The story of Artbank – Australia’s national art leasing scheme – spans back to 1980, when the country encouraged new creative energy and started to see the identity of Australian art emerge. The intention behind Artbank was precisely to bring art of high calibre and cultural significance out of galleries and into communities, while supporting the creatives.
Some 45 years on, Artbank now holds over 10,000 artworks, each acquired during the artist’s lifetime to support their practice. Its collection is available for to organisations and individuals at a fraction of the artwork’s total price, with the money going back into the acquisition funding pool. Artbank also regularly loans its collection for exhibitions, providing further exposure and access to the artworks for the public.
Artbank: iconic artists
On Display at Artbank’s Melbourne office, nestled in the heart of Collingwood’s artistic community, is a celebrating of its achievements. With 26 pieces from some of Australia’s most iconic artists – including Jeffrey Smart, Margaret Olley, Lindy Lee, Sidney Nolan and Patricia Piccinini – On Display reflects the strategic vision of the organisation.
Works spanning painting, photography, textiles, video and multi-media fill the walls beside Artbank’s vast visible storage, providing a glimpse into the breadth, and more importantly, evolution, of its acquisition strategy. Between 2024-2025, nearly 60% of Artbank’s artworks acquired are by women, and over half are by First Nations artists.
Annual rental prices of the artworks on display range from $715 to $11,000 – a 1963 oil, The Park by Smart, an emblem in Australian modernism, and Emily Kam Kngwarray, whose recent major solo opened at Tate Modern, are in the latter tier.
The Boorloo/Perth-based Emma Buswell, whose work won Ramsay Art Prize People’s Choice Award just last week, is equally a highlight in On Display. Between draft and final intentions (2024) is a meticulous tapestry that taps into mythology, pop culture and the visualisation processes of thought that many take for granted.
Having your work acquired by Artbank is a career milestone, and artists wear these like a badge of honour. Marking the anniversary celebrations is the announcement of Artbank’s inaugural prize, open to all living artists working in any medium with an acquisitive award of up to $20,000, offering another avenue for artists to have their works seen by the organisation’s expert team.
The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication detailing Artbank’s history and vision, authored by curator Laura Couttie, and is well worth a read. It highlights the ups as well as the downs, painting a holistic picture of why this leasing scheme has sustained its 45 years and been successful in living up to its values.
Check out ArtsHub‘s video coverage of On Display‘s preview event.
On Display runs at Artbank until 10 October; free.
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Also on ArtsHub: Man Ray and Max Dupain review: an exhibition exploring two important 20th century artists
One of Man Ray’s most celebrated photographs, Le violon d’Ingres, 1924, depicts the turban clad Kiki de Montparnasse, his lover and model in his early years in Paris. Sitting with her back to the viewer, Ray references the neoclassical painter Ingre and his devotion to the violin through the curves of de Montparnasse’s body.
Using the photogram process to make the violin sound holes, he illuminates the form with soft lighting on her back in contrast to a darkened background. It is playful in nature and an important departure from ways of presenting the nude in art.
Man Ray and Max Dupain: breadth and experimentation
Represented in the exhibition Man Ray and Max Dupain, currently showing at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Ray’s iconic image sets the tone for this beautifully presented and weighty exploration into two important modernist artists of the 20th century. Dupain’s celebrated work, Sunbaker, c. 1938, that became synonymous with Australian beach culture however, is nowhere to be found.
