It was ambitious – and it was expensive. The Federal Government’s commitment to Sharing the National Collection came with an $11.8 million investment, which would be rolled out over four years.
How that would materialise into a program was complex – especially when things like insurance, freight and staffing had to be taken into consideration. That roll-out has understandably been slow, but we are now seeing results.
A number of significant loans are currently in place across Australia. ArtsHub takes a look at the impact of these – not from the National Gallery’s perspective, but from that of the regions on the receiving side of the initiative.
Read: Impediments to loaning artworks? Understand the new $11.8 million pathway
The impact felt
At the close of March, a total of 82 artworks had been shared to nine galleries in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland, with further loans to be announced in the coming months.
When the initiative was announced last year, as part of the Government’s National Cultural Policy, Revive, Minister for the Arts Tony Burke said, ‘The National Gallery’s Collection belongs to all Australians, but at any point in time 98% of it is in storage. That’s all changed with Sharing the National Collection.’
Tweed Gallery Director, Ingrid Hedgcock agrees. She tells ArtsHub: ‘Without this initiative, these Collection gems would not travel to, and be exhibited in, a regional gallery. This initiative has enabled excellent media coverage for the Gallery, generated interest from new audiences and inspired creative programming for family audiences over the summer holiday period.’
Hedgcock says that Tweed has ‘registered a pleasing rise in visitor numbers to the Gallery since the [Claude] Monet’s unveiling in November last year, and again with the opening of the [Giorgio] Morandi and additional Margaret Olley works in March this year’.
Monet’s Haystacks was the first artwork announced under the initiative. The most recent has been a piece by artist Ron Mueck.
Dr Gerry Bobsien, Director Maitland Regional Gallery, opened some delivery crates last week. She tells ArtsHub, ‘We welcomed Pregnant woman by Ron Mueck into our space on Friday, and the weekend certainly saw an increase in visitors. People are coming in just to see this work and we expect this level of attendance to grow.’
Bobsien continues, ‘This is a work that is already creating a great deal of discussion and wonder with our audience. We underestimated the emotional impact of this work and the response, only a few days in, is moving and significant.’
Bobsien tells ArtsHub that the Gallery’s aim was to ‘bring in new visitors and create opportunities to bring our own Collection into conversation with the National Collection’.
Maitland will hold two major Collection shows over the loan period, Bodywork this year, and Mother scheduled for 2025.
To have a cultural experience like this in a regional gallery is no small thing.
Dr Gerry Bobsien, Director, Maitland Regional Gallery
Tamworth Regional Gallery had a similar aim, requesting the loan of artworks by two iconic female artists, Grace Crowley, who was born in Tamworth, and Grace Cossington Smith.
In a media release issued by the Arts Minister’s office, Tamworth Region Mayor Russell Webb said: ‘To think that Grace Crowley, a Barraba artist, is regarded for her works that show the beauty of regional Australia is a testament to the wonderful part of the world we live in.’
Director of the Gallery Bridget Guthrie also noted the importance, locally, of recognising female artists. ‘Grace Crowley and Grace Cossington Smith provide an important perspective on Australian culture, and the place of women in the art world. To be able to exhibit this regionally is of tremendous value.’
But perhaps the numbers that most describe the impact the National Collection share is having, is coming out of Western Australia. Warhol in the West at Wanneroo Regional Gallery has recorded a 1200% increase in attendance over the first month of showing their loans.
And testament to the roll that art can play in education, the Gallery has reported to the NGA this week, that they have had more school visits in one month than the previous two years.
Scale is not an impediment to ambition
Similarly, Karen Patterson, Manager of Arts, Culture and Entertainment, and currently overseeing Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, tells ArtsHub the impact has been significant in a short period.
‘The Broken Obelisk has been received with open arms and hearts by the people of Nowra. They’ve fallen in love with it – there was no settling in phase.’ She adds that among the hubbub on the day it was installed people could be overheard saying, ‘they won’t be getting that back’.
This major sculpture by Barnett Newman was formerly placed outside the National Gallery and now it sits outside Shoalhaven Regional Gallery. ‘It blends beautifully with the architecture and sits under a gum tree and in the U-shaped forecourt landscaping,’ says Patterson. ‘We feel that Broken Obelisk is very much drawing people into the Gallery who would have walked by in the past.’
It is the only loan today that is an outdoor work, publicly accessible 24/7. ‘It is such an amazing opportunity to have a work of this calibre and it is a beautiful surprise for people,’ Patterson continues. ‘The Minister said we were really bold asking for the biggest work. We have created some great programming around it and are already having drawing groups use it, and school groups, and in June will be running a special event with local artist Greer Taylor.’
Seattle, New York, Nowra – we feel this is a really big pin point in the amazing art map across regional Australia.
Karen Patterson, Manager of Arts, Culture and Entertainment, Shoalhaven City Council
Equally ambitious in its request was Wanneroo Regional Gallery in Perth. But it paid off. The Gallery has received one of the largest shares – 50 artworks by pop master Andy Warhol with a combined value of $148 million.
Among the pieces on loan until March 2026, is Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup I portfolio (1968), and the life-size painting Elvis (1963). Burke said, ‘It doesn’t get much bigger than Andy Warhol …and now one of our most valuable collections is on its way to the west.’
In the Government’s media release, Mayor of Wanneroo Linda Aitken said the announcement recognised the importance of regional galleries. ‘Gifting people opportunities to experience significant art in their own area can ignite appreciation for art and culture, and help foster the development of new creatives, new ideas and future arts professionals.’
Also among the top loans so far is a celebrated painting by US artist Mark Rothko, 1957 #20, which is valued at $116 million and will head to Ipswich Art Gallery in Queensland in November.
Burke said, ‘Having these pieces on display in Ipswich will be a game-changer for the Gallery.’
Director of the National Gallery of Australia, Dr Nick Mitzevich added of the Rothko loan: ‘Works of this tremendous calibre would not normally be available to regional galleries, due to their high value and significance… The possibility that young audiences in particular can see works of art like this in their local gallery can be a transformative experience.’
Read: Finding agency over paternalism for regional galleries
Rethinking how to utilise the collection
Up at the Blue Mountains Culture Centre (BMCC) Artistic Program Leader, Rilka Oakley tells ArtsHub that that the Centre ‘has seen periods of increased visitation as a result of our Sharing the Collection exhibition, and visitor feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many guests returning to view Ngurra Bayala multiple times’.
BMCC took a slightly different approach to other organisations, using the initiative to bolster and ground exhibitions it had curated. The Centre collaborated with Dharug artist and curator Leanne Tobin to select seven First Nations female video artists for the exhibition Ngurra Bayala (Country speaks), celebrating local creatives – and putting them into context with three major video works from the NGA.
Oakley adds: ‘Despite having a very tight timeline due to the constraints of our launch date, we found the process relatively easy. NGA were very responsive and, overall, we had a great experience.’
Similarly, five bronze sculptures by Australian artist Jan Brown have travelled to Texas Regional Gallery in rural south-east Queensland for two years, until March 2026. In the Government’s media release, David Hayward, a representative for Goondiwindi Regional Council and the Gallery, said, ‘Although we are a small regional gallery, our committee is always looking for opportunities to expand cultural experiences for our community.’
Senator for Queensland, Nita Green, continued: ‘Regional Queenslanders are as enriched and appreciative of art as those who live in the big cities… I am pleased that Texas will be able to enjoy these artworks from a fantastic Australian artist, Jan Brown.’
The cost of the equation
Overall, each of the loan recipients ArtsHub spoke with believes that the process has been pretty hassle-free, and the cost to them has been minimal.
Hayward says it simply, but it resounds, especially in our current economic climate. ‘It has cost us nothing – installation was completed by our volunteer members.’
He adds, ‘The process was easy with the quality of information and display material of a very high standard.’
Tweed’s Ingrid Hedgcock says, ‘The initiative has cost us some advertising and manpower spend, but the benefits have far outweighed the costs,’ adding that the Gallery has also managed public programs and talks around the loans, including ‘a regular talk at midday regarding Monet’s Haystacks, Midday.
Hedgcock continues, ‘The major costs of insurance, transportation and security for these masterpieces have been covered … without which we would not have been able to fund an exhibition of such calibre.’
It is a point echoed by Bobsien, who say that the ‘EOI process was refreshing’.
Bobsien tells ArtsHub: ‘The funding provided by the Federal Government for this program means regional audiences do not have to travel to a major city to see internationally significant works of art and it means we can use our own budget to invest in artists and programs associated with the loan.
‘This includes commissioning artists to make new work that sits in alignment with the Mueck work and for engagement programs, workshops and arts health initiatives.’
Bobsien adds, ‘The National Gallery worked with us to ensure any environmental, security or technical constraints were resolved and we had the support we needed for installation. The NGA facilitated collaboration between Ron Mueck and our exhibition team and this was so valuable for the overall design and lighting of the work.’
ArtsHub will continue to track the roll-out of this initiative, but for now, it seems to be money well spent.
Recapping the loans to date
These are the significant artworks that have found extended, temporary homes:
- Broken Obelisk – a towering sculpture by US minimalist Barnett Newman, which previously stood in the NGA’s forecourt. It will now greet visitors to Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in Nowra, NSW for the next five years, until February 2029.
- The largest share to date is 53 paintings and screen prints by the iconic pop artist, Andy Warhol – including the life-size painting Elvis – now on display at Wanneroo Regional Gallery, in Western Australia, until March 2026.
- Five bronze sculptures by Australian artist Jan Brown have made their way to Texas Regional Gallery, in rural south-east Queensland for the next two years.
- Claude Monet’s famous Haystacks, three works by Margaret Olley and a painting by Giorgio Morandi are all on display at Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre, in northern NSW for a two-year period.
- Moving image works by First Nations artists Fiona Foley, Megan Cope, Julie Gough and r e a have been shared to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre in NSW until November 2025.
- Ron Mueck’s Pregnant woman has just been unveiled this week at Maitland Regional Gallery, NSW.
Loans soon to head out
- David Hockney’s A Bigger Grand Canyon and Imants Tillers’ Mount Analogue will be at HOTA Home of The Arts on the Gold Coast, from 22 June (plus more approved loans to be announced).
- Five works of art by Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin and Gwyn Hanssen Pigott will be shown at Ipswich Art Gallery, in regional Queensland, from 10 November.
- Six artworks by foremost Australian female modernist artists Grace Crowley and Grace Cossington Smith head to Tamworth Regional Gallery, in regional NSW, from November 2024.
Regional and suburban galleries can register their expressions of interest via this link.
