Highlights from the NGV

Founded in 1861, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is the oldest public art gallery in Australia. Its first home was the State Library, where it resided for more than 100 years, before moving to its current, stylish home on St Kilda Road, in 1968.

Foundation funds, and works, were contributed by Melbourne's newly wealthy, of which the city had plenty in the post gold rush boom. This enabled the gallery's curators to establish a formidable collection of early Australian art, which formed the backbone of the original collection. 

International artworks would be added in the 20th century. 

Alfred Fenton, a wealthy local businessman, left a sizable inheritance (the 'Fenton Bequest') to the gallery when he died in 1904, which was used to expand the collection. With the acquisition of European and American works, modern and classical, the gallery soon established a reputation of having one of the finest collections in the Southern Hemisphere.

Oddly, the NGV currently does not have a published catalogue for its permanent collection. So the following is a personal selection of favourite works from our fine gallery. The order of the listed items reflects is in no real order, but reflects my own path one afternoon, wandering from room to room...

THE SECOND MARRIAGE (1963)

David Hockney

David Hockney was a British painter who came to prominence in, and helped to personify, the turbulent art scene of the early 1960s. Openly gay, at a time when this was still illegal in many Western countries, Hockney used his art to comment on sexual identity, and to analyse traditional ideas of love and relationships. 

This piece from 1963 offers a critical view of the standard idea of marriage. The man - usually taken to be a self portrait - sits alongside his otherworldly wife, who Hockney based on an Egyptian statue he saw at the British museum. This unlikely pairing reflects the artists belief that traditional marriage was, or could be, ridiculous, a concept backed up by the paintings many unusual touches. The unique shape of the frame, the unexplained numbers attached to the couple, and the man's missing legs all contribute to the air of absurdity that surrounds the scene. 

Marriage was, very obviously, not for this artist.

THE WEEPING WOMAN

Pablo Picasso

No review of the NGV would be complete without touching on this work by Picasso, a man who stands tall over the art of the early twentieth century. However, I have written about this work, and its spectacular theft, more extensively already. Check it out here.

UNTITLED (RED) (1958)

Mark Rothko

Abstract painting appeared in the early 20th century, as contemporary artists chafed at the restrictions imposed on them by having to depict objects (people, landscapes etc). What the abstractionists wanted to provide was not a copy of reality in paint, but a gateway to a world of pure emotion.

The 'objects' had to go.

In this vein came New York artist Mark Rothko, who confirmed in an interview in the 1950's: 'It was with the utmost reluctance that I found that the figure could not serve my purposes.' This piece, from 1958, is representative of his work, and also of the high ambitions he set for his output. Likening painting to a religious experience, Rothko sought to provide this for his audience as well. To heighten the mood, his works are on a large scale, and show little to no trace of the artist's hand. They are simply large, floating slabs of colour, designed to draw you in, and carry you away.

VETHEUIL

Claude Monet

Impressionism arose in Paris in the 1870s, as artists experimented by moving away from defined boundaries and unbroken lines. They departed from these stable foundations in an attempt to create a more vivid depiction of the world around them, a subjective snapshot of their own, individual experience.

Foremost among this movement was Claude Monet, a gentle man whose bright, shimmering landscapes are among the most discussed of all artworks. Was  he simply a clever populist, painting pretty pictures that could be appreciated by the masses? Or did his hazy, layered paintings hint at something deeper?

This painting, from 1878, captures his technique while still under development. The small farm village of Vetheuil, where Monet lived for four years, is depicted in a largely conventional way, while the interplay of light on the water gives a hint of how his technique would develop.

THE HOUSE AT REUIL (1882)

Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet's place in art history was secured by his most famous painting; Luncheon on the Grass (1863), where a naked woman casually picnics with two clothed men, and so scandalises polite Parisian society. This reaction was not unexpected. The artist had designed the painting with the intention of causing an uproar, displeased with the hypocrisy he detected in how the female form was utlilised in art (ok in religious paintings, obscene in every other context).

And this was merely one, from a list of outrages the painter conceived in his heyday.

In later life, Manet's passions cooled and he moved to the countryside, seeking a simpler life. His later works demonstrate a mastery of technique, which had been sometimes obscured by the provocative subject matter of his youth. The house depicted above is his house, and the rustic charms of a humble life in the country are warmly displayed. Sadly, this pleasant period did not last very long; Manet died from gangrene the following year.

BOULEVARDE MONMARTE, MORNING, CLOUDY WEATHER (1897)

Camille Pissarro

Born in 1830, Camille Pissarro's long career encompassed a variety of artistic periods and styles. A friend of Monet, in the 1870's Pisarro was also among the leading Impressionists but, by the following decade, began to feel that the approach was exhausted.

His subsequent work, broadly categorised as Post Impressionist, harvested ideas from different artistic schools, reflecting the artist's lifelong interest in innovation. Boulevarde Monmarte captures another fascination; that of the rapidly modernising city of Paris.

Paris had been remade in the second half of the 19th century, with new buildings and wider streets replacing their medieval predecessors. One of these new boulevardes was the street Pissarro lived on in Monmarte, and the artist set about recording the changing view through his apartment window in a series of 14 paintings.

HEAD OF A MAN

Artist unknown

Until 2006, this was the NGV's prize possession; a rare, early van Gogh, one of only two works by the artist in a public gallery in Australia. Purchased from a travelling art show in 1939, for 2000 pounds, this portrait of an unknown European man reached a peak valuation of $20 million dollars. 

And then... the NGV loaned it to The Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, for an international van Gogh exhibition.

Frank Whitford, reviewing the exhibition in the Sunday Times, stated: 'This picture cannot be by van Gogh. The brushwork is assured and conventional. It's of a size van Gogh never used. Finally, suspiciously, nobody has any idea where the picture was before it came on the market in 1928.'

Other reviewers concurred and, after initially defending the authenticity of the work, the NGV directors submitted the portrait to the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Their analysis took two years but, finally, they reached the same conclusion. Head of a Man, while not a forgery, was the work of an unknown contemporary, rather than van Gogh himself. 

But before this news had been fully absorbed, another dramatic twist unfolded.

Lawyers representing the estate of Richard Semmel, a German Jew and onetime wealthy industrialist, came forward to claim that the painting had been owned by Semmel and taken from him by the Nazi's. His heirs now wished to claim it and have it returned to them.

Once the veracity of this claim had been established, the NGV offered to return the painting. But while ownership of the piece shifted, the Semmel family were then happy to leave it on indefinite loan with the NGV. It is still on display now; while no longer the most valuable item in the gallery, it has become, perhaps, the one with the most fascinating backstory.

THE THINKER - FIRST CASTING (1884)

Auguste Rodin

Rodin's 'The Thinker' is the artist's most famous work, and one of the most well known created by... well, anyone. It is a figure from popular culture as much as from art, recognisable, at least on some level, by nearly everyone. Started when Rodin was still largely unknown, the sculpture was commissioned by the French Government to form part of the entryway for a new museum of decorative art.

This bronze casting, the first of several, was to serve as a model for larger versions to come, and shows evidence that Rodin was still fine tuning his design. The figure here wears a cap, which is absent from all subsequent versions, and the finished work (now on display at the Rodin museum in Paris). Gifted by Rodin to his friend and patron Constantine Alexander Ionides, the item was acquired by the NGV in 1921.

FALLS OF SCHAFFHAUSEN (1845)

J.M.W.Turner

When the irascible J.M.W.Turner, often considered England's finest painter, died, he left his entire body of work to the English nation. He had only one condition; that his work be kept as one body, and displayed together. So, it is fortunate (for us) that Turner's heirs ignored this request and, undoubtedly motivated by the proximity of large quantities cash, split off portions of his portfolio for sale. 

This work, one of two Turner's at the NGV, is reflective of the artist's later career, where the importance of form has been overwhelmed by an urge to stir the emotions. Depicting a waterfall at Schauffhausen in Northern Switzerland, a spot Turner visited many times, the object here is to convey the misty power of the river wild, rather than to show what it may actually look like. 

These later works of Turner's were derided in their day - too abstract and obtuse - but today they convey a simple theme that cuts across the generations; the awesome might of nature, and our meek place before it.

STUDY OF A BOAT PASSING A LOCK (1826)

John Constable

Turner's great rival as a landscape painter was John Constable, a man who he differed from in every meaningful way. Where Turner was loud and boisterous, Constable was quiet and insular; where Turner traveled widely and set many of his famous paintings in Europe, Constable lived his whole life in Sussex, and set most of his works in the fields where he grew up; and where Turner showed the unpredictable might of nature, and its often destructive consequences, Constable showed a natural world tamed by man, and put to work to serve our ends.

This painting is typical of Constable's work generally, in that it shows an everyday scene from the rural paradise in the artists mind; a lock keeper allows a boat to pass along a canal, part of the regular clockwork of the countryside. More distinctive of his later works are the storm clouds in the background. By 1826 the Industrial Revolution was upending every facet of British life, and Constable rightly felt the pleasant orderliness of life on the farm was under threat. But, on this day, the storms are still some way off, and everyone is content with their place in the sun.

REMBRANDT (c. 1660)

Studio of Rembrandt

With his upturned collar, dark eyes, and peakless cap, Dutch master Rembrandt cuts a surprisingly dashing figure in paint. At the time this work was produced, he was also the most famous artist in Europe, and ran a large studio in Amsterdam where he taught students, between compositions.

One of the exercises Rembrandt used on his students was to have them copy his own works, mimicking the technique he had perfected himself. This piece, originally taken to be a self portrait, was determined in the 1970s to be one of these; one of about 90 portraits of Rembrandt completed by one of his students, with (perhaps) a few touches added by the man himself.

These student copies were of a high quality (many of Rembrandt's pupils became distinguished artists in their own right), and Rembrandt was not above signing them and selling them as his own, if he were sufficiently pleased with the outcome.

BEAR JUG (c. 1740)

Unknown artist

This cute stoneware jug has a suprisingly bloody history. In 18th century Europe, bear baiting was a popular past time, and bears were common sights in public, as well as objects of popular fascination. A whole range of bear themed wares was produced, everything from jugs, to vases, to plates, to statues. Bears were big business, and the suffering of the animals was entirely unconsidered.

This item was produced in Nottinghamshire, at the time the centre of English pottery. By coincidence, both bear baiting and English potting declined at the same time; in the 19th century the cruelty of bear baiting was finally accepted, and the practice banned. Meanwhile, domestic taste moved from English made goods to cheaper, more exotic items from continental Europe.

SIR JOHN AND LADY de HARDRESHULL, PANEL (c. 1400)

Artist unknown

Merevale Abbey in Warwickshire was built in 1148, a time when Gothic design was popular across Europe. A key feature of Gothic Cathedrals was their elaborate stained glass windows, of which Merevale was well decorated. And while the abbey was only small, it played its part in British history; Edward III was born there in 1312.

The Abbey was decommissioned by Henry VIII in 1538, and shortly fell into ruin. The above example of a stained glass window was salvaged from the site, and depicts the 14th century lord, John de Hardreshull, and his wife. It was common at this time for important  persons to add a panel of themselves to the local church, and so the stained glass became a kind of historical document, recording important events.

ROOF FINIAL IN THE FORM OF A MAKARA (c. 1400-1600)

Artist unknown

A finial is a small, ornate roof decoration, often sitting atop a pinnacle, or at the topmost part of a roof. In Thailand, it is thought that they provide protection, and are also placed above doorways, to safeguard people as they enter and exit a building.

This ornate finial depicts the mythical 'Makara', a creature with the head of a lion, the horns of a deer, and the body of a serpent. The good luck the Makara brings is based on a traditional belief of the Khmer people, from the Asian mainland.

GUARDIAN SPIRIT (c. 700 - 800)

Artist unknown

Looking like a slimmed down version of the Cheshire Cat, this earthenware figure from 8th century China is probably a depiction of  a lion. The Asiatic lion was once common throughout South East Asia (the species is long extinct), and its image was used in China as a status symbol; the mark of the wealthy and powerful.

This lion served a specific purpose, in that it was entombed with its owner as a 'guardian spirit', to watch over the deceased in the afterlife. Chinese nobles from this period were buried with many such icons, along with clothes, jewels, and effigies of their friends and family. The guardian lions were usually paired - representative of yin and yang - so that they too would not get lonely during the long stretch of eternity.

MALE FIGURE (c. 100 BC)

Artist unknown

Similar in concept, although differing in detail, to the Chinese guardian lion is this hollow ceramic figure from the Nayarit region, in Western Mexico. The people that left this figure behind are not well known to history; thought to have flourished around three thousand years ago, they left very little evidence of their civilisation, habits, or fate. Even the three thousand year timeframe is in dispute.

But one tangible feature of their culture has been uncovered. They had a very distinctive burial method, which involved digging a hole about twenty metres deep, straight down, and then branching a few burial chambers off at the bottom. These 'shaft tombs' are unique to the region, and many examples have been examined.

Similar to the contemporary Chinese, and many other cultures, the Nayarit people filled their vertical tombs with figures, valuables and icons, to keep the departed safe in the afterlife. This figure is thought to be representative of masculinity, and so probably came from the tomb of a powerful king, or lord. The large feet, and tiny arms, are designed to help the item balanced upright.

GEOMETRIC WREATH MOSAIC

Artist unknown

Built on the shores of the Mediterranean, in present day Tunisia, the ancient city of Carthage was the the centre of a thriving empire. At its peak, around 250 BC, the Carthaginians ruled a large swathe of North Africa, stretching around to encompass the southern part of Spain. The cultural achievements of Carthage rivaled that of ancient Rome; with well developed Government and public service, famous philosophers and warriors, and a flourishing art scene.

But the Carthaginian's success would lead them into conflict with the Romans, and the latter would eventually overwhelm their smaller rival. Carthage was sacked in 146 BC, and then rebuilt as a Roman colony. This mosaic, made of many differently coloured stones, was typical of the decoration found in a grand Roman residence, and dates from 400 AD, when Carthage was just another city in the Roman empire. 

ASSORTED GLASS ITEMS

Orrefors Glassworks

Founded in 1898, the Swedish Orrefors Glassworks company originally produced commercial and industrial items like window panes and bottles. But after the First World War, the company changed hands and expanded into domestic items; glasses, bowls and vases, of ever more complex design.

Influenced by the Art Nouveau movement, in the 1920's and 30's the company conceived innovative methods to produce highly stylised glassware. Their signature designs trapped air, and sometimes liquid, between layers of glass, to stunning effect. Orrefors continues to operate today, and its classic design items are now highly prized, and very valuable, collectors pieces.

CAKE STOOL

Fernando and Humberto Cambana

The Cambana brothers hail from Sao Paulo, and have parlayed an architectural background into a career that combines conventional design with artistic flair. Their best known works use everyday objects to construct highly stylised versions of... other everyday objects, especially furniture. 

Chief among these are a series of chairs made from unlikely building blocks; parasols, and dolls, and rubber bands, and, in the above example, a bunch of fluffy toys. The toys are mostly taken from vending machines, and the idea is as old as the found art of Marcel Duchamp; take a cheap, common item, re-purpose it in an artistic way, and instantly create something of exponentially greater value.

Discuss.

While the brothers chairs are intended to be used as furniture, their relative scarcity, and the uniqueness of each item, has made them enormously valuable. This is a recent acquisition by the NGV, purchased earlier in 2015, reflecting the Camabana's cultural currency.

The Weeping Woman Goes Missing

In 1937, Spanish artist Pablo Picasso completed one of the great artworks of the 20th century; Guernica, his epic take on the horrors of war. Inspired by the bombing of the town of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War, this dramatic piece represented one of Picasso's few forays into political commentary, and created a storm of controversy when it was first unveiled.

Guernica, The National Museum of 20th Century Art, Madrid.

The painting itself presents a variety of riffs on the theme of suffering; bodies are dismembered, a cavalry horse screams, debris and refuse are strewn chaotically. Three and a half metres tall, more than seven metres wide, and deliberately provocative, Guernica provides a disturbing vision of some of the worst excesses of human behaviour.

While Picasso worked on this piece he was shadowed by Dora Marr, a young photographer who was documenting his technique and method. The two became lovers and Marr later served as a model for a series of paintings often viewed as companion pieces to Guernica, the Weeping Woman series.

Photographer Dora Marr.

Weeping Woman, Tate Modern, London.

Completed later in 1937, The Weeping Woman pictures again offer a depiction of suffering, although this time set in the everyday. Picasso hoped that the more intimate setting would provide a more universal image, allowing an easier connection for the audience than the more extreme imagery of Guernica.

The painting shown above is the last in the series, with the different canvasses finding their way into different collections around the world. In 1985 one of these, formerly owned by Picasso's daughter, was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

The Weeping Woman, NGV, Melbourne.

With a price tag of $1.6 million, this Weeping Woman was, at that time, the most expensive artwork in a public collection in Australia. NGV Director Patrick McCaughey was well pleased with his pricey coup, declaring that the portrait would 'haunt Melbourne for the next hundred years.'

On, or around, August 4, 1986, the painting was stolen.

But little did McCaughey know, that in a way the painting had been removed to the ACT.

That same morning, 'The Age' newspaper received a letter from unknown persons, claiming responsibility for the theft. Calling themselves the Australian Cultural Terrorists (ACT), the thieves also issued an eccentric set of demands, including an increase in Government funding for the arts, and the establishment of an annual prize for young artists. The thieves threatened to destroy the painting if their demands were not met.

Patrick McCaughey

McCaughey fronted a press conference in the afternoon to break the news to the wider public and appeal for the paintings safe return. 'If the picture is ruined or damaged in any way, this gallery will never be able to afford another Picasso,' he solemnly declared.

The police investigation of the theft then began in earnest. Investigators theorised that the thieves may have hidden in the gallery overnight, removing the painting from its frame and placing the registrars card while the building was empty. Then, in the morning, they could have simply walked out; the NGV's Weeping Woman measured only 55 x 47 centimetres, so could easily have been concealed in a bag or under a coat.

The NGV's moat was drained, the building searched and the staff questioned, but clues were scarce. The only real leads were the ransom letters, two more of which arrived in the week following the theft; these new letters mocked the police and McCaughey, but saved its most vitriolic comments for State Arts Minister Race Matthews, who was referred to as a 'mouldy bag of gas.'

Picasso Theft, by Juan Davila.

The arts community's response  was mixed.

Many artists publicly decried the theft, while a smaller number recognised merit in the ACT's demands for increased arts funding. Chilean painter Juan Davila painted a picture inspired by the crime, Picasso Theft, which he offered as a replacement to the NGV (this artwork was itself stolen from a small gallery in Sydney), while a private gallery in Adelaide curated a show of copies of Weeping Woman, all created by local artists.

Meanwhile, the official investigation went nowhere.

Two days later, a telephone call was received by 'The Age' from someone who identified themselves as a member of the ACT. They advised that the Weeping Woman could be found in locker 227 at Southern Cross station.

Police, television crews, and one very harassed art gallery director descended on the station. A custodian jimmied the locker open with a crowbar, and the painting was found inside, wrapped in brown paper. A relieved McCaughey told the press, 'It will go behind bullet proof glass this time, and be bolted to the wall!'

'The Age' reports the recovery, August 20 1986.

So who stole the painting?

McCaughey's story has caused many to point the finger at Mark Howson, but the gallery director himself did not think this likely. Howson had no criminal record, and was not known to be associated with any radical groups. At most, McCaughey thought Howson may have known the thieves and so passed on a message that the authorities were closing in. Or, McCaughey's meeting with the artist, and the paintings subsequent return, may have been a simple coincidence.

But whatever the truth of this part of the story, no one has ever been charged with the theft.

An official enquiry into the incident turned up no new evidence, and so could draw few conclusions. It's report was released to little fanfare at the end of August, after which the police abandoned their investigation altogether. With the artwork returned safely, all enthusiasm for any further pursuit of the thieves disappeared,

'I was thoroughly sick of the whole thing,' said McCaughey,

The theft did turn the spotlight onto the NGV's rather lax security, and some measures were taken to tighten these up. Among the changes, the chairs used by the gallery guards were removed on the orders of McCaughey, who decreed that these staff members were now expected to walk around the galleries while on duty, and so keep a more watchful eye on the gallery's visitors.

Deprived of their chairs, the guards went on strike.

The Radiant Baby

Running east-west through the inner North, the largely commercial stretch of Johnson Street is an unusual place to go looking for fine art. But there you will find it; among the trendy cafes and retro clothing outlets, standing five metres tall over the nearby Tote, a public mural by one of the 20th century's most famous street artists.

Born in 1958, in Reading Pennsylvania, Keith Haring showed a talent for art from an early age. After high school he studied drawing in Pittsbugh, where he had his first solo exhibition in early in 1978. Later that same year, he moved to New York to study at the renowned School for Visual Arts (SVA), an event which would change his life.

The late seventies saw a burgeoning street art movement in New York City, and Haring was quickly at the centre of a group of talented, like minded individuals (among them Jean-Michel Basquiat, who Haring befriended). Experimenting with different media, drawing energy from his contemporaries and influenced by Andy Warhol and Christo, among others, Haring became determined to express himself artistically in a public way.

He found an outlet in New York's subway system, the operators of which used to cover disused advertising with plain black board. This provided a free canvas, which Haring was eager to utilise.

Creating strange, cryptic images in white chalk, often with a subversive, socio-political message, Haring's subway drawings quickly became well known. He later described his subway work as his 'laboratory', the results of which were then transposed to rapturously received solo shows in the city's private galleries. By the early 80's, Haring was famous, a meteoric rise.

Keith Haring, 1980.

Founded in 1983, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) was part of a range of initiatives funded by Victoria's then Labor Government to promote artistic endeavours in Melbourne. From a modest start in a three bedroom cottage in the Botanic Gardens - ACCA's first exhibition was aptly titled '3 Artists/3 Rooms' - centre director John Buckley was keen to make an impression on the wider community.

ACCA's original home in the gardens.

Buckley had seen both Haring's subway work and an exhibition of his while visiting New York in 1982. When he met the artist in London that year, he extended an invitation for a visit to Melbourne, with the offer of some publicly commissioned pieces as an enticement. To the delight - and, perhaps, surprise - of the local artistic community, the rising street art star accepted. Haring arrived in Melbourne in February 1984, for a one month visit.

The main project Haring was to work on was a new design for the 'water wall' in the lobby of the NGV.

While well received, unfortunately the NGV mural did not last long. Only a few weeks after the piece was completed, a bullet was fired through the wall, shattering the glass and effectively destroying the artwork. The broken glass was beyond salvage and the wall had to be replaced (The shooters motive could not be established from any of the available reference material).

Haring then made a flying visit to Sydney, where he produced another large scale work for the state gallery; this time an internal mural at the Art Gallery of NSW.

This piece lasted much longer than the work at the NGV, but was also, subsequently, removed. While in Sydney Haring, open about his homosexuality, also appeared on a float dedicated to him in Mardi Gras.

With Haring returning to Melbourne near the end of his trip, Buckley hoped to facilitate one final, major public work from the artist. As Haring liked to work with young people, Buckley wanted to arrange for the work to adorn a school, and so approached the Principal of the Collingwood Technical School, then on Johnson Street. The blank wall at the east end of the main school building was given over for another mural.

Haring's final Australian mural was created in one day; March 6, 1984.

Haring left Australia two days later, never to return.

His distinguished career subsequently took him to many parts of the world and he left large scale public works in many of them, similar to what he had produced in Australia. Always engaged with important causes and charity work, in the late 80's Haring devoted an increasing amount of his time to raising awareness of AIDS, then in its infancy as a global health risk.

An AIDS awareness poster created by Haring.

Sadly, this cause would intervene directly in the artists life, when Haring was diagnosed with the illness himself. Haring died of an AIDS related complication in Manhattan on February 16, 1990. He was only 31 years of age.

In its obituary, the New York Times called him 'one of the most astonishingly unique talents of recent times.' Among the broad legacy the artist left behind, his most famous image seemed to sum up some aspects of his short life:

The Radiant Baby. Many people who met and worked with Haring remarked on his energy and enthusiasm, much as John Buckley had done, traits that seem to be captured in the image above.

In the years after his passing, the Haring mural in Collingwood slowly faded into neglect. It's out of the way locale, and outdoor positioning, meant that while the elements took their toll, little was done to preserve the artwork. By the 1990s, the paint had faded badly, and parts of the wall had become damaged.

Victim of neglect; the mural in the 1990s.

With the Collingwood Technical School relocated, the building was acquired by Arts Victoria, who began to investigate ways to restore the work. But the assessment was both lengthy and frequently delayed, as the merits of different restoration techniques were debated.

In 2013, the Victorian Government finally appointed Italian expert Antonio Rava as chief conservator and the restoration project commenced. Cleaning the original work, and re-touching where required, the mural was several months in being restored. It was re-unveiled in August 2013, to much acclaim.

The restored work unveiled by the Arts Minister, Heidi Victoria

But there is one final prologue to the story.

When the work was first completed in 1984, Haring signed his name on a small service door at the bottom centre of the wall. You can see the spot for this on the image, above.

Shortly after the mural's completion, the door went missing, although exactly when seems to have been unrecorded. By the time it's absence was noticed, it seemed too late to do anything to recover it. The door then remained missing throughout the mural's slow decline, for 29 years.

When the restoration project began to gain pace, Arts Victoria made a public plea for anyone who may have souvenired the door to come forward and return it. Remarkably, this was successful, and an anonymous package containing the door was delivered to Project Administrator Jessica Hochberg.

Hochberg with the returned door.

The door's authenticity was verified with Haring's estate, and returned to the mural shortly afterwards. The Collingwood mural is now one of only 31 Haring murals left in the world.



References

http://www.haring.com

https://www.accaonline.org.au

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/keith-haring-mural-restored-to-its-former-glory-20130819-2s5xa.html

http://kellyfarrelldesigns.com

http://vertufineart.com

http://www.crazytownblog.com

http://www.melbourneharingmural.com.au

The People's Path

On the Western side of Fitzroy Gardens, about halfway between Treasury Place and Albert Street, is one of Melbourne's quirkiest pieces of public art: The People's Path.

Map showing the location of the People's Path.

Consisting of 10 000 terra cotta bricks, each featuring an individual design, the People's Path forms a simple loop around a tree at one of the park's entrances.

In the 1970's, Victorian artists combined to form the Crafts Council of Victoria (CCV), the first representative body in the state to attract Government funding for craft work. Among the projects funded by the CCV were several large, public art events, designed to get more people actively involved in the arts.

Often timed to form part of Moomba, these public events featured activities as diverse as mass tie-dying and weaving workshops, a textile maze and an oversize climbing net. The events were held in public parks around Melbourne, including; the Treasury Gardens, Exhibition Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens. 

In 1975, the CCV sponsored a year long Craft Festival, featuring a number of these public events. This was followed by another festival in 1978, where the People's Path was on the program. The Path was the brainchild of Ian Sprague, a well known local artist and potter who had been a founding member of the Craft Association of Victoria (the CCV's forerunner).

The bricks were created by members of the public on the opening day of the festival, and formally unveiled by the Premier of Victoria, R.J. Hamer, on February 18, 1978. The designs are comical, idiosyncratic, significant, obtuse and personal. Some of them show messages, or indicate where in the world the creator was from. More often they show pictures, some elaborate, some childishly simple. A surprisingly large number make mention of the slogan 'Life Be In It', or that campaign's cartoon spokesman Norm.

I  nearly always pause and have a look at a few, when I'm passing through that part of the gardens.