NGV International Turns Fifty

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: This cover story for the NGV Magazine celebrated the 50th anniversary of architect Roy Grounds’s modernist design for the National Gallery of Victoria International. The text explored the history of the building, covering the spirit and intent of is commissioning, the genesis of Grounds’s design, stories and anecdotes from the building’s fifty-year history, artists who contributed to the design, the inaugural exhibition of non-objective artworks The Field, and the building’s reception – then and now. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: My contribution was as researcher and writer of a 1200-word text that formed the initial part of the cover story for the July/August edition of NGV Magazine. My text prefaced a text led by Director Tony Ellwood, which included 4-6 interviews with previous NGV directors, donors, curators and artists with a strong connection to the institution. The invitation was partly a recognition of earlier scholarship undertaken when the NGV commissioned me to write The NGV Story, a 50,000-word book published on the institution’s 150th anniversary. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: NGV magazine is published bi-monthly by the National Gallery of Victoria and distributed to a broad readership of around 30,000 readers per issue, including NGV Members, foundation members and audiences via the NGV design store. The magazine aims to support intelligent, interesting, insightful writing about art and design from NGV curators as well as guest writers on specialist topics.