In memory of Robert Hughes, 1938 – 2012
August 8, 2012 3 Comments
The International Print collection at the National Gallery of Australia has a special, historic connection to Robert Hughes. In 1973 – almost a decade before the Gallery opened its doors to the public – Hughes alerted then director James Mollison to the fact that master-printer Kenneth Tyler was looking to sell his collection of printers’ proofs. Tyler, who set up the Gemini GEL workshop in Los Angeles, had decided to move to the east coast and was looking for a buyer to help fund a new workshop there. Hughes was aware that the National Gallery in Canberra was committed to building a world class collection of international works, and that Tyler wanted to see his works kept together – preferably in a public museum. The National Gallery was a perfect fit.
Details of this important acquisition, which laid the foundations for the Kenneth Tyler printmaking collection, are recounted on our website by Senior Curator Jane Kinsman, who interviewed Hughes about the acquisition in 2002: http://nga.gov.au/InternationalPrints/Tyler/Default.cfm?MnuID=5
Hughes’ death will be felt throughout the international art world, and particularly here in his native Australia.
What a great connection, so glad he was in my lifetime.
Clearly it is important to recognise both the historic significance of the work of the artist Robert Hughes and the National Gallery of Australia’s International Print Collection. With regard to the latter some credit must be due to Art Historian Pat Gilmour, not only founder of the Gallery’s Department of International Prints and Illustrated Books, but a key contributor to the building up of the gallery’s International Print Collection from the Gallery’s opening in 1982 until 1989 when she returned to the UK.
What Pat greatly championed was the collaboration between Artist and Printer which, up until this time, had been little acknowledged, the printer being regarded as having a much lesser role. Having set up the Print Department at the Tate Gallery in the 70s, and in recognition of her already valuable contribution to the world of the “original print” James Mollison asked Pat to join his staff in Canberra in 1981 as Senior Curator of International Prints and Illustrated Books. As well as being hugely instrumental in building up the International Print Collection, which includes the acquisition of Picasso’s Vollard Suite, she was able to persuade Ken Tyler to visit the Gallery in Canberra after meeting him at his workshop during a visit to America. This was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between Art Historian and Master Printer.
In 1985 Pat arranged a major exhibition entitled “Ken Tyler – Printer Extraordinary” featuring Ken Tyler’s collaborative work with major artists of the 20th Century, including prints by Robert Hughes. Her book “Ken Tyler – Master Printer and the American Renaissance” was published in 1986 by the Australian National Gallery (now the National Gallery of Australia) in which she extolled the work of Ken Tyler, his workshops and the vital connection between artist and printer. Many other exhibitions on this theme followed, further strengthening the relationship between Ken Tyler and the Gallery.
As Pat now suffer’s from Alzheimers and remember’s nothing of her valuable contribution to the Art World I feel we have some duty to ensure that history is not forgotten. We also swell up with pride with the knowledge that Ken Tyler was later to donate a huge collection of prints from the Tyler workshops to the Tate Modern in her honour.
Thank you Cathy and Alex for taking the time to share with us this information about Pat Gilmour, who certainly played a key role in the development of the National Gallery’s collection of prints and drawings.