Mosman Art Gallery

An 'Artful Affair' luncheon a huge success!

Many thanks to all who supported the Gallery this week by attending our major fundraising lunch An Artful Affair, featuring ABC Radio 702’s Simon Marnie in conversation with artists Jenny Sages and Ruth Burgess.

Guests enjoyed a sumptuous meal and fine wines in the Gallery’s Grand Hall, which was followed by a very insightful and interesting ‘conversation’ hosted by the ever charming and inimitable Simon Marnie. In all it was a very convivial occasion and based on its success we will undoubtedly hold more Art lunches in the near future.

Make sure you tune in to 702 ABC Sydney this Sunday 21 April at 11.30am when Simon Marnie will talk to artist Jenny Sages about her Paths to Portraiture exhibition currently on show at Mosman Art Gallery.

2011 Festival of Mosman Wins Major Art and Culture Award

The 2011 Festival of Mosman has been awarded the prize for best Festival at the 2012 NSW Local Government Arts & Cultural Awards. Led by Festival Coordinator Skye Paton (Events and Marketing Coordinator) and the Gallery team, the Festival was successful in demonstrating how the arts can be used as a central component in developing successful community celebrations and events.

The 2011 Festival of Mosman was a major community celebration that attracted over 50,000 attendees over ten days. Highlights included; the In Situ sculpture trail, heritage walks, Children’s Fair, the Big Lunch, world premiere performances, Open Air exhibitions, Mosman Open Day and much, much more. With over 42 unique events spread across the area, the Festival was heavily arts focused while having something for everyone and was the result of the hard work of the community, local businesses and all of Council’s staff.

The award gives due recognition to all the people of Mosman and to the many artists, community groups and businesses that made the Festival such a success. The Festival was a celebration of what is best about Mosman – its sense of community, its celebration of place, and its creative spirit. The team at Cultural Services and Mosman Art Gallery look forward to continuing to deliver community events and cultural programs that reflect these qualities and that are enjoyed by the whole community.

Vale Adam Cullen

Vale Adam Cullen, winner of the 2005 Mosman Art Prize. Adam Cullen was one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists and his passing is a tragic loss for Australian art.

Throughout his career Cullen was widely regarded for his provocative and aggressive ‘grunge’ style and the street art sensibility in his artworks. His confrontational artworks also contained an extraordinary sense of humour and pathos which belied his status as one of the ‘bad-boys’ of the contemporary art scene. Surfer Joe was Light Horse, (2005), is an excellent example of the artist’s oeuvre and his signature style of spontaneity of line and brilliant colour.

During his training at the City Art Institute in the late 1980s, Cullen earned a reputation for creative ploys and shock tactics which sought to rock the establishment. In recent years Cullen was lauded for works which communicate his concerns with racial intolerance, bigotry and hypocrisy within human nature and Australian society. In 2008 Cullen was the subject of a survey exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

In his extraordinary career, Cullen held over 38 solo exhibitions and participated in over 100 group exhibitions. He won the 2000 Archibald Prize and was a Mosman Art Prize finalist on 10 occasions. Cullen’s work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, many state gallery collections, as well as in several university and regional gallery collections.

Dr. Keith Vincent Smith lecture at Mosman Art Gallery

Earlier this year we were very grateful to have a lecture at the Gallery by Sydney historian, Dr. Keith Vincent Smith, “The Many Faces of Bungaree”.

This insightful presentation revealed the myriad of historical portraits of Bungaree, who as an indigenous leader in the early 19th century, was a man of two worlds, bridging indigenous and white colonial cultures and society. As a result, Bungaree was most sought after as a subject for portraits and indeed at the time, his portrait was painted more than any other person in the Sydney Colony.

Dr Smith’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the Sydney Colony and these evocative portraits brought Bungaree’s story to life, in a thought provoking and enjoyable experience for a very appreciative audience.

The article he wrote for the Dictionary of Sydney and references in this talk is linked here: Bungaree.

Vale Margaret Olley - winner of the inaugural Mosman Art Prize

It is with great sadness that the Mosman arts community greeted the news of the passing of famed artist, arts muse and philanthropist, Margaret Olley.

Margaret has a special place in our lives as the winner of the inaugural Mosman Art prize in 1947 for her work ‘New England Landscape’. The Gallery’s senior curator, Katrina Cashman, has rightfully described this work as a ‘centre piece of the Mosman Art Collection’ and it set the standard for the acquisition of works and the on-going development of this important collection.

On winning the Mosman Art Prize Margaret made the following comments: “Winning the Mosman Art Prize was an important moment for me because at the time it helped to reassure me of my confidence in myself. Although the prize was not a large one, it did help. I remember Queenie Morton Spencer, who worked for Art & Australia, and The Queen magazine in London, said to me at the announcement, ‘Now I suppose you’ll go overseas’, and I said ‘Hardly, more like a trip to Manly’. The award was extra special because it was judged by Lloyd Rees, an artist whom I greatly admired.”

It is only two years since Margaret last visited the Mosman Art Gallery, this time as judge of the 2009 Mosman Art Prize. Margaret was again warmly received by the Mosman community and her selections were widely praised.

This week, as we prepare for the opening of the 2011 Mosman Art Prize, we pause to honour Margaret Olley. Her personal artistic achievements and her selfless support of artists have been particularly influential in Mosman, and we hope to build on the great legacy she has left us.