Introduction to the Coombs Collection of Australian Paintings
The Reserve Bank's art collection represents a cultural legacy that documents the active support and promotion of Australian art by the nation's central bank, led by the Bank's first Governor, Dr HC Coombs, and continued by his successor, John Phillips. As a new national institution, the Bank conveyed a sense of progressive innovation in its architecture and art, and the collection of its paintings remains a rich source for the study and understanding of both the nation’s arts and the history of its central bank.
The 1950s: The Governor’s Christmas Card
The art collection began in the 1950s, when Dr HC Coombs was the Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, the forerunner of the Reserve Bank. It originated with the need to find a suitable art work for the Bank’s Christmas card.
References
- Grace Cossington Smith, Wardrobe mirror, 1955. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection OP-000119.
- Charles Blackman, The girl in the checkered dress, 1963. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000102.
- Fred Williams, Chopped trees, n.d. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection OP-000199.
- Sir Sidney Nolan, Burke on a mountain, n.d. © The Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000129.
- Excerpt from The City of Sydney, 1927, directed by Bert Ive, Cinema and Photographic Branch. National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, The Film Australia Collection.
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Christmas card, reproducing Margaret Preston’s Australian wildflowers, 1952. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D23/44607.
- Photograph of Dr H Coombs, May 1959. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-002759.
- Interview with Dr HC Coombs concerning the release of decimal currency banknotes, 1966. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D18/167023.
- Margaret Preston, Australian wildflowers, 1952. © Margaret Preston/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000115.
- View of Martin Place, Sydney from Castlereagh Street, looking towards the Commonwealth Bank and General Post Office. Museum of History New South Wales.
- Excerpt from 1950s Sydney, Street Scenes. Kinolibrary Archive Film Collections.
- Photograph of Mary Turner and Treania Smith, directors of Macquarie Galleries, with a painting by Grace Cossington Smith, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, New South Wales, by Jack Hickson. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Australian Photographic Agency – 08345.
- Photograph of Grace Cossington Smith (detail), at her home, Cossington, Turramurra, New South Wales, c.1937. National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
- Photograph of Margaret Preston at her home in Mosman, New South Wales, by Harold Cazneaux, 1930. National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
- Letter concerning arrangements to obtain specimens of Western Australian wildflowers for Margaret Preston’s painting, Australian Wildflowers, 12 June 1952. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, S-a-255-1.
- Photograph of Grace Cossington Smith’s wardrobe in her bedroom at Cossington, Turramurra, New South Wales, 1978 by David Moore. © Estate of David Moore.
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Christmas card, reproducing Grace Cossington Smith’s Wardrobe mirror, 1955. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D10/99200.
- Grace Cossington Smith, letter to Mr Cooper, Secretary’s Department, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 17 June 1955. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, S-a-255-1.
- Jean Bellette, Still life, n.d. © Bathurst Regional Council. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000107.
- John D Moore, Steel Point, 1949. © Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000124.
- Jeffrey Smart, The store, Hill End, 1957. © Estate of Jeffery Smart. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000110.
- Commonwealth Bank Head Office, Pitt Street entrance, 15 September 1916. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-003136.
- Excerpt from Planned for Progress. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, AV-000037/3.
The 1960s: A Portrait of Progress
The construction of the Reserve Bank’s Head Office and branches offered the opportunity to support and promote Australian artists as the Bank furnished its new quarters.
References
- Carl Plate, Blue monument No.4, 1967. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000155.
- Excerpt from Planned for Progress. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, AV-000037/3.
- Commonwealth Bank Head Office, Pitt Street entrance, 15 September 1916. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-003136.
- Photograph of Dr H Coombs, 1958. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-013828.
- Interview with Dr HC Coombs concerning the release of decimal currency banknotes, 1966. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D18/167023.
- Architectural perspective of the new Reserve Bank of Australia Head Office, Sydney, 1964, with sculpture by Margel Hinder. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-000269.
- Architectural perspective of the Bonds and Stock Banking Chamber in the Reserve Bank of Australia Head Office building, Sydney, 1964. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-000272.
- Margel Hinder, Reserve Bank of Australia sculpture, Sydney, New South Wales, 1964, filmed in 2022.
- Bim Hilder, relief sculpture in the foyer of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, 1965, filmed in 2022.
- Architectural perspective of the Board Room in the Reserve Bank of Australia Head Office building, Sydney, 1964. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PA-000271.
- Fred Williams, Chopped trees, n.d. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000199.
- Margaret Preston, Australian wildflowers, 1952. © Margaret Preston/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000115.
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Christmas card, reproducing Margaret Preston, Australian wildflowers, 1952. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D23/44607.
- Brett Whiteley, Lyre bird, 1970. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000132.
- Reserve Bank of Australia, Christmas card, reproducing Brett Whiteley’s Lyre bird, 1970. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D23/44615.
- Fred Williams drawing, 1968, by Robert Walker. National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive. © Estate of Robert Walker/ Copyright Agency 2023.
- Streetscape and road reconstruction, Oxford Street Paddington, 1961. City of Sydney Archives.
- Photograph of Kym Bonython at the Bonython Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, c.1970, by Kerry Dundas. National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. © Estate of Kerry Dundas.
- Photograph of Sir Sidney Robert Nolan by Ida Kar, 1958. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
- Sir Sidney Nolan, Burke on a mountain, n.d. © The Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000129.
- Sir Sidney Nolan, Northern Territory, 1950. © The Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000125.
- Sir Sidney Nolan, Camels, Central Australia, 1950. © The Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000186.
- Charles Blackman, Antipodeans exhibition, Victorian Artists’ Society Galleries, August 1959, planographic poster. National Gallery of Australia.
- Clifton Pugh, A piece of my world, 1960. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000100.
- Arthur Boyd, Winter landscape, n.d. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000211.
- Robert Dickerson, The sisters, 1964. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000191.
- Charles Blackman, The girl in the checkered dress, 1963. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000102.
- Charles Blackman with The girl in the checkered dress, in his studio on Archway Road, London, 1963. Courtesy of the Blackman family.
- Photograph of Barbara Blackman (nee Patterson) as an artist model in her checkered dress, c.1952, by Hugh Frankland. Courtesy Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney.
- Leonard French, The coming of the turtle, 1962. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000114.
- Margo Lewers, Wide penetration, 1968. © Estate of the artist. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, TA-000002.
- Photograph of artist Carl Plate by Alleyane Catherine Plate, n.d., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Plate,_Paris_1969.jpg.
- Margo Lewers in her studio, late 1960s. Photographic reproduction courtesy of Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of the Lewers Bequest.
- Leonard French beneath his stained-glass ceiling at the National Gallery of Victoria, 1968. National Archives of Australia: Australian News and Information Bureau, A1200, L71149.
- View of Dr HC Coombs’ office, Reserve Bank of Australia as photographed for Vogue’s Guide to Living, Spring 1968. State Library of New South Wales.
- Dr Coombs being presented on his retirement by DA Tate, Manager, Establishment Department, with a painting commissioned from Leonard French, 1968. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-004729.
- Dr HC Coombs with John Phillips at the announcement of his retirement, November 1967. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-002838.
The 1970s: The Completed Picture
Acquisitions for the art collection essentially concluded in 1975, with works that reflected increased confidence in selection, and the national scope of the Reserve Bank.
References
- Brett Whiteley, Lyre bird, 1970. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000132.
- Charles Blackman, The girl in the checkered dress, 1963. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000102.
- Fred Williams, Chopped trees, n.d. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000199.
- Sir Sidney Nolan, Burke on a mountain, n.d. © The Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000129.
- Dr HC Coombs with John Phillips at the announcement of Dr Coombs’ retirement, November 1967. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, PN-002838.
- Photograph of Guy and Helen Grey-Smith, with his painting Cricket in the background, 1968. Battye Library, State Library of Western Australia
- Guy Grey-Smith, Cricket, 1968. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000224.
- Ray Crooke, Early light - Deighton River crossing, n.d. © Ray Crooke/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000131.
- Rodney Milgate, Triptych, 1970. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000130.
- Robert Walker (Australia 1922-2007), Brett Whiteley in his studio April 1970, black and white negative, 3.5 x 2.5cm. Robert Walker Archive, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Louise Walker 2008. National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales. © Robert Walker/Copyright Agency, 2023. Image: © Art Gallery of New South Wales, ARC262.1.96.
- Robert Walker (Australia 1922-2007), Brett Whiteley in his studio April 1970, black and white negative, 3.5 x 2.5cm. Robert Walker Archive, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Louise Walker 2008. National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales © Robert Walker/Copyright Agency, 2023. Image: © Art Gallery of New South Wales, ARC262.1.27.
- Reserve Bank of Australia, Christmas card, reproducing Brett Whiteley’s Lyre bird, 1970. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, D23/44615.
- Letter from Brett Whiteley to the Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia, 27 August 1970. Reserve Bank of Australia Archives, S-75-502.
- Excerpt from Wendy Whiteley’s Garden, exhibited in Bohemian Harbour: Artists of Lavender Bay. © Museums of History New South Wales.
- Brett Whiteley, Palm tree I, 1975. © Wendy Whiteley/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, LS-001111.
- Brett Whiteley, Palm tree II, 1975. © Wendy Whiteley/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, LS-001112.
- Brett Whiteley, Palm tree III, 1975. © Wendy Whiteley/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, LS-001113.
- Brett Whiteley, Palm tree IV, 1975. © Wendy Whiteley/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, LS-001114.
- Clifton Pugh, A piece of my world, 1960. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000100.
- Sir Sidney Nolan, Camels, Central Australia, 1950. © The Sidney Nolan Trust. All rights reserved. DACS/Copyright Agency, 2023. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000186.
- Grace Cossington Smith, Wardrobe mirror, 1955. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection OP-000119.
- Margo Lewers, Wide penetration, 1968. © Estate of the artist. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, TA-000002.
- Carl Plate, Blue monument No.4, 1967. Reserve Bank of Australia Collection, OP-000155.