From their first acquisition in 1963, the painting Image in the Bush III by Shay Docking, Caleb and Shirley Firkin built an important collection of artworks by many of the leading Australian artists of the 1960–70s.
This exhibition draws on two sources: the gallery’s own collection of artworks by Dobell, generously bequeathed to the gallery in 2002 by Ruth Spenser Komon; and The Shirley Firkin Collection, named in honour of Caleb Firkin’s late wife, to provide a snapshot of the cultural milieu of the times.
Celebrated for his gifts as a portrait painter, William Dobell was also an innovative and deeply sensitive painter of the landscape. He found inspiration not only from his travels, but also from the local environs and community of Wangi Wangi, which became his home from 1945 until his death in 1970.
Image above: Tom Gleghorn, Cockfighter Landscape, 1965. mixed media on board, 29.5 x 38.0cm
Image below: Margaret Olley, Mornan Sing Sing, 1968. Oil on hardboard, 29 x 37 cm
Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, 1A First Street, Booragul 2284 View in Google Maps
1A First Street , Booragul 2284