The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the

Perth Cultural Centre The Perth Cultural Centre is an area of central Perth, Western Australia, near the James Street Mall. It is home to a number of cultural institutions including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, State Library o ...

, in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. It is located near the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory body, statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, WA Museum Boola Bardip, is located i ...

and

State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Local Gover ...

and is supported and managed by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries of the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

. The current gallery main building opened in 1979. It is linked to the old court house – The Centenary Galleries.

History

The Art Gallery was originally housed in the Jubilee Building with the State Museum and Library. The Jubilee Building, which was intended to be a public library only, was to be opened in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

in 1887, but instead, only the first stone for the foundation was laid. The foundation stone was laid for the Art Gallery in July 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York, shortly after the

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

. Several notable individuals were involved with the development of the Jubilee Building and Art Gallery, including

John Winthrop Hackett Sir John Winthrop Hackett Sr. (4 February 184819 February 1916), generally known as "Winthrop Hackett", was a proprietor and editor of several newspapers in Western Australia, a politician and a university chancellor. Early life Hackett was ...

James Battye James Sykes Battye (1871–1954) was an Australian librarian who was the first chief librarian of the Victoria Public Library in Perth, Western Australia. He was a leading historian, librarian and public figure in Western Australia and also se ...

, Ludwig Glauert, George Pitt Morison and

George Temple-Poole George Thomas Temple-Poole (born George Thomas Temple, 29 May 1856 – 27 February 1934) was a British architect and public servant, primarily known for his work in Western Australia from 1885. As Superintendent of Public Works, and then Pri ...

. Sir James Dromgole Linton recommended purchases for the State Art Collection. The Art Gallery Administration Building is housed in the former Police Quarters, designed by architect Hillson Beasley, who also designed

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...

. It was built during the

economic boom An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...

created by the 1890s

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

. The Administration Building moved into the Police Quarters in the 1970s during the

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

mining boom. The Main Gallery Building was built in 1977, and was also spurred by the mining boom. Western Australia was also placing more importance on cultural institutions, and the government was inspired by the upcoming 150th anniversary of federation in 1979. Construction of the Alexander Library began in the same period. Targets AGWA

The architect of the main gallery building was Charles Sierakowski from the

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

, who worked with engineer Philip Nadebaum and architectural company, Summerhayes and Associates.It was designed in the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

method with a

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

exterior, which was popular in European design. The slab and shear head column system was an innovative architectural feature in Western Australia at the time. In 2017 AGWA announced plans to redevelop its rooftop as focus for sculpture, events, restaurants and film, in a project called "AGWA Elevate". This opened in November 2021. The state government pledged $10 million towards this project. In the same year, "Six Seasons", a high-profile project to increase the focus on AGWA's Indigenous art, was initiated, with a new dedicated permanent Indigenous gallery inaugurated alongside "Plain Speak", a special exhibit for the Perth International Arts Festival.

Collections and exhibitions

Converted courtroom in the Art Gallery of Western Australia June 2018

The

Aesthetic Movement Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to b ...

inspired aspects of the Art Gallery's collection. Ongoing exhibitions include Indigenous traditional and contemporary art from the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and Western Australia, and Western Australian art from the 1820s to 1960s, alongside topical displays on key themes drawn from the collection. ''Desert River Sea: Kimberley Art Then and Now'' is a major project begun around 2013, exploring

Indigenous Australian art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving, rock ...

with funding support from Rio Tinto to the tune of . In 2019, ''Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley'' was mounted, a culmination of a six-year project between AGWA and Aboriginal artists and six art centres of

the Kimberley The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts in t ...

. There is a separate website dedicated to the project. Each year, AGWA exhibits work by talented graduating high school artists in its ''Year 12 Perspectives'' exhibition. In 2018, there were 55 works exhibited.

Awards

The Lester Prize

The Lester Prize, formerly the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, is one of Australia's richest

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

prizes. Forty finalists are exhibited at AGWA during October and November each year. In 2007 Tina Wilson founded the Black Swan Prize and ARTrinsic Inc to manage it. In 2014, included the Black Swan Prize for Heritage, for artworks depicting aspects of the heritage of Perth, and supported by the

City of Perth The City of Perth is a local government areas of Western Australia, local government area and body, within the Perth metropolitan area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government is commonly known as Perth City Council. T ...

. In 2016 the award moved to AGWA, at which time Wilson stepped down from her role as patron. In April 2019, the prize was renamed the Lester Prize in recognition of the award's main patron, Richard (Dick) Lester. , in addition to the main Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture (worth ), the awards include the Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize; the Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize; the Barton Family Foundation Installers' Prize; and the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, with a total prize pool of . In 2022, 720 entries were submitted from across the country.

Tom Malone Prize

The Tom Malone Prize (TMP), also known as the Tom Malone Glass Art Prize, was established in 2003 by then governor of the AGWA Foundation, Elizabeth Malone. From 2018 it was supported by benefactor Sheryl Grimwood. The acquisitive prize was worth in 2022, when it celebrated its 20th year, and increased to in 2023, when the shortlisted entries were presented in a new venue, at Linton and Kay Galleries in The Pickle District of West Perth. The prize is awarded for contemporary

glass art Glass art refers to individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. It ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including gl ...

. Winners include: * 2005:

Clare Belfrage Clare Belfrage (born 1966) is an Australian glass artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. Working at both JamFactory and her own home studio along with fellow glass artist and life partner Tim Edwards (artist), Tim Edwards, she has exhibited h ...

Gallery

References

External links

*
Department of Culture and the Arts

See the Gallery's bathroom at the Art Museum Toilet Museum of Art
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Western Australia Museums in Perth, Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth Art museums and galleries established in 1979 Statutory agencies of Western Australia Perth Cultural Centre Brutalist architecture in Australia