Significant works from the McClelland Collection, Langwarrin
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French Gallery extension with Lenton Parr, Roy Ward, Molly Graham, Simon Klose,
Ann Miller, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and Aidan J Graham, c.August 1987
photographer, believed to be Ron Daley
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In 1912, Harry McClelland and his sister Annie May ‘Nan’ McClelland, offspring of a prosperous pharmaceutical entrepreneur, relocated to Long Island, Frankston, with their mother. Unburdened by the demands of conventional employment, Harry pursued his passion for painting, while Nan found her creative outlet in poetry. By the 1920s, their residence had evolved into a gathering place for a bohemian collective of creative individuals from various strata of Victoria’s society, including notable figures such as Sir Daryl Lindsay, Percy Leason, and photographer Harold Cazneaux. Nan made a significant contribution to broadcasting history by hosting the first children’s radio program on the ABC. The local community eagerly anticipated New Year’s Eve, which was traditionally heralded by Harry parading down the street in full Drum-Major attire. A portrait of Harry McClelland, titled Drum-Major Harry McClelland, 1929 by William B McInnes, was awarded the prestigious Archibald Prize in 1930.
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Annie May McClelland, c.1908, photographer believed to be Stewart + Co, Melbourne
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William Beckworth McInnes, The Drum Major (portrait of Harry McClelland), 1929, McClelland Collection
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Both Nan and Harry were dynamic contributors to Melbourne’s cultural scene and played instrumental roles in the evolution of Victoria’s arts community. Harry, who passed away in 1954, harboured a lifelong ambition to establish an art gallery and cultural centre on the Mornington Peninsula. Upon Nan’s passing in 1961, the responsibility of realising Harry’s dream was entrusted to friends of the McClellands, Molly and James Graham, bank manager Bill Harrison, and Dr. Steward Preston, who became the initial trustees tasked with the development of a Gallery. Sir Daryl Lindsay, Eric Westbrook, Alan McCulloch, and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE were also involved from the outset. With the historically significant bequest of funds and a twenty-acre parcel of land, the McClelland Gallery was inaugurated in 1971.
The McClelland Gallery, designed by Melbourne architects Colin Munro and Phillip Sargeant, initially housed a collection of 163 works, comprising 97 pieces from the Estate and a substantial donation of 66 additional works from Sir Daryl Lindsay and John Farmer, both of whom served as advisors to the Gallery during its formation. The significant brutalist-inspired building was sympathetically extended by Williams Boags and, more recently, the Sarah & Baillieu Myer Education Pavilion by Kerstin Thompson. McClelland has flourished due to the vision and generosity of dedicated philanthropic donors, most notably Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE, The Myer Family Foundations, The Calvert-Jones Foundation, Annamila Foundation, Balnaves Foundation, Packer Family Foundation, Lyn Williams AM and the Graham Family. This considerable collective support reinforces its legacy as the home of Australian sculptural scholarship at the Gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, where sculpture parks and outdoor sculpture collecting have thrived.
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Architects Colin Munro (left) and Philip Sargeant (right) in the foyer of McClelland Gallery, during construction, c.1970 – 71, photographer unknown, State Library of Victoria
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As early as 1973, the Gallery began expressing interest in collecting sculpture, particularly those pieces that complemented the surrounding natural bushland. Australian sculpture quickly became a focal point of the collection policy and has seen substantial growth over the past 35 years. A significant initiative of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch was the establishment of the Elisabeth Murdoch Sculpture Foundation in 1989, with the aim of aiding and promoting the development of the McClelland Gallery as a sculpture institution of international renown. Through the Elisabeth Murdoch Sculpture Foundation, the Gallery has been able to amass an impressive collection of Australian sculpture and support Australian sculptors through exhibitions, acquisitions, scholarships, and grants. A further testament to the sculptural focus is the groundbreaking private-public partnership McClelland established with the Southern Way Trust under the directorship of Robert Lindsay. This significant program remains the largest ongoing commitment to sculpture commissioning in Australia, spanning from 2013 to 2037.
In 2024, the McClelland Trustees reemphasised the collection’s representation of the home of Australian sculpture and broadened their understanding of landscape, nature, and spatial practice. Importantly, this includes the perspectives and cultural practices of the longest living culture on earth, that of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This aligns with the expanded role that the museum occupies in the 21st century; it is no longer solely about the preservation and exhibition of objects, but has evolved into a place of social exchange, a meeting point for diverse groups and cultures, and a forum for discourse about culture, vitality, and sustainability. McClelland’s collection focus will be on modern and contemporary sculpture and spatial practice relevant to its original mandate of ‘art and nature’ by Australian artists, amplifying the diverse cultural experiences of Australia’s past and present.
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McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery
photographer: John Gollings
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With this in mind, and in accordance with its current collection policy, seven works have been selected for auction following the first major audit of the McClelland Collection. This will honour the significant foundational support for this unique cultural organisation and enable McClelland to continue to present high-quality Australian arts experiences for its local and broader community for over 50 years in the outer southern eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.
LISA BYRNE
ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, McCLELLAND
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| Peter Corlett, Tarax play sculpture, 1969, photographer: Mitch Pelns-Ross |
John Meade: It's Personal!, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, November 2023 to March 2024, installation view, Image courtesy of McClelland, photographer: Andrew Curtis
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