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* 1976 ''David Moore Retrospective 1940-76''
* 1976 ''David Moore Retrospective 1940-76''
* 1976 Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer, J. Bradbeer ''Eyelid to Eyelid''
* 1976 Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer, J. Bradbeer ''Eyelid to Eyelid''
* 1978 3 August to 3 September; Rod McNicol and Carol Jerrems joint exhibition
* 1978 3 August to 3 September; Rod McNicol and Carol Jerrems joint exhibition<ref>Janine Burke: "Haunting perceptions of personality captured without criticism or cliché. Simple, tough, memorable photographs of friends and strangers". National Times, 2 September 1978</ref>
* 1978 Charles Gatewood ''Sidetripping''
* 1978 Charles Gatewood ''Sidetripping''
* 1978 Peter Leiss ''The Enneagram Series''
* 1978 Peter Leiss ''The Enneagram Series''

Revision as of 08:44, 13 January 2016

Brummels Gallery in South Yarra, Melbourne was a commercial gallery established in the mid-1950s to exhibit contemporary Australian painting, sculpture and prints, but after a period of dormancy became best known in the 1970s as the first in Australia to specialise in photography at a time when the medium was becoming accepted as an art form.

David Yencken (1931- ) Chairman and Joint Managing Director Merchant Builders Pty Ltd., and later to be University of Melbourne Elisabeth Murdoch Chair of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning 1988-1997, established Brummels on the top floor of 95 Toorak Rd., South Yarra, above Brummels[1] espresso bar whose proprietor Pat Collins, joined in the venture. It was the second gallery in Melbourne to exclusively show Australian art.[2][3] (the first was Australian Galleries in Collingwood, which opened a few months earlier).

The gallery opened on 7 October 1956 with a show of artists from both Sydney and Melbourne[4] that included Jewish migrants Sali Herman, whose Two Soldiers Sleeping on a Train was bought by a Melbourne family, and Judy Cassab (a future Archibald Prize winner), alongside George Bell, Elaine Haxton, who showed works made on a visit to Communist China with an Australian cultural delegation, with a landscape by Charles Bush, and a wood carving by sculptor Clifford Last.[5]

Brummels Gallery continued to promote significant Australian artists including a one-man exhibition by Sali Herman;[6] abstract paintings, drawings and sketches for ceramic murals by John Howley, Donald Laycock and Laurence Daws with pottery by Tom Sanders;[7] Inge King, in Twelve Melbourne Sculptors (1956); Neil Clerehan sculpture (1957);[8] sketches, costumes, and designs for the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust by Barry Kay, April 20 - May 2, 1959;[9] Antonio Rodrigues wooden sculpture (1959).[10] Exhibitions were held by Desiderius Orban, John Brack, Clifton Pugh,[11] Dorothy Baker and others.

The first manifestation of Brummels closed in 1962[12] when Pat Collins moved to Hobart to open Tasmania’s first liquor-licensed restaurant. Through the 60s occasional exhibitions in the space were held, and as late as 1968 Ojars Biseniek’s abstractions were reviewed (unfavourably) by Patrick McCaughey in The Age March 13, 1968 [13]

In the early seventies advertising photographer and photojournalist Rennie Ellis with deputy director Robert Ashton reopened the space as Brummels Gallery of Photography. Assisted with two Arts Council grants, it was non-profit, and the first privately-run art gallery in the country to be devoted specifically to photography. It was particularly a showcase and outlet for Australian photographers[14][15] though it also attracted shows from international photographic artists including Charles Gatewood (‘Sidetripping’ 1975) and Sarah Moon.

On 14 December 1972 the gallery opened with Two Views of Erotica: Henry Talbot/Carol Jerrems (14 December 1972 – 21 January 1973), launched by photographer and filmmaker, Paul Cox, who was soon to open The Photographers Gallery around the corner in Punt Rd South Yarra. This period brought a reawakening[16] to the photographic medium as an art form not seen since the Pictorialist era, and saw the National Gallery of Victoria open the first photography department in a government-run institution, under the curatorship of Jennie Boddington. From 1977 the gallery was sponsored by the camera manufacturer Pentax and was renamed Pentax Brummels Gallery of Photography (the terrace shopfront still bears this signage in faded letters across its upper facade).

  • The gallery closed in January 1980, the month before the premature death of its inaugural exhibitor, Carol Jerrems. Having run 8 years, the gallery had advanced the standing of photography as art and the careers of many Australian photographers including Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer,[17] Ponch Hawkes, David Moore, Gerard Groeneveld, Rod McNicol, Peter Leiss, Steven Lojewski,Wesley Stacey, Robert Ashton, Ian Dodd, Sue Ford, George Gittoes,[18] Ashe Venn,[19] John Williams, Jon Rhodes, Geoff Strong, Jean-Marc Le Pechoux and Henry Talbot.

Selected exhibitions 1972–1980

Around seventy photography exhibitions were shown during this period, including:

  • 14 December 1972 – 21 January 1973 Two Views of Erotica: Henry Talbot and Carol Jerrems
  • 1972 Group Exhibition Friends (incl. Wesley Stacey)
  • 1973 Group Exhibition Children (incl. Rennie Ellis)
  • 1973 Robert Ashton 1973 Faces and Places
  • 1973 Wesley Stacey Towards a Self-Portrait
  • 1974 Peter Leiss Urban Labyrinth
  • 1974 December; joint show by Carol Jerrems showing 32 images from her A Book About Australian Women, and Robert Ashton exhibiting images from his book Into the Hollow Mountains: A Portrait of Fitzroy
  • 1974 Sue Ford Time Series (exhibited the same year at NGV)
  • 1975 Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer Mortal Trash is Immortal Diamond
  • 1975 George Gittoes Rainbow Way (also shown Coventry Gallery, Sydney)
  • 1976 Robert Ashton Between Light and Dark
  • 1976 Ponch Hawkes: Our Mums and Us
  • 1976 Jon Lewis solo
  • 1976 David Moore Retrospective 1940-76
  • 1976 Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer, J. Bradbeer Eyelid to Eyelid
  • 1978 3 August to 3 September; Rod McNicol and Carol Jerrems joint exhibition[20]
  • 1978 Charles Gatewood Sidetripping
  • 1978 Peter Leiss The Enneagram Series

Legacy

In 2012 the importance of Brummels to photography in Australia was recognised in the Monash Gallery of Art retrospective exhibition Brummels: Australia's First Gallery of Photography 22 October 2011 – 22 January 2012, which was a attended by 15,639 visitors.[21][22][23] Research done by the Australian Centre for Photography shows that Brummels was the fifth of the earliest photographic centres established worldwide.[24]

References

  1. ^ 'Brummels' is always spelt thus, without apostrophe
  2. ^ Germaine, Max (1979), Artists and galleries of Australia and New Zealand, Lansdowne Editions, ISBN 978-0-86832-019-9
  3. ^ “...my attention was focused on a small art gallery called Brummels Gallery in Toorak Road, South Yarra. I opened the gallery in 1956 in partnership with Pat Collins, the owner of the coffee shop below the gallery. The gallery was devoted to Australian painting and at the time of its opening was one of only two with this focus in Melbourne. Although I didn’t run the gallery for long, it was for me a significant experience…” David Yencken ‘A Tale of Two Motels: the times, the architecture and the architects’ Yencken, D. G. D. (David George Druce) (2014), A tale of two motels : the times, the architecture and the architects, [Albert Park, Victoria] Future Leaders, ISBN 978-0-9874807-3-6
  4. ^ "BANK EXHIBITION PAYS AN ART DIVIDEND". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 27 November 1956. p. 15. Retrieved 10 January 2016.;
  5. ^ "Varied art styles". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 18 December 1956. p. 13. Retrieved 10 January 2016.,
  6. ^ "Contrasts in new art show". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 30 October 1956. p. 11. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Painters team with potter". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 11 December 1956. p. 10. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ "FESTIVAL ART IS A WINNER". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 20 November 1956. p. 8. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  10. ^ The Age - Apr 7, 1959 p 2 https://news.google.com/newspapers nid=1300&dat=19590407&id=J55VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GawDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3054,945763&hl=en
  11. ^ Patrick McCaughey 'Pugh's Nudes Tell All' in The Age - Aug 22, 1973, p.2 [2]
  12. ^ McCulloch Encyclopaedia of Australian Art 1994 p.826
  13. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19680313&id=HP5UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f5MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1582,2145070&hl=en
  14. ^ MIDWEEK MAGAZINE Love of women and life inspires photos. (1990, April 11). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 29. Retrieved January 10, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122099453
  15. ^ Paul Taylor: “Peter Gabelle’s ‘Photographers Gallery also opened in Bondi later in 1972 but did not last long”Taylor, Paul, 1958- (1984), Anything goes : art in Australia 1970-1980, Art & Text, ISBN 978-0-9591042-0-2{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Geoff Strong: "With hindsight, most of those involved dismiss the suggestion that this golden age was some kind of Australian photographic renaissance - that would be an insult to the older generation who had done much of the work without the support or the fanfare. But something happened in that decade. A convenient starting-point would be when Brummels Gallery first opened with Carol Jerrems' and Henry Talbot's 'Erotica' exhibition in 1972. A convenient finishing-point would be Joyce Evans' decision to close her Church Street Photographic Centre a decade later. The years between saw what was probably the greatest out-pouring of photographic energy that had ever happened in Australia...." Strong, Geoff (1988), "The Melbourne Movement: fashion and faction in the seventies", The Thousand Mile Stare: a Photographic Exhibition (1988): 10–18, retrieved 10 January 2016
  17. ^ Selections of photographs from two exhibitions: Mortal trash is immortal diamond / photographs by Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer. Brummels Gallery of Photography, February 14-March 12, 1975; Eyelid on eyelid / Jamie Bradbeer, Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer. Brummels Gallery of Photography, March 18-April 18, 1976. Includes reproductions of the respective catalogues. Limited edition of 20 numbered copies.Bradbeer, Godwin; Breninger, Warren, 1948-, (photographer.); Bradbeer, Jamie, 1947-, (photographer.); Brummels Gallery of Photography (2014), Mortal trash, 1969-1979, [Melbourne] [Godwin Bradbeer], retrieved 10 January 2016{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ George Gittoes showed ‘Rainbow Way’ series of abstract colour photographs at Brummels 1975 Fry, Gavin; Gittoes, George, 1949- (1998), George Gittoes, Craftsman House, ISBN 978-90-5703-991-1{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ PAINTER-SCULPTOR Ashe Venn showed there in July 1975 "COMPACT". The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982). 1933 - 1982: National Library of Australia. 30 July 1975. p. 47. Retrieved 10 January 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  20. ^ Janine Burke: "Haunting perceptions of personality captured without criticism or cliché. Simple, tough, memorable photographs of friends and strangers". National Times, 2 September 1978
  21. ^ Monash Gallery of Art Annual Report 2012, p.30 [3]
  22. ^ Finch, M. "Brummels." Art & Australia 49, no. 4 (2012): 678. review of MGA show
  23. ^ Press release for Brummels: Australia's First Gallery of Photography
  24. ^ after George Eastman House (Rochester, USA), the Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki), The Photographers’ Gallery (London), Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego). [4]
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