Art Collection

The Maroondah City Council Art Collection contains a wide range of works by Australian artists from colonial times to the present. Collection development occurs through acquisitions, donations and the R & M McGivern Art Prize, a $10,000 acquisitive award encouraging painting in all mediums. In 2007 the Collection was accepted into the Taxation Incentives For The Arts Scheme, enabling artworks to be received through the Federal Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. Inclusion in the scheme has enabled a number of important donations to be made, including 37 works on paper by the Polish born artist Yosl Bergner.

Historical Overview

When the former Cities of Croydon and Ringwood amalgamated in 1994, their art collections combined to create the Maroondah City Council Art Collection. Consisting of over 180 items, the Collection represents the region’s long-standing involvement in the visual arts, especially in respect to painting in all mediums. Reflective of the former Councils’ links with their communities, the Collection contains a number of paintings by artists working in the region, many of whom had recorded images of local landmarks and scenes. Amongst numerous landscape paintings can be found works such as W Unsworth’s Antimony Mine, 1912, featuring the mineshaft’s distinctive A-frame tower. Other local notables include Ruth L Jackson, who is represented in the Collection with examples of her finely detailed botanical illustrations of the locality’s distinctive native flora. In contrast, well-known painter, Paul Laspagis has been inspired by the area’s leafy neighbourhood streets to produce striking works such as Tree on Naturestrip, 2006.  

In line with Council’s desire to develop an Art Collection of distinction, in November 2001 J A Turner’s Their Little Home, 1894 was purchased. As a record of early settlement in the Maroondah district, the painting is a rich source of historical detail, derived from the artist’s keen observation of daily life on the land. Depicting work-a-day life in the grounds of a modest settler home, the painting is both the earliest and most important historical piece in the Collection.

More on the works of J A Turner can be found at www.jaturnerart.com.

In 2001, with the establishment of the Maroondah Art Gallery, the Maroondah City Council Art Collection was exhibited for the first time alongside exhibitions of contemporary Australian and international art. Created as part of Maroondah Federation Estate with funds from local, state and federal government, the Gallery quickly established itself as the region’s premier public art gallery.  From its inception, the Maroondah Art Gallery aimed to present exhibitions by leading contemporary artists. The strategy proved invaluable, not only to the cultural life of Maroondah, but also in terms of collection development. This was illustrated in 2003, when well-known artist Cherry Hood held a solo exhibition at the Gallery, less than a year after winning the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture. At the closure of her exhibition, Hood generously donated three paintings from her Alice series to the Collection. Since then, exhibiting artists have continued to be outstanding benefactors, with individuals such as Tony Scott, John Marshall and Mitch Lang donating significant pieces.

In 2003, the Gallery also hosted the R & M McGivern Art Prize. Established through the generosity of local resident Muriel McGivern, this triennial $10,000 acquisitive painting prize provides for the winning work to be included in Council’s Art Collection. Administered by the Trust Company of Australia Ltd., the Prize, which aims to encourage painting in oil, acrylic and water colour, was won in its inaugural year by artist Martin King for his painting First Rain II, 2003. Inspired by King’s travels in central Australia, the work is an important contemporary canvas, which further enhances Council’s holding of Australian landscape paintings.  

Today, the Collection contains a wide range of paintings, prints and ceramics by Australian artists from colonial times to present, including works by Indigenous artists and a growing number of contemporary painters. Through the support of the R & M McGivern Art Prize, Council’s collection fund and the generous support of our many benefactors, the Maroondah City Council Art Collection has grown from strength to strength. A catalogue of the Collection can be obtained by contacting Maroondah City Council or Maroondah Art Gallery.