Sedon Galleries facts for kids
Sedon Galleries was an art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. It showed and sold paintings and prints by Australian artists, especially those who painted in traditional, impressionist, and post-impressionist styles. The gallery was open from 1925 to 1959.
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The Start of Sedon Galleries
The person who owned Sedon Galleries was William Richard Sedon. He was born in 1876 in Adelaide. William grew up in Creswick, a town where his father had interests in gold mining. This was also the hometown of the famous Lindsay family of artists, whom he would later represent.
When William was about 20, he started buying and selling art. He used pieces from his grandmother's collection to begin his business. In 1916, he married Isabel Constance Crawford. When Isabel received an inheritance in 1919, it helped William to further his art dealing.
Opening the Gallery
On October 13, 1925, William Sedon opened The Sedon Galleries. It was located on the fourth floor of the Hardware Chambers building at 231 Elizabeth Street in Melbourne.
The very first art show was called Leading Australian Artists. It featured works by well-known painters like Arthur Streeton, Walter Withers, Elioth Gruner, and Norman Lindsay. The gallery also showed art by younger, rising artists.
Many artists from the 'Twenty Melbourne Painters Society', a group led by Tonalist artist Max Meldrum, also displayed their work at Sedon Galleries. This group often met in the same building.
Promoting Australian Art
For the first ten years, Sedon Galleries sold a lot of prints and drawings. William Sedon had good relationships with the National Gallery of Victoria and the Felton Bequest committee, which helped him sell many artworks.
Important artists like Arthur Streeton, Blamire Young, and Harold Herbert not only showed their art at the gallery but also wrote positive reviews about its exhibitions in Melbourne newspapers. While some galleries focused on international art, Sedon Galleries consistently supported and promoted Australian artists.
William Sedon also had connections with major art galleries across Australia. Artists who had shown their work at his gallery often moved into important roles in these institutions. For example, Robert Campbell became the Director of the Queensland Art Gallery and later the Art Gallery of South Australia. Will Ashton, a former Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, also exhibited at Sedon Galleries and helped introduce new artists to William.
Growing the Gallery
After his wife Isabel passed away in 1928, William Sedon sold their home and much of his personal art collection. With the money, he built a new home in Canterbury and included a large gallery space to hold his future art purchases.
The Bulletin, a well-known Australian magazine, called him ‘one of our foremost dealers’. The gallery successfully managed to get through the difficult period of the Great Depression. Its yearly Christmas shows of etchings became a popular and profitable event in the art world.
The gallery expanded its space in the Hardware Chambers building in 1929. Then, in 1930, it moved to a bigger location nearby at Elizabeth House, 340 Little Collins Street. In 1937, it moved again to 107 Elizabeth Street, above the Robertson and Mullens bookshop. This area was known for its art and literature, with other galleries and bookshops nearby.
William Sedon also hosted many artists and important people from Melbourne's medical and professional fields at his home. Some of the artists who visited included John Longstaff, W. B. McInnes, Napier Waller, Dora Wilson, and George Bell.
Focus on Traditional Art
Sedon Galleries was known for showing traditional art. For example, in 1931, it held an exhibition called Exhibition of Oils & Water-Colors by the Master Painters of the '90s. This show featured artists like Louis Buvelot and Charles Conder, who were important figures in Australian Impressionism. The gallery continued to feature solo shows by artists like Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1941, the National Gallery of Victoria bought Frederick McCubbin's famous painting Lost (1886) through Sedon Galleries. This painting had been shown by Sedon in 1931.
The gallery's focus on traditional art was also clear when it hosted an exhibition to help artists Mary Edwards and Joseph Wolinski with their legal costs. This was related to a court case about William Dobell's winning portrait in the 1943 Archibald Prize. In the same year, Robert Menzies, a leader of the Liberal Party, opened an exhibition of Harold Herbert's work at the gallery.
Even in 1951, an art reviewer from The Age newspaper noted that "The Sedon Galleries continue firm in their policy of presenting work by members of the Heidelberg school and its present-day adherents." This shows that the gallery kept its focus on traditional art styles.
However, by 1935, a review in The Herald suggested that new types of art might be welcome. The reviewer mentioned that Norman Lindsay's etchings, while skillful, seemed to rely more on strong feelings than on new design ideas.
The Gallery's Final Years
After World War II, people's interest in art began to change. Art critics and buyers started to look away from traditional art, like the works by Norman Lindsay and Hilda Rix Nicholas that Sedon Galleries showed. Instead, they became interested in Modernism, a new style of art.
Many new galleries opened that focused on modern art, such as Velasquez/Tye's (1940), Peter Bray (1949), Mirka's (1953), Gallery of Contemporary Art (1956), Brummels (1956), Australian Galleries (1956), the Museum of Modern Art Australia (1958), and Gallery A (1959).
Because of this shift in interest, sales at Sedon Galleries decreased. In August 1959, the gallery moved for the last time to a smaller shop-front at 150 Burwood Road in Hawthorn. William Sedon tried to sell pieces from his own art collection there, but it was difficult to find buyers. He passed away on December 18, 1959, and was buried in Boroondara Cemetery in Kew.
Exhibitions at Sedon Galleries
Sedon Galleries held many exhibitions over the years, showcasing a wide range of Australian and some international artists. Here are some notable exhibitions:
- 1925: Leading Australian Artists featuring Arthur Streeton, Walter Withers, Elioth Gruner, Norman Lindsay, and others.
- 1927: An exhibition of etchings, woodcuts, miniatures, and lithographs by artists from Britain, Europe, and Australia.
- 1929: A group show of Australian artists after the gallery expanded.
- 1929: An exhibition of British Painters, including Alfred Munnings and John Lavery.
- 1931: Drawings and etchings, including work by George Lambert.
- 1932: Percy Lindsay, Landscapes.
- 1935: Will Ashton, Norman Lindsay, Lionel Lindsay, and John C. Goodchild.
- 1942: A group show including John Longstaff, Arthur Streeton, Ernest Buckmaster, Norman Lindsay, and others.
- 1945: Norman Lindsay, Frederick McCubbin, Blamire Young, and other artists, showing oils and watercolours.
- 1946: Water-colours and Oils by J. J. Hilder, R. W. Sturgess, Sir John Longstaff, Norman Lindsay, and many more.
- 1951: A show featuring Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, Will Ashton, and Walter Withers.
