The Samstag Museum of Art, also known as the Samstag Museum, was opened in October 2007 as the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, in the Hawke Building of the CityWest campus of the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Austral ...

(UniSA). The museum is named in honour of Anne & Gordon Samstag, "two distinguished American benefactors to Australian culture, whose remarkable bequest provides opportunities for Australian artists to study overseas." The gallery had existed in previous incarnations from about 1977, with several names and locations over the next 30 years. In 1991, with the establishment of the University of South Australia, the gallery was renamed the University of South Australia Art Museum, relocating to City West in 1998.

History and description

An art museum was opened in about 1977 as the College Gallery of the

South Australian College of Advanced Education The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

(SACAE) at its Underdale campus. In 1991, with the establishment of the University of South Australia, the gallery was renamed the University of South Australia Art Museum, relocating to City West in 1998. The Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art was opened in the Hawke Building of the CityWest campus of the University of South Australia (UniSA) in October 2007. It is referred by this name, as well as Samstag Museum of Art and simply Samstag Museum on its website, with the briefer form taking precedence for headings. The museum was named in honour of Anne & Gordon Samstag, "two distinguished American benefactors to Australian culture, whose remarkable bequest provides opportunities for Australian artists to study overseas." Gordon Samstag was an American artist who taught at the South Australian School of Art from 1961 to 1970. Born in New York on 21 June 1906, he was educated at the New York Art Students League and the Académie Colarossi in Paris. His art is widely displayed in the US, including murals in now heritage-listed buildings in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

and

Reidsville, North Carolina Reidsville is a city in Rockingham County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 14,580. Reidsville is included in the Greensboro–High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area of the Piedmont ...

. The Samstags moved to Florida in 1976 where Anne died in 1987, and Gordon in 1990. The Museum presents contemporary visual art in a series of changing exhibitions, as well as art of the past that has still has relevance, catering for a broad range of interests. The Museum also manages and develops the University of South Australia Art Collection.

Major exhibitions

Adelaide//International series

The Samstag was host to a series of three Adelaide International art exhibitions in partnership with the

Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, between 2010 and 2014. In 2019, as a continuation of the Adelaide International, but differing in concept and without the partnership of the Festival, the Samstag started a new cycle of three consecutive "Adelaide//International" exhibitions, for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 Adelaide Festivals.

2019

The ''2019 Adelaide//International'' featured the work of four artists: Brook Andrew and Eugenia Lim from Australia, Lisa Reihana from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

and Ming Wong from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, exploring the effect of

colonisation Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

indigenous culture Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

2020

The 2020 exhibition centred around an installation called ''Somewhere Other'' by John Wardle Architects in collaboration with Natasha Johns-Messenger. It was Australia's entry in the 2018

Venice Architecture Biennale Venice Biennale of Architecture (in Italian Mostra di Architettura di Venezia) is an international exhibition of architecture from nations around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. It was held on even years until 2018, but 202 ...

. It also features work by Belgian artist David Claerbout, Brad Darkson, Zoë Croggon, Helen Grogan and Georgia Saxelby. Due to run from 28 February to 12 June, the exhibition was cut short by the closure of the Samstag in March 2020 owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

Individual exhibitions

2013: Laurie Anderson

In 2013, director of the Festival David Sefton partnered with the Samstag to create an individual project of his own, entitled ''Laurie Anderson: Language of the Future, selected works 1971-2013'', featuring the work of

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

, who also performed her ''Duets on Ice'' outside the Samstag on opening night.

2019: Anzac Day

On Anzac Day 2019, two exhibitions were launched at the Samstag: ''For Country, For Nation'', looking at the experiences of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and ''Reality in flames: modern Australian art and the Second World War'', a separate exhibition featuring the work of modernists, including

Nora Heysen Nora Heysen (11 January 1911 – 30 December 2003) was an Australian artist, the first woman to win the prestigious Archibald Prize in 1938 for portraiture and the first Australian woman appointed as an official war artist. Early years Heyse ...

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

and Albert Tucker in their response to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Samstag scholarships

The Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarships were established in 1991 through a bequest from the Samstags' estate. "Each scholarship includes, for twelve months of overseas study, a tax-exempt stipend equivalent to , plus return airfares and institutional fees." From zero to a dozen scholarships have been awarded each year. Past recipients include Megan Walch (1994), John Kelly (1995), and Darren Siwes (2002), Ruth Marshall, Rozalind Drummond,

Susan Fereday Susan Fereday (born 1959) is an Australian artist, writer, curator and educator. She holds a doctorate from Monash University, Melbourne. She was born in Adelaide, South Australia. Biography Fereday studied to be a photographic technician ...

, Kathy Temin, Julie Gough, Nicholas Folland,

Shaun Gladwell Shaun Gladwell (born 1972) is an Australian contemporary artist whose work spans moving image, painting, photography, sculpture, installation, performance and virtual reality. Early life Gladwell was born in Sydney in 1972 and graduated from Syd ...

, Monte Masi, Sasha Grbich and Darren Siwes.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in South Australia Museums in South Australia University of South Australia University museums in Australia Museums established in 1977 1977 establishments in Australia