Christine Abrahams Gallery facts for kids

Christine Abrahams Gallery was an art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. It showed modern Australian art from 1980 to 2008. The gallery was first called Axiom. It became a very important place for artists and art lovers in Melbourne.

About the Gallery

How It Started

Christine Abrahams (born 1939, died 1994) loved art. She studied Fine Art at Melbourne University. For many years, she worked at the National Gallery of Victoria. She also helped with art research at Monash University. Christine became a gallery director and a big supporter of new Australian art in the 1970s. She had three sons, Guy, Damian, and Ari, with her husband Daryl.

Artists and art experts admired Christine. Lenton Parr, an artist, said she saw art as "a gift to the spirit." Betty Churcher, who directed the National Gallery of Australia, praised Christine's kindness and passion. She said Christine created a special place in Melbourne for "interesting contemporary art."

Before opening her own gallery, Christine managed the Powell Street Gallery from 1976 to 1980.

The Axiom Years

In March 1980, Christine Abrahams helped open Axiom Gallery. It was located at 27 Gipps Street in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne. This area became a hub for many art galleries. Other galleries nearby included Pinacotheca and Niagara Galleries.

Art critic Robert Rooney said that Axiom Gallery continued to show "modernist abstraction." This was a style of art it had taken over from the old Powell Street Gallery. Artists like Syd Ball and Fred Cress showed their work there.

Axiom's first show featured large abstract paintings. These were by artists such as Sydney Ball, Fred Cress, John Walker, and John Firth-Smith. After that, they had a show of photographs by David Moore. By 1982, Christine was proud that Axiom supported many women artists. She said, "Eight out of 16 artists we've shown this year have been women. We don't choose them because they're women but because the work is really exciting."

Early Art Shows

Axiom Gallery held many exhibitions. Here are a few examples:

• 1980: Shows by Barbara Zerbini and Victor Majzner.
• 1980, December: A group show with Lesley Dumbrell, Roger Kemp, and Fred Williams. It also included photographs by David Moore and Max Dupain.
• 1981, March: Drawings by William Kelly.
• 1981, April: Photographs by Gisèle Freund.
• 1982, June: Paintings by Marion Borgelt.
• 1982, December: A traveling show of photographs by Sue Ford.

A critic named Brigid Cole-Adams described Axiom in 1980 as a "good more conventional gallery." She noted it showed "interesting contemporary work" in both abstract and new realist styles.

Becoming Christine Abrahams Gallery

In December 1982, Axiom Gallery closed. Christine Abrahams then reopened it on February 12, 1983, under her own name: the 'Christine Abrahams Gallery'. She was the director. The gallery showed many types of visual arts. This included photography, works by architects, and crafts by jewellers, ceramicists, and furniture makers. It also featured art by Indigenous artists.

The gallery building used to be a clothing factory. Architect Daryl Jackson redesigned it in 1980. He kept the industrial look with exposed beams and concrete floors. Jackson himself showed his architectural drawings at the gallery in 1984. Art critic Robert Rooney said the renovated space was "spacious and well-planned." It was perfect for showing large paintings. The gallery had a smaller area for "works on paper," like drawings or prints. This allowed two shows to happen at the same time.

More Art Exhibitions

The Christine Abrahams Gallery hosted many important exhibitions. Here are some examples:

• 1983, February: A show featuring eight artists, including Ann Weir.
• 1983, March: Sculpture by Fiona Orr and prints by Wendy Stavrianos.
• 1983, August: Paintings and drawings by Sydney Ball.
• 1984, April: Architectural drawings by Daryl Jackson and photographs by John Gollings.
• 1984, September: Bark paintings by Bulun Bulun, an Indigenous artist.
• 1988, September: "Melbourne 1954 – 1964," an exhibition of photographs by Mark Strizic.
• 1994, June: "Grass fibre weavings from Ramingining" and photographs by Jeff Carter.
• 1995, August: "Melbourne in the '60s," another exhibition of photographs by Mark Strizic.
• 2000, October: "Salvator Rosa Series III" by Mandy Martin.

Closing Its Doors

Christine Abrahams passed away in September 1994 at age 55. Her son, Guy Abrahams, had been co-director since 1987. He continued to run the gallery after her death.

The Christine Abrahams Gallery closed in November 2008, after 28 years. The gallery's records and history were given to the State Library of Victoria.

Her Impact on Art

Christine Abrahams had a big impact on the art world. She helped start the Australian Contemporary Art Fair, which is now called the Melbourne Art Fair. She was also part of the planning committee for this fair several times. Christine was involved with other important art groups, like the Australian Sculpture Triennial and the Visual Art Export Group of the Australia Council.