Mosman Art Gallery is proud to present the exhibition Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Ann Lewis Collection, toured by Moree Plains Gallery.

Dr Ann Lewis AO is one of Australia’s most important private collectors and benefactors of art. She was born and raised near Mungindi, NSW. A prodigious collector from the 1970s, Dr Lewis has in recent years also acquired a significant collection of Aboriginal art, from which this exhibition has been drawn.

For some 20 years, from 1964 to the early 1980s, Dr Lewis directed Gallery A in Sydney. The gallery’s achievements were celebrated in 2009 with exhibitions in Campbelltown and Newcastle and an accompanying book. Dr Lewis was Chairman of the Australia Council’s Visual Arts Board in the 1980s and, among other key roles, is now Vice-President of the International Council of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and a Member of the International Board of London’s Tate Gallery. As well, she has been a Board Member of Artbank and a supporter of the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Biennale of Sydney and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2006 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Sydney for her long and distinguished service to the visual arts.

The works in this exhibition represent Aboriginal art across Australia, from Papunya in Central Australia and Balgo Hills in Western Australia to Ramingining in central Arnhem Land, N.T., as well as Sydney and Brisbane, which are home to such artists as Judy Watson and Tracy Moffatt.

In addition to her much appreciated gift to the Moree Plains Gallery, Dr Lewis has generously loaned newly-acquired Aboriginal pictures especially for show at Mosman Art Gallery.

The Mosman Art Gallery is indebted to Dr Ann Lewis AO and Katrina Rumley of Moree Plains Gallery for touring this unique collection of contemporary Aboriginal Art.