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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-23 Daily Xml
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CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS, PRIVATE BENEFACTORS

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:49): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier outline the significant contribution private benefactors make to the state's cultural institutions?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:49): It seems particularly appropriate that when we celebrate the life of Kym Bonython we should acknowledge the role of private benefactors to cultural organisations. Since the inception of our state's cultural institutions, private benefactors, with their support and generosity, have played a vital role in ensuring our public collections are the finest in the country, with areas of some international significance.

Private donations take the form of works of art or other acquisitions and cash donations used to expand the collections. All of our cultural institutions have invaluable relationships with their supporters, so important that occasionally significant benefactors are honoured through lending their name to a collection or space. I was delighted to officiate at such an occasion recently at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

The Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation is the principal source of private donations for works of art and cash. As patron of this foundation, I am pleased to report that, since its establishment in 1981, under the former Liberal government, works of art to the value of $100 million have been acquired through it, which is simply extraordinary.

In addition, over 90 per cent of the Art Gallery's collection has been built from gifts of works of art or cash to fund the purchase of works. In 2009-10, the foundation was gifted works of high-quality in the principal collecting areas of Australian, European and Asian art. Despite strained financial times, funds and bequests increased significantly.

Recent gifts of notable significance include Louis Buvelot's Upper Falls on the Wannon, which was about 1872, and Winter Morning After Rain,Gardiner's Creek, Tom Roberts, 1885—both given by Max Carter AO. Max, of course, has been just a fabulous benefactor of the South Australian Art Gallery for so many years.

Other gifts include A still life with a roemer, a crab and a peeled lemon, 1643, by Pieter Claesz, given by the Fargher Foundation, and A church interior with elegant figures strolling and figures attending mass, c.1630s, by Peeter Neeffs the Elder and Frans Francken II, given by the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation.

The Walker Lowe Collection, with the assistance of the foundation, enabled the acquisition of Vase, 1745-79, created by Chelsea Porcelain, and Susan Armitage gave Untitled, 2003, by Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa. In 2010, gallery 21 was named the Michael Abbott Gallery in honour of the current chair's extraordinary longstanding contribution of nearly 1,000 Asian art objects since 1976, valued well in excess of $3 million.

The most recent dedication, however, was renaming gallery 20 the Gwinnett Gallery, in honour of the impressive personal contribution Andrew Gwinnett—an active member of the gallery's board since 2004 and the current deputy chair—and Hiroko Gwinnett have made to the gallery's Japanese collection. Andrew and Hiroko's first gift was given in 1998. It was an 18th century pair of Japanese screens, entitled Legendary Landscapes.

Since then, the Gwinnetts have given a range of significant gifts, including a further six pairs of screens, including an extraordinary, rare 17thcentury screen showing a map of Japan and Portuguese traders, and a remarkable pair of map screens detailing the Osaka to Nagasaki sea route to Seto, which is understood to be the only pair of its kind in existence outside of Japan.

Other gifts cover a diverse range of media, including ceramics, lacquerware, textiles, scroll paintings and, of course, several major works of sculpture. The philosophy that underpins the Gwinnetts' philanthropy is how best to encourage a deeper love and appreciation for Japanese art and culture amongst all the gallery's visitors, from South Australia and beyond.

These generous gifts, of course, build upon a rich tradition of Asian art collection, with a number of prominent South Australians developing a passionate interest in Japanese art, including philanthropist and politician Sir Edwin Smith; chief justice and lieutenant-governor Sir Samuel Way; and, of course, the family of Charles Rasp, the man credited with unearthing the mineral riches of Broken Hill.

Members of the Foundation Collectors' Club also assist the gallery with the acquisition of works of art. In 2010, 43 members of the collectors' club enabled the acquisition of seven works of art. The Art Gallery's Contemporary Collectors is the gallery's primary contemporary art benefaction group. In the 2009-10 financial year, Contemporary Collectors raised $294,000 from membership subscriptions, events, sponsors and donations, bringing the total funds raised since its inception to $1 million.

Recent gifts of notable significance funded by Contemporary Collectors include Patricia Piccinini's Big Mother (2005), which had over 50,000 visitors in the first six weeks of display in 2010, Benjamin Armstrong's Hold Everything Dear II (2009) and Ben Quilty's Inhabit (2010). I want to say, on behalf of everyone in this chamber, how fantastic it is that we have people of extraordinary generosity in this state who continue to make donations to our cultural institutions.

It is great that there are members of parliament, including the minister assisting in the arts, who have benefacted artistic organisations with paintings of their own: three sold to critical acclaim and, in my case, perhaps not so critical acclaim but they have sold.

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