Gallery collection on display

NARACOORTE Art Gallery’s newly opened exhibition ‘ORIGIN’ invites visitors to discover the beginnings of the gallery’s permanent public collection.

This special exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view the gallery’s earliest acquisitions – works that laid the foundation for a collection nearly sixty years in the making.

Since its establishment, Naracoorte Art Gallery has been a vibrant cultural hub for the region, championing local creativity and connecting audiences with art of lasting significance.

ORIGIN celebrates this legacy by revisiting acquisitions made by the gallery from the gallery’s inception in 1968 through to the early 1980s.

From the first artwork ever acquired by the Naracoorte Art Gallery – a diminutive pencil drawing by Robert Walter Felling from Boards – to the larger-than-life The Floral Dress by John Rigby, visitors will encounter works by revolutionary figures in Australian contemporary art.

Highlights include works by modernists Mervyn Smith and Judith Heidenreich, both members of the Contemporary Art Society, later known as the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (ACE Open).

Also on display is a curious pastel drawing by so-called ‘Mathematical Expressionist’ Edwin Tanner and a confronting work by renowned artist and author Thyrza Davey. Davey was so admired by Pro Hart that he bought the complete set of paintings from her first book, Waiting for May.

Spanning portraiture, landscapes, and socially engaged works, ORIGIN highlights the diversity and ambition of the early collection, reflecting a bold and formative moment in the gallery’s history.

The exhibition also acknowledges the gallery’s ongoing commitment to conserving the artworks in its care, with City Room (1981), a striking lithograph by Brian Dunlop, currently unable to be hung due to frame deterioration.

Visitors are invited to support the restoration of this work through donations made during the exhibition.

ORIGIN is now on display upstairs in the Kay Hole Room at Naracoorte Art Gallery.

Step back to where it all began and experience the roots of a collection that continues to shape the region’s cultural story. Gallery opening hours Wed-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat-Sun 10am-3pm. Open on public holidays. Free entry.