On occasion, we find an auction purchase, whether it be a painting, bronze or a ceramic piece, that has a small tan sticker printed with the words “DAVID JONES ART GALLERY” encircling a coat of arms, discreetly applied to the base or rear of the work. A fascinating indicator of the work’s provenance, having come from the gallery that once was at the top of ‘the most beautiful store in the world’- David Jones, Elizabeth Street. Opened in 1928, this branch of the even then venerable retailer, initiated the shift in Sydney shopping. From its cluttered Victorian emporium origins on George Street, opposite the GPO, to uptown opposite Hyde Park and the newly opened underground train station of St James. A feature of the store, contributing greatly to its aura of quality and exclusivity, was a grand dining room and ballroom on the seventh floor with arched windows looking over the Park towards the east. Then in 1944 the David Jones Art Gallery opened on this floor, under the stewardship of the artist Will Ashton. The company chairman, Sir Charles Lloyd Jones wanted to promote Australian art and place “an Australian painting in every Australian home”. Over the following years other artists such as George Duncan and Marion Hall Best ran the gallery, but when Charles Lloyd Jones (grandson of the founder David Jones and son of Sir Charles) became chairman of David Jones Ltd. in 1958, he was determined to make it the finest commercial gallery in Australia.
In 1961 Jones appointed former NGV and Queensland Art Gallery Director Robert Haines to the role of Gallery Director and under his leadership the David Jones Art Gallery became the ne plus ultra of good taste in Sydney. His personal taste strongly influenced the exhibition program as he was interested not only in painting and sculpture, but also other objects that a person of culture might wish to acquire – furniture, textiles, and ceramics. Making use of his many international contacts from his state gallery days, he arranged exhibitions from Old Master dealers Agnew’s and the works of Modern British and French artists from Browse and Darby from London; Roman marbles from Italy, and exhibitions of bronzes from the Musee Rodin in Paris. The cultural elite of Sydney were not only treated to world class art but were also able to ‘charge it’ to their David Jones card!
At the same time, he also promoted contemporary Australian art and artists, from painters such as William Dobell, Sidney Nolan, Stanislaus Rapotec and James Gleeson, to sculptor Oliffe Richmond; furniture maker Schulim Krimper and potters Harold Hughan, Shoji Hamada, Peter Rushforth and Col Levy. As a decorator Haines was able to successfully mix old and new, rustic and refined and the gallery programme celebrated collecting on all levels, with the yearly exhibition of “Fine and Decorative Art” a chic melange of furniture, tapestries, glass and ceramics purchased in Europe.
The exhibitions were skilfully displayed in the elegant gallery space, which was entered through a huge and imposing Renaissance door that came from the Villa Giramonte, in Florence. The tan grass papered walls and the original parquet floor were the ideal neutral foil for the richness of the Louis XV fauteuils and canapés, Khmer deities, Aubusson tapestries, Degas pastels, Japanese lacquer, Roman reliefs and Frink and Rodin bronzes. A pair of Louis XV oak doors led to the office which was furnished with a desk and chairs by Krimper.
The buyers were the wealthy cognoscenti of Sydney, and the exhibitions led at least two major collectors, James Fairfax and William Bowmore, to collect European masters, many of which have been bequeathed as gifts to museums in Australia. The Bowmore collection of Rodin bronzes, many acquired from the Gallery are now part of the Art Gallery of South Australia collection.
David Jones Ltd acquired and ultimately donated the maquette for Rodin’s “Burghers of Calais” to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, as well as a superb Elisabeth Frink “Horse and Rider” from her 1986 exhibition at the David Jones Art Gallery.
The changing nature of retail saw the closure of the gallery in the early 1990s. The entire archive of the gallery is now kept in the library of the Art Gallery of NSW, so if you ever acquire a piece with the small sticker or an exhibition label you, you not only acquire a piece of Australian history, but you will also be able to find exactly which exhibitions it came from.
By Ronan Sulich / Senior Adviser, Sydney
Top Image:
February 2025