Art collector Thomas Murrell will host four personally guided tours of his private art collection and historic house, Fairview of Subiaco.
Welcome
Hidden Talent: Untold Stories of the Fairview Art Collection is a website on how the artistic merit of many of the artists held in one of Australia’s most eclectic private art collections have remained hidden for more than a century.
It brings together the collective history, creativity and stories of many artists, especially Australian women from the 1900s to the present day.
Discover the stories of inequality, opportunity and determination conveyed through the works collected since the 1920s and housed in an iconic historical home.
The website explores the concept of how the collection is an expression of a personal moment, a cultural moment, and a social moment curated over time.
Learn how the artists held in the collection contributed to the fabric of an emerging artistic community and society. Aimed at lovers of art, history and architecture who want to get the authentic stories of both the past and present, the website covers a range of artists, ceramicists and sculptors held in this private art collection.
Painstaking details from early Victorian artists through to modern day creatives are covered in this website. Packed with detailed research and historical authenticity, this website covers one of Australia’s most eclectic specialist art collections.
Hidden Talent: Untold Stories of the Fairview Art Collection explores the relationship between style, society and economic opportunity through the stories of artists, their backgrounds and their lives.
The website aims to help celebrate the National Art Gallery of Australia #KnowMyName campaign and exhibition for women artists. Like the campaign, the website therefore tells a new story of Australian art and challenges the assumption that early and contemporary Australian art is a male dominated narrative.
This narrative is set within the context of massive social change happening at a global, national, State, capital city, suburban and street level over 110 years.
The premise of this website is that during this period, the talents of many Australian artists, mainly women went unrecognised. It was not only influenced by an industry dominated by men, but is also a story of isolation, local materials, individual tastes and a lack of confidence in their talents. Balancing this injustice out is also a strong desire for a sense of permanence and an expression of both personal and professional identity.
Throughout the website, it is this eclecticism of the collection, with its balance of both early and contemporary artists, including new and emerging artists that will be the common unifying thread that binds the narrative.
The one question is – all these artists have hidden talents – what are the forces that have stopped them from gaining the recognition they justly deserve?
Were they just seen as amateur artists dabbling on the fringes as a hobby who had more important roles as housekeepers and wives or was the industry conspiring against them and only promoting men?
This website and its stunning photographs tell this unique story in a compelling way through one private art collection.
Hidden Talent: Untold Stories of the Fairview Art Collection links the old with the new as this private art collection firmly asserts its sense of place during the social, economic and style changes happening over 110 years.
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