The Museum Of Contemporary Art Sydney (MCA) ~ Twenty Years Young ~ With Many Highly Regarded Art Collections

Written by Thornton Gunnarsson Tuesday, 03 January 2012 23:10

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia (MCA) is celebrating its 20th anniversary in November 2011. Originally established using a bequest left by Australian artist John Power to the University of Sydney to "inform and educate Australians in the contemporary visual arts", the museum was opened to the public in 1991. The Museum of Contemporary Art is Australia’s only museum dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art from across Australia and around the world. With a continually changing program of exhibitions there’s always something new, exciting and inspiring to see at the MCA. The land on which the MCA building is situated has great historical significance, originally owned by the Eora people of the Gadigal nation, the site also marks the landing place of the First Fleet in Port Jackson in 1788. In 1802 Sydney's first hospital and wharf were built nearby, with commissariat stores built by Colonel Foveaux in 1812. In the 1930s the commissariat stores and taxation building were demolished to make way for a new Maritime Services Board (MSB) building (the previous MSB offices were displaced by the Cahill Express Way and Circular Quay railway development). Government architect W.H. Withers began work on the building plans in 1939. Work resumed in 1944 under government architect W D H Baxter after a postponement of four years from 1940 due to Australia’s involvement in World War II. Builders were appointed in 1946 but difficulties in securing labor and material due to post war shortages delayed construction. The foundation stone was laid in 1949 and in 1952 the MSB building opened. With the relocation of the MSB to larger premises in 1989 the building was gifted by the NSW State Government to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Funded by the University of Sydney and the Power Bequest, restoration and refurbishment of the building commenced in 1990 under the direction of Andrew Andersons of Peddle Thorpe/John Holland Interiors and in November 1991 the Museum of Contemporary Art officially opened. The MCA is currently in the middle of building works to create a new northern wing, however, disruption is minimal and the potential visitor should not be put off. The museum hosts over 750,000 visitors annually. Be sure to visit the museum's website at . . http://www.mca.com.au/

The cornerstone of the current collection are the works donated by J W Power and those bought using his generous financial bequest. The J W Power Collection is the largest of the MCA's collections and was established through the 'Power Bequest to The University of Sydney'. The will of the late John Power stated that the Bequest should be"put towards the purchase of contemporary art ... so as to bring the people of Australia in more direct touch with the latest art developments in other countries." The Power Collection is a varied and eclectic collection of works by Australian and international artists from the late 1960s up until the constitution of the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1989. Within the Collection are 1,103 paintings, oil sketches and drawings by John Power himself, as well as a variety of works by other artists including kinetic work from the 1960s and 1970s, op art, performance pieces, pop art, minimalist works, and more recent works from 1980s. Artists featured in the Power Collection include Ulay and Marina Abramovic, Valerio Adami, Joseph Beuys, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Juan Davila, Neil Dawson, Gilbert and George, Richard Hamilton, Keith Haring, Edward Kienholz, Barbara Kruger, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Longo, Sidney Nolan, Ed Ruscha, Mike Parr, John Power, Cindy Sherman, Imants Tillers, Peter Tyndall, Andy Warhol, Jenny Watson, and John Young. The Loti and Victor Smorgon Collection of Contemporary Australian Art was gifted to the MCA in 1995 by private collectors Loti and Victor Smorgon, this collection of 154 works is a remarkable survey of work of the 1980s and 1990s by Australian artists spanning several generations. It represents paintings by artists who have emerged during one of the most lively and prolific periods in Australia's history, a time when artists had unprecedented representation in exhibitions and collections around the world. The collection focuses on three generations of artists working in Australia since the late 1960s. The first group comprises paintings from the 1980s by artists who exhibited in the landmark exhibition "The Field" in 1968. The second consists of a diverse group whose work was based in 1970s conceptual practice, and the third, a younger group of artists who emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. Artists represented in the Smorgon Collection include: Davida Allen, Howard Arkley, Peter Booth, Stephen Bush, Tony Clark, Juan Davila, Richard Dunn, Robert Hunter, Robert Jacks, Maria Kozic, Michael Johnson, Tim Johnson, Kerri Poliness, Vivienne Shark LeWitt, John Firth Smith, Imants Tillers, Dick Watkins, Jenny Watson and John Young. The MCA is also justifiably proud of its collections of Aboriginal art, including the Maningrida Collection of Aboriginal Art consisting of approximately 600 works created in and around the town of Maningrida. It includes works in fibre and other materials, including seeds, shells and feathers, mostly made by women. These beautiful objects reveal the ingenuity of the women and their ability to maintain strong links with the past, while at the same time incorporating new ideas and materials. The MCA's continue to develop their collections through acquisitions and loans.

Three temporary exhibitions are currently on view at the MCA, until July 19th 2011, "New Acquisitions in Context" celebrates five years of the MCA’s successful "New Acquisitions" series of exhibitions. "New Acquisitions in Context" provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a diverse selection of Australian and international art as well as offering an insight into how the MCA Collection is developed. Spanning a range of media from sculpture and drawing to installation and video, the exhibition includes work by artists James Angus, Hany Armanious, John Barbour, Sophie Coombs, Juan Davila, Hayden Fowler, Simryn Gill, Matthew Griffin, Mary Gubriawuy, Patrick Hartigan, Mathew Jones, Peter Kennedy, Laith McGregor, James Morrison, Arlo Mountford, Dorota Mytych, Robert Rauschenberg, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Tim Silver, Ken Thaiday, Imants Tillers, Günter Weseler and Simon Yates. "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990 - 2005" (until 26th April) presents the work of legendary American photographer Annie Leibovitz to Australian audiences as part of the Sydney International Art Series. "Bardayal ‘Lofty’ Nadjamerrek AO" presents a retrospective of works by one of Australia's best loved Aboriginal artists until 20 March 2011. Born around 1926 in the Mann River region of Western Arnhem Land, Bardayal ‘Lofty’ Nadjamerrek AO (deceased), lived at Kabulwarnamyo outstation located on the upper Liverpool River, in the stone country of the Arnhem Land plateau. This exhibition traces the influence and development of the artist’s practice and his legacy. Nadjamerrek's position on Western Arnhem Land art was unique. As a prominent elder he resided over clan estates with long links to cave painting sites, which trace some of the oldest forms of human expression. Nadjamerrek's earliest rock-art images are located at Karrmadjabdi, a shelter in his Mok clan estate on the Liverpool River, where he painted fish species, yam, rock possum and representations of Namorrodoh spirit beings by shaping bees wax and pressing them into the rock. In 1969, Bardayal began to paint on bark and paper remaining loyal to the natural pigments used for rock art. This exhibition explores the stories and places depicted in Nadjamerrek's work, providing visitors with a greater understanding and respect for the artist’s unique traditions and origins. The Ramingining Collection of Aboriginal Art contains over 260 bark paintings and wood carved sculptural and functional objects. The works in the Collection centre on the Yolngu system of classification of the natural world. Groupings of works represent the mangroves, the forests, the freshwater swamps, the oceans and beaches, the jungles and the plains and the many creatures that inhabit them. A further collection of 285 bark paintings was donated to the MCA in June 1993 by Arnott's Biscuits Limited. Featuring work by artists from the late 1960s through to the early 1980s, it is one of the most significant and in-depth Aboriginal bark painting collections in the world.