The University of Queensland will present the first exhibition of Australian self-portraiture to mark the opening of the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre.
To Look Within: Self Portraits in Australia will run at the University Art Museum within the Mayne Centre from April 15 to June 20. The Centre, located at UQ’s St Lucia campus in Brisbane, will be the new home of the University’s Art Museum.
The new Centre – previously called Mayne Hall - has been transformed from an auditorium, used only very infrequently for graduations, examinations and occasional musical performances, into an art gallery and new home for the University Art Museum.
The self-portraiture exhibition, curated by the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Andrew Sayers and Director of the University Art Museum Ross Searle, will bring together over 100 self-portraits from the colonial period to the present. This includes works from the National Portrait Gallery and other Australian collections.
Mr Sayers said self-portraiture in Australia had been largely a phenomenon of the 20th century.
“This reflects the lack of an art world in Australia for much of the colonial period,” he said.
The exhibition will include paintings, prints and photographs by a diverse range of artists including: Rupert Bunny; Hugh Ramsay; Tom Roberts; Arthur Streeton; William Dargie; Fred Williams; Tracy Moffatt; Margaret Olley; Jeffrey Smart; Gordon Bennett; and Mike Parr.
Mr Searle said the exhibition highlighted the University’s establishment of Australia’s first collection of artist self-portraits.
“This unique specialist collection will be established over time from a core group of self-portraits currently in the University collection, including works by Jeffrey Smart and Mary Christison,” he said.
“Over time the University’s self portrait collection will build into a rich picture of the art and preoccupations of our own and successive times.”
The James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre will be officially opened on Thursday, April 15.
It is named in honour of Dr James O’Neil Mayne (1861-1938) and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne (1858-1940), the last surviving members of Brisbane’s Mayne family, who were benefactors to the University. Among their donations was the land for the St Lucia campus.
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay said the University was extremely grateful to The Atlantic Philanthropies which provided a generous $5million donation towards the transformation of Mayne Hall.
“It is an important cultural project for Brisbane and the University and it appropriately honours early University benefactors Dr James O`Neil Mayne and Miss Mary Emelia Mayne,” he said.
The University Art Museum has been located in the Forgan Smith Tower since its establishment in 1976 to house art works collected by the University since the 1940s.
With more than 2500 art works by Australian and international artists, the University Art Museum is Queensland’s second largest public art collection.
Media: For more information, contact Director of the UQ Art Museum Ross Searle (telephone 07 3365 7952, email r.searle@uq.edu.au) or Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
