prize

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Casula Powerhouse

Clark's Assembly Rooms

Dixson Wing

Garden Palace Fine Arts Annexe

Merryfield Hotel

Museum of Contemporary Art

Springwood

Yellow House

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Australian Centre for Photography

Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Cooperative

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre

Education Department Art Gallery

Farmers Blaxland Galleries

John Passmore Museum

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

New South Wales Academy of Art

Notanda Gallery

Penrith Performing and Visual Arts Ltd

Penrith Regional Gallery

Watters Gallery

Woolloomooloo Gallery

Macgregor, Elizabeth Ann

Mann, Gother Victor Fyers

Plate, Carl Olaf

Power, John Joseph Wardell

Wrobel, Elinor

Wrobel, Fred

Art Gallery of New South Wales 2004

Casula Powerhouse 28 March 2012

Casula Powerhouse 31 March 2011

Catalogue of an Exhibition of Pictures of Old Sydney, March 1902

National Art Gallery (Art Gallery of New South Wales) c1900

Public Notice to Artists: The Archibald Prize July 1921

Puppy by Jeff Koons, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks 1996

Sydney harbour and Museum of Contemporary Art 14 August 2009

The Rocks and Circular Quay 15 September 2003

The former Maritime Services Board building on the corner of George Street, and what was Barton Street, Circular Quay c1950

Curator Judith Blackall on the Museum of Contemporary Art 2009

Judy Friend on the history of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, recorded 2009

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Art Galleries

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Built to house the colony's collection of art, purchased from 1874, the Gallery has been on the site in the Domain from 1884, and in the current building, and its series of extensions, from 1896.

Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Cooperative

Formed after a backlash against contemporary Aboriginal art, Boomalli provided Indigenous artists with a space free from external definitions of Aboriginality.

Casula Powerhouse: Celebrating Art, Community and Cultural Diversity

From a pleasure garden and riverside retreat to a heavily polluting industrial power station and flourishing arts centre, the history of Casula Powerhouse is a celebration of culture, diversity and community identity.

Education Department Art Gallery

Built as part of the Education Department's fine building in Bridge Street during World War I, the gallery hosted Australian artists' work for more than five decades.

Museum of Contemporary Art

Housed in an Art Deco building constructed for the Maritime Services Board in the 1940s, the Museum of Contemporary Art is based on the Power collection of contemporary art, gathered by John Power, and maintained at the University of Sydney until premises could be found for it.

The Archibald Prize

The Archibald Prize is an institution in the Australian art calendar and an event keenly anticipated every year. It is the source of great debate and controversy and above all, an exhibition the public adores.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Since opening in the old Maritime Services Board building at Sydney Cove in 1991, the Museum of Contemporary Art has taken its place among other Sydney's icons. Located on one of Sydney's, and indeed Australia's, most historically laden sites, the MCA brought contemporary art to the city at a moment when Sydney saw that the living dreams of present-day artists were part of its busy life.

Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery

Art gallery of over 1000 square feet established within the department store in the 1910s. Regular exhibitions showcased the best of Australian and European art and artifacts.

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Art Gallery of New South Wales

First purpose built gallery begun by Horbury Hunt and completed by Vernon to house the state collection The original sandstone facade remains though modification and new galleries continue to be added.

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Casula Powerhouse

Powerhouse erected to supplement electricity production during winter and power shortages. In 1955 the 250 foot stack was erected, replacing four shorter chimneys.

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Clark's Assembly Rooms

Function rooms and exhibition space at 5 Elizabeth St established by John Clark in the 1850s.

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Dixson Wing

A special wing of the south side of the Mitchell Library built to provide storage and gallery space for the extensive collection of Sir William Dixson.

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Garden Palace Fine Arts Annexe

Annexe of nine rooms constructed near the entrance to the Royal Botanic Gardens as part of the Garden Palace to temporarily house the national art collection.

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Merryfield Hotel

Victorian Classical building with elements of Romanesque Revival detail in Woolloomooloo, which was formerly a privately run hotel until the late 1960s. It was used as office space but since 2003, it was purchased by art collectors Elinor and Fred Wrobel. That same year, the Wrobels opened the property as the John Passmore Museum, which includes a rotating display of 270 works John Passmore bequeathed to the Wrobels.

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Museum of Contemporary Art

Office block constructed for the Maritime Services Board which was converted in 1991 to house the new Museum of Contemporary Art.

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Springwood

Stone cottage which now houses the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum.

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Yellow House

Art gallery at 59 Macleay Street that was transformed into an innovative multimedia space and artist's cooperative which nurtured many of Sydney's emerging artists, filmmakers, performers and musicians.

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Art Gallery of New South Wales

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Sydney's public art gallery and collection which includes European, Asian and Australian art including a specific gallery, Yiribana, for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection.

Australian Centre for Photography

Not-for-profit organisation which is the longest running contemporary art space in Australia providing exhibition space, training and publications about photography.

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Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Cooperative

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Cooperative organisation formed by Aboriginal artists, central to the development of Sydney's modern urban Aboriginal art scene.

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre

Multi-disciplinary arts centre with galleries, theatre and artist studios which is both a producer and presenter of work reflecting the cultural diversity of the region.

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Education Department Art Gallery

Art gallery that operated in the Education Department building from 1915. Until the 1960s it was one of the best known public art venues in Sydney.

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Farmers Blaxland Galleries

Commercial gallery which exhibited contemporary Australian art. Originally located on the 8th and 9th floors of Sydney's Farmers George Street Department Store it moved to Pitt Street in 1958.

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John Passmore Museum

Museum of art established by art collectors Elinor and Fred Wrobel, who were bequeathed a collection of 270 paintings by artist John Passmore in 1984. According the Elinor Wrobel, she managed to convince Passmore not to burn his artworks before his death. After the Wrobels purchased the former Merryfield Hotel building in Woolloomooloo, they opened a museum displaying his works and their collection now includes more than 1000 works of art from the 1840s to the present day.

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Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

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Museum dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art from Australia and across the world.

New South Wales Academy of Art

Art appreciation society that became the forerunner of the Art Gallery of NSW after receiving colonial government money to acquire artworks in 1874, and dissolved itself on the foundation of the Art Gallery in 1880.

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Notanda Gallery

Commercial art gallery and bookshop in Rowe St Sydney founded by Carl Plate.

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Penrith Performing and Visual Arts Ltd

Amalgam of the visual arts, performing arts and arts education.

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Penrith Regional Gallery

Community gallery featuring paintings, sculptures, works on paper and photography. It is housed in the former home of sculptor Gerald Lewers and painter Margo Lewers.

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Watters Gallery

Commercial art gallery in Darlinghurst.

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Woolloomooloo Gallery

Commercial art gallery established by curator and art collector, Fred Wrobel on Nicholson Street, Woolloomooloo.

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Macgregor, Elizabeth Ann

Art historian, curator and currently Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

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Mann, Gother Victor Fyers

Artist, gallery director and architect who became director of the New South Wales Art Gallery and vastly increased the collection of Australian oils and watercolours.

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Plate, Carl Olaf

Painter who exhibited locally and internationally and established the Notanda Gallery in Rowe Street, Sydney.

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Power, John Joseph Wardell

Expatriate doctor and artist who left his estate to the University of Sydney for the study and acquisition of contemporary art. His bequest became the basis of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Power Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Sydney.

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Wrobel, Elinor

Art collector and curator who helped establish the Powerhouse Museum and also established the John Passmore Museum after the she convinced Passmore not to burn his artworks before his death. In 2009, Wrobel threatened a hunger strike in defence of the Lucy Osborn-Nightingale Foundation Museum at Sydney Hospital. A former nurse at Sydney Hospital, she fought to save the hospital's rare specimen collection.

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Wrobel, Fred

Private gallery curator and collector who survived The Holocaust and migrated to Australia where he worked with his wife Elinor until his death. He was also trained in jewellery design and founded a firm, French Jewellery, and after learning to sail began to design and build sailboats campaigning with his yacht Mirrabooka.

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Art Gallery of New South Wales 2004

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Image courtesy of

[0407-1610-45]

Casula Powerhouse 28 March 2012

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By

Newtown graffiti

Contributed By

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/newtown_grafitti/6877468514]

(CC BY 2.0)

Casula Powerhouse 31 March 2011

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By

Newtown graffiti

Contributed By

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/newtown_grafitti/5576092053]

(CC BY 2.0)

Catalogue of an Exhibition of Pictures of Old Sydney, March 1902

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From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a3249001 / DL 90/1330]

(Dixson Library)

National Art Gallery (Art Gallery of New South Wales) c1900

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Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

[SRC5261]

Public Notice to Artists: The Archibald Prize July 1921

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Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[The Bulletin, 21 Jul 1921, p34 via Trove]

Puppy by Jeff Koons, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks 1996

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By

Jeannie (JIGGS IMAGES) Fletcher

Contributed By

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/41188800@N00/2586369001/]

(JIGGS IMAGES) (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Sydney harbour and Museum of Contemporary Art 14 August 2009

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By

Contributed By

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/marksze/3821051378]

((CC BY-NC-ND 2.0))

The Rocks and Circular Quay 15 September 2003

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Image courtesy of

[0309-1571-37]

The former Maritime Services Board building on the corner of George Street, and what was Barton Street, Circular Quay c1950

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[9856_a017_A017000062]

Curator Judith Blackall on the Museum of Contemporary Art 2009

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By

Courtesy:

City of Sydney Council

(From the oral history collection)

Judy Friend on the history of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, recorded 2009

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By

Courtesy:

City of Sydney Council

Cultural Institutions