Art Gallery of Ballarat facts for kids
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| Established | 1884 |
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| Location | 40 Lydiard Street North. Ballarat, Australia |
| Type | Art gallery |
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is Australia's oldest regional art gallery. It started in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. A group of people, led by James Oddie, created it. At first, the gallery rented space in another building. Its current home on Lydiard Street North opened in 1890. The gallery was privately owned for many years. In 1977, it became part of the Ballarat City Council. In 2008, it changed its name to the Art Gallery of Ballarat. It also became a place where everyone could visit for free.
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is a popular place for visitors in Ballarat. Its two-story building is very important to the city's history. It is even listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The gallery has more than 11,200 artworks. These artworks come from the 1700s all the way to today. The gallery shows new exhibitions often. It also has its main art displays on the top floor. The famous Eureka Flag has been part of the collection since 1895. It is currently on loan to the Eureka Centre.
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How the Gallery Started
In June 1884, a kind person from Ballarat named James Oddie helped start something special. He paid for and lent paintings for a public art show at the city hall. Soon after, a group of people met and decided to create a permanent art gallery. They did not have their own building yet. So, they rented the first floor of the Ballarat Academy of Music. This is where Her Majesty's Theatre is now.
On September 11, 1884, Governor Henry Loch officially opened the gallery. This was during his first visit to Ballarat. Most of the art at that time was on loan. James Oddie was the main helper and is known as the gallery's "patron and founder."
In August 1886, the government gave £2000 to buy art for the gallery. They also gave land on Lydiard Street for a new building. The building was designed in the Renaissance Revival architecture style. It was made with bluestone bricks and had a stone stairway. The first stone was laid on June 21, 1887. This was to celebrate Queen Victoria's 50 years as queen. The Ballarat Fine Art Public Gallery Association was also created in May 1886.
The first part of the new building was finished in 1890. Alfred Deakin opened the new building on Friday, June 13, 1890.
An Important Painting Goes Missing
In the 1970s, the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery was having money problems. The gallery director, Ron Radford, wanted to make the art collection and security better. At that time, the gallery only had a few staff members. In 1978, the gallery was in debt. It started to transfer its building and art to the city council in 1977. In return, the council helped pay for the gallery's running costs. The council quickly added more staff to improve safety.
In August 1978, something surprising happened. An unknown person entered the gallery. They used a knife to cut the painting Charcoal burners (1886) by Tom Roberts from its frame. Then, they rolled it up and walked out. This painting was very valuable. The news about it was everywhere. A later director called it a "national scandal." The painting was found in a park in Sydney several months later. It was returned to the gallery in May 1979. This event helped make security better in art galleries across the region.
New Name and Free Entry
In 2008, the gallery changed its name to the Art Gallery of Ballarat. It also started letting people visit for free. A new logo was created for the gallery at this time too.
Gallery Building and Design
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is at 40 Lydiard Street North. It is a two-story building listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The building is designed in the Renaissance Revival style. It has special stone columns and twin pyramid-shaped sections. Inside, a large stone staircase leads up to the main art rooms. The ceiling above the stairs has beautiful Art Nouveau decorations.
The architectural company Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy designed the building. It was built between 1887 and 1890. It is the oldest building in Australia made specifically to be an art gallery. The gallery has been made bigger three times: in 1927, 1987, and 2001. In 2009, a big project updated the building. This project made the exhibition hall larger and moved the shop and cafe. The outside of the building was also made to look new again. Another update happened in 2022.
Art Collection
Many Australian publications have said the Art Gallery of Ballarat is one of the best regional art galleries in Victoria. In November 2022, the gallery had over 11,200 artworks. The director estimated in 2017 that it had more than two thousand paintings. It also had six thousand prints and drawings. It was the largest regional gallery in Australia for a long time. The HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast became larger when it opened in May 2021.
The gallery's collection focuses on the history of Australian art. It has works from the 1700s to today. This includes early Australian art and art from the region. Paintings like Old Ballarat as it was in the summer of 1853-54 (1884) show how the city grew. The gallery asked artist Eugene von Guerard to create this painting. The gallery has also been collecting modern art since the 1960s. It is special because it has been collecting Indigenous Australian art since the 1930s. This art comes especially from the Northern Territory's Top End.
When the gallery opened in 1890, a journalist from The Argus newspaper wrote about the paintings. The gallery bought Ajax and Cassandra (1886) by Solomon Joseph Solomon in 1887. This painting was shown at the Royal Academy of Arts before coming to Melbourne. The Argus called it a "masterpiece." Even though such a painting would usually go to a state gallery, Ballarat bought it quickly. It became one of the gallery's "most loved paintings." The Argus also liked the many landscape paintings that James Oddie had bought. Oddie also helped the gallery get the Eureka Flag. This flag was kept by a police officer after the Eureka Rebellion. The flag is still owned by the gallery. However, it has been on loan to the Eureka Centre since 2014.
In the late 1800s, the gallery's art collection influenced the Lindsay family. They were famous artists and writers. When he was young, artist Norman Lindsay would study Ajax and Cassandra. In the 1950s, he gave some of his own art to the gallery.
Images for kids
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Eugene von Guerard, Bush fire between Mount Elephant and Timboon, 1857
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Louis Buvelot, One of the Falls of the Wannon, 1872
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Jane Sutherland, Obstruction, 1887
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Charles Conder, An Early Taste for Literature, 1888
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Arthur Streeton, Autumn (also known as Eaglemont), 1889
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David Davies, Under the Burden and Heat of the Day, 1890
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Walter Withers, The Last of Summer (also known as The Rising Storm), 1898
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E. Phillips Fox, A Love Story, 1903
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Rupert Bunny, The Sonata, 1909
