The University of Queensland has received one of the most substantial art bequests in its 90-year history.
Expatriate surgeon and UQ medical graduate the late Dr Jeffery (Graeme) Bennett has bequeathed a collection of 53 works including major pieces by Australian artists to the University Art Museum.
Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman, Charles Conder, Ray Crooke, Clifton Pugh, Arthur Boyd, Robert Dickerson, and Michael Kmit are among 29 established artists represented in the collection.
The pieces have just been unwrapped and are on public display for the first time at the University Art Museum until November 11.
UQ Art Museum curator Ross Searle said the University was delighted to receive such a generous gift.
"This will provide a significant boost to the University?s own holdings of 2600 works, and it will give the Australian public access to this fine collection for the first time," he said.
"Although the University collection already includes some pieces by these artists, they are now represented with significant works through this generous benefaction."
Mr Bennett graduated Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from The University of Queensland in 1966, subsequently obtaining a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. He specialised in cardiac and thoracic surgery in England until the 1990s when he moved to Thailand, working at the Chulalonghorn Hospital for the Thai Red Cross Society and personally meeting the medical costs of many poor patients.
In a video made before his death to accompany the gift, Mr Bennett explained how he inherited the nucleus of his art collection from his uncle Dr Roger Bennett, a Brisbane anaesthetist, and built substantially on it over the years. He bought some works at auction, from friends and acquaintances, and received some art gifts from patients.
A particular favourite was a Charles Blackman of school girls in colourful raincoats. Around them, adults in black raincoats are weathered and bent by the vicissitudes of life.
A painting that reminded him of home was a typical Ray Crooke Thursday Island vista with a yellow shirted man in a window with a tropical sea beyond.
Mr Bennett explained how he was indignant when he heard that a Charles Conder was being sold at a London art auction by a major Australian gallery as surplus to their collection. He felt strongly that significant Australian art should remain in Australia.
Although an expatriate, he never forgot Australia nor his alma mater. He attended exhibitions by Australian artists, and was prevailed upon to purchase their art.
He visited the University regularly while on holidays in Brisbane, maintained contact with his former classmates, and was greatly impressed by the University?s restoration of the Brisbane Customs House.
Mr Bennett was inspired by several other great benefactors to make the collection publicly accessible. They included the late Dr Norman Behan, whose Stuartholme-Behan collection is housed at the Brisbane Customs House.
"The University has been fortunate to receive support from a number of benefactors," Mr Searle said.
"The Art Museum acquired about 30 pieces from the 1948 estate of benefactors Dr James O?Neil Mayne and his sister, Mary Emelia Mayne, and in the 1970s, 60 pieces were donated by medico Dr James Duhig," Mr Searle said.
"Most recently in 1995, UQ graduate Dr Natalis Yuen of Hong Kong donated his collection of Chinese antiquities, including rare Neolithic pottery jars and an early Ming blue and white grape dish to the University."
Mr Searle said that Mr Bennett intended that this collection, which he has dedicated to the memory of his father, Geoffrey and uncle Roger, be enjoyed by Australians, and more particularly visitors to the University Art Museum, for generations to come.
Mr Bennett?s sister, Mrs Jocelyn Mann said that her brother was a "modest, kind, gentle, and generous person ? a true gentleman."
"He paid the expenses of many patients who did not have financial resources out of his own pocket. He was also a quiet achiever who did not boast about his accomplishments," she said.
University Director of Development Warren Sturgess said he would be pleased to assist people interested in making bequests to the University. For further information contact Mr Sturgess at 07 3221 6265.
The Bennett exhibition can be seen at the University Art Museum, levels five and six of the Forgan Smith Tower, UQ St Lucia. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 4pm or Saturday 12-5pm.
Media: Further information, contact Ross Searle, telephone 07 3365 3046 or Jan King at UQ Communications, 0413 601 248 or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au.
