Title

An Important Anniversary.

Author

Mackie, Maggie.

Source

Imprint. Melbourne: Print Council of Australia, 1966 - ongoing.

Details

vol.22, nos.3-4, 1987, p.25.

Publication date

1987

Type

Essay/article

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Jim Alexander and the galleries, Important Women Artists and the Jim Alexander Gallery.

Full text

An Important Anniversary.
by Maggie Mackie

In April 1977 in a quiet, leafy street in East Malvern, Victoria, Jim Alexander and his family turned their front sifting room and dining room into a weekend gallery and opened the Important Women Artists gallery with an exhibition of that name. A former New South Wales farmer who had studied painting in Sydney and Brisbane, Jim found that collecting and dealing came naturally to him. After the deaths of Thea Proctor and Margaret Preston and while still living in Sydney, Jim had noticed that their works kept ‘popping up’ in galleries and art shops. It was 1975 and the International Year of Women and it seemed to him that specializing in early women artists would be a good idea. Ten years later, though the name of the gallery has changed [to Jim Alexander Gallery] and the exhibitions now include men, Jim still feels a special empathy with the work of women artists. He believes that a great deal remains to be discovered about women quietly painting and drawing and printmaking in the back rooms and sheds of their family homes, which will throw light not only on women as artists but also on the history of art in Australia.

Most Important Women Artists exhibitions have included prints. Amongst a fascinating list of thirty-four women artists, the first mixed media exhibition included prints by Sheila McDonald (1902-71), Margaret Preston (1875-1963), Jessie TrailI (1881-1967) and Christian WaIler (1895-1956). Other names were Dorrit Black, Sybil Craig, Ethel Carrick Fox, Mabel Pye.

The catalogues accompanying Jim Alexander’s exhibitions are well researched and many a gallery is grateful for his patient searching as the gaps in their collections of Australian art are filled. Many a retiring woman artist has been astonished and overwhelmed by public acceptance of her work. Jim comments that it has been very hard work and he is grateful to his family for their support – after ten years they now have a new ‘family’ room at the other end of the house. His work has been mainly in Victoria and he is certain there is a great deal more to be done throughout Australia if only people were interested and patient. His contribution to knowledge of the 1920s and 1930s women artists, in particular, has greatly enriched our collections and the history of Australian art.

© Maggie Mackie, 1987.
Published in Imprint (Melbourne), vol. 22, nos.3–4, 1987.