Newcastle Art Gallery
The Newcastle Art Gallery (formerly the Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle Region Art Gallery) is a large, public art museum in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
Founded in 1945 with an art collection donated by Roland Pope, the museum opened its doors in 1957 and moved to a new, purpose-built museum building in 1977. The Pope bequest consisted of 123 works of art and was conditional on the construction of a gallery to hold the collection. [2] As a Sydneysider, Pope's collection reflect was Sydney centric. Under the directorships of the gallery's first two directors Gil Docking and David Thomas, both from Melbourne, saw the collection expand to include artists from Melbourne and Adelaide.
A purpose built building was completed in the 1970s and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on Friday 11 March 1977. This building stands today as an example of 1970s geometric architecture in the brutalist tradition.
The Newcastle Art Gallery collection represents an overview of Australian art from colonial times to the present day and includes various media, such as, paintings, works on paper, photography and sculpture. The collection scope includes several important Indigenous barks and poles as well as a substantial collection of contemporary Indigenous art. Newcastle Art Gallery holds the largest collection of modern Japanese ceramics in the southern hemisphere.
BRETT WHITELEY SCULPTURE
A giant Brett Whiteley sculpture is being removed from Sydney's Walsh Bay Sculpture Walk ahead of it being installed at its new home in front of the Newcastle Art Gallery.
The towering sculpture, Black Totem II, is one of only two giant Whiteley sculptures ever produced.
Perched on top of a black post is an exaggerated scale egg in a bird nest the size of a small car.
The 11-metres high sculpture is estimated to be worth more than $800,000.
An engineering team assisted by a crane, rigger and semi-trailer are dismantling the statue at Walsh Bay this morning, before it is installed in the Newcastle gallery forecourt on Monday.
Brett Whiteley's widow Wendy has donated the sculpture, which has spent the last 10 years on loan to Millers Point.
Assistant Gallery Director Tristan Sharp says the towering work will be a dramatic addition to the Gallery forecourt.
"It's a giant black steel post with a massive bird's nest and a giant fibreglass egg which sits on top of it," he said.
"So to give you a little bit of an idea of what 11 metres high is, it's actually as high as the roof of the Art Gallery here in Newcastle which is sensational.
"It's painted all deep rich black except for of course the egg which is shining white like a big glowing egg."
The sculpture was secured by Newcastle Art Gallery director Ron Ramsay who stands to lose his job under a council cost-cutting proposal to merge the role with the heads of other cultural institutions in Newcastle with a centralised manager.