Chandler ("Channy") Phillip Coventry (1924–1999) was an Australian grazier, art collector, gallerist, art dealer, and art patron and was involved with the establishment of the

New England Regional Art Museum The New England Regional Art Museum, known as NERAM, is a museum of Australian art located in Armidale in the New England (New South Wales), New England region of New South Wales. NERAM's art collections are the second largest and most valuable r ...

Early life

Chandler was born at a private hospital on Brown Street, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia on 4 December 1924, the second son of Arthur Isaac Chandler Coventry 881-1962and Joan (née Books) 886-1971of ‘Alor-Amia' station, north-east of Armidale. His siblings were David and Beatrice. The Coventrys were an established and wealthy New England grazing family. Their ancestors arrived in Australia from Scotland in 1836 and settled in the New England district in 1839. Generations and branches of the family had taken up several properties in the district, including 'Rockvale Station' with its old homestead where Chandler, along with his brother and sisters, spent much of his time as a child. Coventry was educated as a

boarder Boarder may refer to: Persons A boarder may be a person who: *snowboards *skateboards *bodyboards * surfs *stays at a boarding house *attends a boarding school *takes part in a boarding attack Other uses * ''The Star Boarder'', a 1914 American ...

The Armidale School The Armidale School (abbreviated as TAS) is an independent Anglican co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Administration of the schools is formalised as a ...

and at

Barker College Barker College is an independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school, located in Hornsby, New ...

, Sydney. In school breaks and holidays he took his part in farm work on the family property.

Career

Grazier

Following his schooling, Chandler returned to farming on family properties. When he was just twenty he inherited a pastoral run, 'Tulloch', and money from his uncle David. Returning from a grand tour in England and Europe with his sister Beatrice in 1952 he found that his brother David had sold the home property Rockvale Station. Chandler proceeded to sell off some of his own assets to buy it back as sole owner. Through several purchases and bequests he eventually owned more than 15,000 acres of land.Goldsmith, Merle, "Chandler Phillip Coventry, AM, (1924-1999) Grazier, Art Adventurer, Benefactor", in Ryan, J. S. (John Sprott) & Cady, Bruce & University of New England & Armidale and District Historical Society (2001). New England lives II. University of New England in association with the Armidale and District Historical Society, Armidale, N.S.W. pp142. Over many years he built a reputation for sheep breeding and producing some of the finest wool in Australia. He also bred cattle, notably Murray Grey cattle on the property ''Essington'' he acquired near

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and the Southern Highl ...

, NSW.

Art Collector and gallerist

Coventry’s earliest encounters with fine art were through the Howard Hinton Collection, which he saw as a schoolchild displayed in the rooms and corridors of the Armidale Teachers’ College. He furthered this interest in Sydney, reading, visiting art shops and galleries, and soon beginning to collect. By the time he was twenty one he had built a collection of original artworks including a

Fairweather Fairweather or Fair Weather may refer to:. People * Fairweather (surname) Music * Fairweather (band), an American indie rock band * Fair Weather (band), a British pop group from 1970 to 1971 * ''Fair Weather'' (album), a 2000 album by Aliso ...

, a

Boyd Boyd may refer to: Places Canada * Boyd Conservation Area, a conservation area located northwest of Toronto, Ontario * Boyd Lake (disambiguation) United States * Boyd County (disambiguation) * Boyd, Indiana * Boyd, Iowa * Boyd, Kansas * Bo ...

and a Drysdale. He progressively lined the walls of the family homestead with paintings, prints and drawings, and invited friends, art lovers and school students to visit and share his enjoyment. Angela Bennie quoted Coventry, "I fell in love with art. I became obsessed with it. I became obsessed with art and collecting it. And I became obsessed with the young artists who made it" From the early 1950s he divided his time between farm management and trips to Sydney and overseas, before moving more permanently to Sydney in 1965 while leaving Rockvale in the care of a manager. In 1968 he got involved in managing Sydney's Central Street Gallery. He became the gallery's financial backerGoldsmith, Merle, "Chandler Phillip Coventry, AM, (1924-1999) Grazier, Art Adventurer, Benefactor", in Ryan, J. S. (John Sprott) & Cady, Bruce & University of New England & Armidale and District Historical Society (2001). New England lives II. University of New England in association with the Armidale and District Historical Society, Armidale, N.S.W. pp145 and a co-director. He mixed in Sydney's art circles and helped promote contemporary artists including

Wendy Paramor Wendy Paramor (12 December 1938 – 28 November 1975) was an Australian artist. In 2014, the Paramor Prize was created by the Liverpool City Council. Early life and education Paramor was born in Melbourne Victoria, on 12 December 1938. After ...

Denise Green Denise Green (born 1946) is an Australian painter living and working in New York City. She is known for her contributions to New Image Painting, an ambiguous art movement that began in the late 1970s. Her paintings are typically abstract and p ...

, Dick Watkins, Leslie Dumbrell, Vernon Treweeke, and

Gunter Christmann Gunter Christmann (23 April 1936 – 19 November 2013) was a German-born Australian painter. Born in Berlin, Christmann emigrated to Australia in 1959. Regarded as a painter's painter, Christmann has been making abstract and figurative paint ...

among many. In 1970 Coventry opened his own gallery in his house at 38 Hargrave Street, Paddington, Sydney. Several Central Street artists followed him. When space at Hargrave Street proved insufficient Coventry in 1974 purchased and renovated the much larger building at 56 Sutherland Street, Paddington and created the second Coventry Gallery which finally closed after his death in 1999. The Coventry Gallery is a landmark in Australian gallery history, energetically showing new and emerging Australian artists as well as staging exhibitions by leading overseas artists such as

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in West Norwood, No ...

and

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...

. Coventry built his personal collection of art over decades from his youth through his time as a gallery operator. At the peak of his collecting, from the 1960s to the 1980s, he favoured current art - freshly made, and by artists who were not yet established. While he did not pursue fashions or a particular school of art, he acquired innovative and challenging works, in the Central Street and early Coventry Gallery years notably abstract, colourfield and

hard-edge Hard-edge painting (also referred to as Hard Edge or Hard-edged) is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas. Color areas often consist of one unvarying color. The Hard-edge painting style is related to Geometric abstrac ...

, then after 1972 his taste embraced

painterliness Painterliness is a concept based on ' ('painterly'), a word popularized by Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) to help focus, enrich and standardize the terms being used by art historians of his time to characterize works o ...

lyrical abstraction Lyrical abstraction arose from either of two related but distinct art movement, trends in Post-war Modernist painting: * European ''Abstraction Lyrique'': a movement that emerged in Paris, with the French art critic Jean José Marchand being cr ...

, even gesture and figuration. Art historian

Patrick McCaughey Patrick McCaughey (born 1942) is an Irish-born Australian art historian and academic. McCaughey was born in Belfast, his father being Davis McCaughey. He migrated with his family to Melbourne, Australia. when he was ten years old. His secondary ...

said of Channy "He has been the epitome of the adventurous private collector, collecting new and advanced art with an enthusiasm most collectors reserve for more established figures" Some works hung in his Sydney home, but many more were hung on the walls of his Armidale property, Rockvale Station. His art collection was described by James Mollison, former Director of the Australian National Gallery, as "one of the most important private collections of contemporary Australian Art".Australia Council; Arts NSW; Museums and Galleries NSW (2007), Beyond Region : public galleries in New South Wales, Arts NSW and Australia Council for the Arts, p.144

Art patron and benefactor

Besides generously nurturing, encouraging, promoting and purchasing from individual artists, Coventry backed numerous art projects. He sold paintings from his own collection, including a Drysdale, to help fund

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...

’s Wrapped Coast at Sydney's Little Bay in 1969, and supported several of

John Kaldor John William Kaldor (born 1936 in Budapest) is an Australian art collector, philanthropist, and the founder of Kaldor Public Art Projects. Biography Kaldor was born in Budapest to textile manufacturers Andrew and Vera Kaldor. After a short ...

's other Kaldor Public Art Projects including

Gilbert & George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942) are artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Gilbert & George. They are known for their formal appearance ...

, and

Charlotte Moorman Madeline Charlotte Moorman (November 18, 1933 – November 8, 1991) was an American cellist, performance artist, and advocate for avant-garde music. Referred to as the "Jeanne d'Arc of new music", she was the founder of the Annual Avant Garde Fes ...

. Chandler invited many of these visiting international artists to use his property Rockvale Station as a base, giving them an opportunity to experience the Australian bush. In 1966 Coventry made his first donation of more than fifty works to the Armidale City Gallery, now part of the

. In 1979, he gave a large portion of his private collection to Armidale on the understanding that an art museum would be built to house both his collection and the Howard Hinton collection then housed in the Armidale Teacher's College. Reflecting contemporary art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, Coventry's collection would complement Hinton's strength in Australian art of the first half of the twentieth century. Coventry's offer was the catalyst for a regional fundraising campaign to establish the museum that was to become the

(NERAM). Coventry was himself an active driving force in the establishment of the NERAM, not only through the donation of the bulk of his collection of contemporary art, but also through his profile in the art world and his extensive connections in farming and grazing communities. One fundraising venture was a selling exhibition at the Coventry Gallery in 1980 of works donated to the NERAM appeal. He became a founding trustee and patron of NERAM. Selections from the Coventry collection are regularly on exhibit at

NERAM ''Neram'' () is a 2013 Indian black comedy thriller film written, directed and edited by Alphonse Puthren in his directorial debut. It is simultaneously made in Malayalam and Tamil languages. It is an extended version of the short film of th ...

. Besides his contributions to the New England Regional Art Museum, Coventry donated works to the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galle ...

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

, Power Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Sydney, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Campbelltown Art Gallery and the Wollongong Art Gallery.

The Chandler Coventry Collection at NERAM

The Chandler Coventry Collection at the New England Regional Art Museum reflects art movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Australian artists represented include Ralph Balson,

Peter Booth Peter Booth may refer to: * Peter Booth (painter) (born 1940), Australian painter * Peter Booth, Baron Booth, British businessman and Conservative life peer * Peter Booth (priest) (1907–1993), British Anglican priest and Archdeacon of Lewes * P ...

Janet Dawson Janet Dawson MBE (born 1935) is an Australian artist who was a pioneer of abstract painting in Australia in the 1960s, having been introduced to abstraction during studies in England while she lived in Europe 1957–1960 She was also an accom ...

, Elaine Haxton, Leah MacKinnon, Michael Taylor, Dick Watkins and

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley Order of Australia, AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize, Archibald, Wynne Prize, ...

. Notable international artists include

and

Later life

The stress of running a gallery in Sydney and a fine wool property six hundred kilometres north, while advocating and fundraising for an art museum in Armidale, brought Coventry to the decision in 1979 to sell Rockvale Station. In 1980 Coventry suffered two strokes that paralysed the left side of his body and necessitated he use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He maintained his interest in contemporary Australian art but it was three years before he was able to get his gallery going again with the help of his long-term partner Phillip Shepherd. A wave of new names exhibited in the gallery in the 1980s including David Larwill, Christopher Hodges,

Aida Tomescu Aida Tomescu (born October 1955) is an Australian contemporary artist who is known for her abstract paintings, collages, drawings and prints. Tomescu is a winner of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, the Wynne Prize for Landscape and the Sir John ...

, and

Nigel Thomson Nigel Thomson (1945–1999) was an Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize twice. Known for satirical paintings of Australian society. He studied at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and later taught artistic composition at that i ...

. He showed Melbourne's ''Roar Studio'' artists to Sydney in 1985. In the 1990s the gallery exhibited further new artists including

Emily Kame Kngwarreye Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1914-1996) was born in her Ancestral lands, Alhalker located in the Sandover region of the Northern Territory, Australia. One of the world’s most significant contemporary painters to emerge in the twentieth century Kngw ...

Bronwyn Bancroft Bronwyn Bancroft (born 1958) is an Aboriginal Australian artist, administrator, book illustrator, and among the first three Australian fashion designers to show their work in Paris. She was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, and trained i ...

, and David Bromley. Rather than succoring a stable of artists as other galleries do, Coventry continually found new talents and new directions. He jealously guarded his role of selecting artworks, maintaining the relationships with artists, and setting the ambience of the gallery. Coventry was devastated by his disability in the years following his stroke. Nigel Thomson's 1983 Archibald-Prize winning portrait of Chandler reveals a bitter and crestfallen man in a wheel-chair alone in the empty Coventry Gallery. Channy commented "... it says what I feel ... It is what I am". After his stroke he was at times gloomy and irascible, uncareful to contain his feelings and opinions. Angus Nivison described him as "definitely a difficult pleasure: yet he was always generous and thoughtful" Following the incorporation of the Chandler Coventry Collection into the

(NERAM) Channy kept a close and critical eye on the activities of NERAM. He disliked the fact that the bulk of both Hinton and Coventry collections were kept in storage rather than on display. He vehemently disapproved of NERAM's sale of two non-Australian works from the Hinton Collection, obviously concerned that a similar fate may befall works from his own donation after his demise. He objected to the commercialism of NERAM's annual fund-raising Packsaddle exhibition. Chandler Coventry died on 14 September 1999 in his downstairs apartment at the Coventry Gallery. His funeral service was held at St. Stephen's Church on Macquarie Street, Sydney. Coventry Gallery closed on 4 December 1999.

Exhibitions from Coventry's personal collections

* ''Coventry Collection, 1966-76'', University Hall, University of New England, 1976. * Wollongong City Gallery, 1978. * ''The 1960s into the 70s: selections from the Chandler Coventry collection.'', Monash University, Department of Visual Arts Exhibition Gallery, 1978. * ''Early Collecting by Chandler Coventry 1947-1967'', Armidale City Art Gallery, 1981 * ''Chandler Coventry / a private collection'', Campbelltown City Art Gallery 1993. * ''Chandler Coventry, Obsession: works on paper and sculpture''. Campbelltown City Art Gallery, 1994 * Selections from the combined Campbelltown exhibitions, titled ''Obsession'', toured regional NSW centres. * * Monash University, Department of Visual Arts. Exhibition Gallery: ''The 1960s into the 70s: selections from the Chandler Coventry collection.'', 1978. * S.H. Erwin Gallery ''The Innovators: Collectors who shaped Sydney’s avant-garde 1963-1978'' in 1999.

Honours, awards and distinctions

* In the 1980 Australia Day Honours Chandler Coventry was made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for services to the grazing industry and the arts. *

's portrait of Chandler Coventry won the 1983

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

. * Patron of Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest. * Patron of New England Regional Art Museum. * The S.H. Erwin Gallery honoured Coventry along with other pioneer gallerists who revolutionised Sydney's art scene in the 1960s and 1970s with an exhibition titled ''The Innovators: Collectors who shaped Sydney’s avant-garde 1963-1978'' in 1999. * Other artists to paint Coventry's portrait include

, Geoff La Gerche and

Judy Cassab Judy Cassab (15 August 19203 November 2015), born Judit Kaszab, was an Australian painter. Early years Judy Cassab was born in Vienna, on 15 August 1920 to Jewish Hungarian parents. She began painting at twelve years old and began studying at ...

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

winner Angus Nivison gifted his 1998 Archibald Prize finalist portrait of Chandler Coventry to NERAM.