News that Melbourne University has received a $26 million gift of contemporary art from the property developer and art collector Michael Buxton. The collection will be housed in a new purpose-built museum on the VCA Southbank campus.

The museum will operate in conjunction with the University’s Ian Potter Museum of Art. Director, Kelly Gellatly said, “The Collection, which has been established with curatorial rigour, will enable the establishment of an extraordinary museum. It will showcase exhibitions that embrace experimentation and explore some of the major concerns of the 21st Century. Through the activities of the Potter’s Academic Programs unit – unique within Australia – the museum will facilitate object-based learning for undergraduate and graduate students from the University’s diverse faculties and different campuses.”

From the university

The Buxton Collection is one of the most important private contemporary collections in Australia, and features over 300 works by 55 of the country’s most influential contemporary artists, including Howard Arkley, Tracey Moffatt and Bill Henson.

The University’s Southbank campus will house the Collection in a new purpose-built museum – the Michael Buxton Centre of Contemporary Art – to be built and endowed as part of the gift and due to open in 2017.  Sitting alongside the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the Buxton Collection is a wonderful addition to the Southbank campus, and will add significantly to the vitality of the Melbourne arts precinct.

It is particularly exciting to note the value of this gift as an educational resource for students and the people of Melbourne.  Under the guidance of staff from the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the Collection will play an important role in teaching and learning across disciplines, and help foster an appreciation for contemporary art amongst future generations.

The Age also has a report here: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/michael-buxtons-26-million-art-gift-to-university-of-melbourne-will-create-new-gallery-20141202-11yo0s.html

In which Buxton says:

“It was always our goal to build a museum but the difficult thing for a family is giving it longevity to see it through for more than a generation. The university can offer that… Right from the beginning, we wanted it to be the best. We set about deciding who were the six top artists in Australia and every three years, we would review that group of artists and we’ve done that all the way through, so over 20 years we’ve had 53 artists and in excess of 300 works in this collection”

-Katrina Grant