Mr Felton's Bequests

Mr Felton's Bequests
Author: John Poynter
Publisher: The Miegunyah Press
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 0522855520

Alfred Felton, a bachelor of definite opinions and benignly eccentric habits, was one of the remarkable group of Melbourne merchants who dominated the economy of the Australian colonies in the decades after the gold rush. In 1904 he left his substantial fortune in trust, the income to be spent by a committee of his friends, half on charities (especially for women and children), and half on works of art for the National Gallery of Victoria, works calculated to 'raise and improve public taste'. The Gallery suddenly gained acquisition funds greater than those of London's National and Tate galleries combined, and between 1904 and 2004 more than 15 000 items were purchased for it by the Felton Bequest. 'Although the last quarter of the twentieth century saw a dramatic and exciting expansion of Australian art museums', Patrick McCaughey writes in the foreword of this book, 'no institution could hope to replicate the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria assembled under the aegis of the Felton Bequest.' How the Felton Bequests' Committee carried out its tasks, in cooperation and sometimes in conflict with the Trustees of the Gallery, is a human story of many triumphs and occasional follies, of decisions made and unmade amid changing notions of art, philanthropy and public taste. John Poynter's account of Felton's life and the story of his Bequests covers most of Melbourne's history, from the unusual view point of three themes, business, art and charity.

Miegunyah

Miegunyah
Author: John Poynter
Publisher: Miegunyah Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780522867206

Annotation. Russell Grimwade had a clear and concise vision for his philanthropy, which balanced a strongly held sense of place and tradition with enlightened scientific innovation. Some recipients of the Grimwades' largesse had been pre-determined in establishing the bequests, building upon Russell's earlier commitment to biochemical research, for instance, while seeking to realise his long-held desire to fund the 'birth of an antipodean Clarendon Press' at Melbourne University Press. With the establishment of the Miegunyah Fund Committee in 1991, the Grimwades' philanthropy has enabled an exciting range of initiatives and programs. For more than two decades, Australia has benefited from the visits of almost a hundred international academics and thought leaders under the auspices of the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellows program. The University's cultural colletions have been enriched by the extraordinary treasures of the Grimwade collections, encompassing significant works of art as well as rare books and items of Australiana. Russell Grimwade's passion for chemistry, appreciation of art, and sense of obligation to preserve the past for future generations is given tangible form through the Miegunyah Fund Committee's long-standing support of the University's Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation. Almost forty years later, the vision and generosity of the Grimwade philanthropy remains one of the University of Melbourne's most significant gifts.

ART + CLIMATE = CHANGE

ART + CLIMATE = CHANGE
Author: Guy Abrahams
Publisher: Melbourne Univ. Publishing
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2016-06-27
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0522869572

In a period of profound environmental and social upheaval, climate change has become one of our greatest challenges. Yet for many of us, fear, confusion and frustration mean we are reluctant to consider, let alone act on this pressing issue. Rational engagement with science is vital to forming solutions to this challenge. But a cultural shift is also needed. Artists have the capacity to develop a narrative that recognises the reality of our present and inspires a vibrant, positive vision of our future. Presenting the work of Australian and international artists across twenty-nine exhibitions and events, ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE explores the power of art to create the empathy, emotional engagement and cultural understanding needed to motivate meaningful change.

Flinders Lane

Flinders Lane
Author: Russell Grimwade
Publisher: Melbourne Univ. Publishing
Total Pages: 92
Release: 2018-02-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0522873928

Alfred Felton started his fortune during the Australian gold rushes, selling 'Felton's Quinine Champagne' to miners. Later, he partnered with Frederick Grimwade to found a successful pharmaceutical company, Felton Grimwade & Co., and built 'the handsomest drug house in Australia', a bluestone warehouse in Flinders Lane. Their empire moved into glass manufacture, and by the time of his death, Felton was a rich man. He bequeathed most of his wealth to the National Gallery of Victoria; the value of the works acquired has now reached more than $2 billion. Flinders Lane: Recollections of Alfred Felton tells the story of this extraordinary benefactor. Illustrated with wood engravings by Helen Ogilvie, this new edition has a foreword by Sir Andrew Grimwade, great nephew of the author.

Living Water

Living Water
Author: Judith Ryan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2011
Genre: Art, Aboriginal Australian
ISBN: 9780724103478

Something to Declare

Something to Declare
Author: James Gobbo
Publisher: The Miegunyah Press
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0522857310

In 1938, Sir James Gobbo's family emigrated from Cittadella, near Venice, to Melbourne. After Oxford University, he returned to Melbourne to pursue a successful career as a barrister and then a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He then became governor of Victoria in 1997. Also traces his major roles in immigration reform.

The Disasters of War

The Disasters of War
Author: Francisco Goya
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2012-12-19
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0486139344

Visual indictment of war's horrors, modeled after Spanish insurrection (1808), the resultant Peninsular War and following famine. Miseries of war graphically demonstrated in 83 prints.

Feeling Things

Feeling Things
Author: Stephanie Downes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2018-01-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 019252366X

This interdisciplinary essay collection investigates the various interactions of people, feelings, and things throughout premodern Europe. It focuses on the period before mass production, when limited literacy often prioritised material methods of communication. The subject of materiality has been of increasing significance in recent historical inquiry, alongside growing emphasis on the relationships between objects, emotions, and affect in archaeological and sociological research. The historical intersections between materiality and emotions, however, have remained under-theorised, particularly with respect to artefacts that have continuing resonance over extended periods of time or across cultural and geographical space. Feeling Things addresses the need to develop an appropriate cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for the analysis of objects and emotions in European history, with special attention to the need to track the shifting emotional valencies of objects from the past to the present, and from one place and cultural context to another. The collection draws together an international group of historians, art historians, curators, and literary scholars working on a variety of cultural, literary, visual, and material sources. Objects considered include books, letters, prosthetics, religious relics, shoes, stone, and textiles. Many of these have been preserved in international galleries, museums, and archives, while others have remained in their original locations, even as their contexts have changed over time. The chapters consider the ways in which emotions such as despair, fear, grief, hope, love, and wonder become inscribed in and ascribed to these items, producing 'emotional objects' of significance and agency. Such objects can be harnessed to create, affirm, or express individual relationships, as, for example, in religious devotion and practice, or in the construction of cultural, communal, and national identities.