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Page Last Updated:
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 |
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Home>Hamilton Art Gallery
One of the finest galleries in Australia, the Hamilton Art Gallery is famous for its outstanding collections of fine and decorative arts. Silver, glass and porcelain, oriental ceramics, furniture, paintings and prints are featured in six modern galleries. Many of the treasures came from gracious country homesteads around Hamilton, the first area of pastoral settlement in Victoria.
The permanent collection of over 7000 items is complemented with a program of temporary exhibitions and a range of public programs. The Gallery's unique collection offers a stimulating experience for all visitors and is an excellent educational resource for students of art and history.
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| History | | A bequest to the City of Hamilton of an impressive collection of art works by a local grazier, Herbert Buchanan Shaw (1882-1957), allowed Hamilton Art Gallery to first open its doors in October 1961.
Herbert and his wife May were noted collectors and during their lifetime established a magnificent art collection. May died in 1943 and upon his death in 1957, Herbert bequested almost 800 items and £6000 to the City of Hamilton under the provision that an art gallery be built in Hamilton to house his extensive collection of Oriental and European Ceramics, glass and silver, tapestries, objects d'art, paintings and prints.
The collection has now grown to over 7000 objects through bequests, acquisitions and gifts and includes fine international examples of 19th and 20th Century decorative arts and a growing collection of paintings and prints including Australian art.
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| On display |
 | The Shaw Gallery features changing exhibitions of historic and contemporary silver, porcelain and glass. A particularly notable piece standing in the Gallery's Fountain Court is a reproduction of Pietro Tacca's Fountain in Florence that originally stood in the Italian courtyard in the gardens of the Shaw's property 'Kiama'. | | In 1971, the State Government of Victoria made a special grant to the City of Hamilton to enable the purchase of a collection of 22 gouaches and some 135 prints by Paul Sandby (1731-1809). Considered to be the father of English watercolour, Paul Sandby's paintings, still in their original frames, are beautifully displayed in the Gaussen Galleries. Re-created to resemble an English drawing room complete with William Morris wallpaper, this collection of works is unrivalled in Australia. The other major Sandby collection is owned by the Queen and displayed at Windsor Castle. | | The Asian Collection consists of Chinese ceramics from the major dynasties, a growing collection of Japanese ceramics and a small group of works from India, Nepal and Korea. | | Australian Art includes colonial paintings of the Western District (Louis Buvelot's, Wannon Falls, Thomas Clark's, Muntham and Nicholas Chevalier’s Mt Abrupt) through to works by 20th century artists such as Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Justin O'Brien, John Olsen, Tim Storrier, Howard Arkley and Tim Maguire.
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| Gallery hours | | Monday to Friday: 10.00am to 5.00pm
Saturday: 10.00am to 12.00 noon and 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Sunday: 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Closed: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day
Free Admission.
Guided tours & group bookings by appointment (entry charges apply for coach groups).
Lift & wheelchair access is available.
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| How to find us | | Hamilton Art Gallery is part of the Civic Cultural Precinct and is located between the Performing Arts Centre and the Library, close to cafes, restaurants, hotels and Hamilton’s vibrant shopping centre. There is metered on-street parking and car parks nearby. The Gallery is also within easy walking distance of Hamilton’s beautiful Botanic Gardens, designed in 1881 by William Guilfoyle.
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