New Zealand philanthropist Michael Horton and his late wife, Dame Rosie Horton have donated their significant private collection of Australian Aboriginal art to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The gift comprises the largest number of artworks ever donated to the Art Gallery’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection.
As part of the gift, 193 works will enter the Art Gallery collection including paintings, weavings and sculptures that were personally selected by Michael and Rosie Horton over a 23-year period from several Aboriginal communities they visited across Australia.
Complementing the Art Gallery’s existing collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, the gift includes work by Aboriginal artists not previously represented in the Art Gallery’s collection, such as Girramay artists Abe Muriata and Emily Murray, and Djina?/Marung artist Jeremiah Bonson. The collection also includes many works by prominent women artists including Sally Gabori, Angelina George, and the Joshua sisters.
“We are grateful to Michael and Rosie Horton for their substantial gift, which shows the couple’s shared passion for Aboriginal art and their deep appreciation for the artists and communities they visited,” said Art Gallery of New South Wales deputy director and director of collections, Maud Page.
“Bequests like this strengthen our collections, provide much needed philanthropic support and serve as a lasting tribute to the generosity and vision of our supporters,” said Page.
“This gift is an exciting addition to the Art Gallery collection. Eclectic and wide ranging, the works span a range of mediums and reflect longstanding connections to several significant artmaking communities,” said Art Gallery of New South Wales, Head of First Nations, Cara Pinchbeck.
“I am thrilled to gift the Art Gallery of New South Wales the beloved collection that Rosie and I enjoyed building over more than two decades,” said Michael Horton. “It gives me great comfort to know that the collection will remain in Australia where it will be enjoyed by local and international visitors to the Art Gallery, as well as the artists themselves, their descendants, and future generations of the communities represented in the collection.”
Rosie Horton was a well-known New Zealand philanthropist, who passed away in May 2023. Michael Horton is the former proprietor of New Zealand’s largest newspaper company. The Horton family were significant shareholders in Wilson & Horton, which owned the New Zealand Herald for 120 years before the family’s shareholding was sold in 1996.
The couple spent months at their Queensland home each year and from 2000, they travelled extensively to Aboriginal communities across northern Australia to meet artists directly and to acquire works through Aboriginal owned and run art centres. They also acquired works through commercial galleries with longstanding connections to art centres and individual artists.
More than 35 works from the Horton collection are now on show in the Yiribana Gallery, the dedicated space for the display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, in Naala Badu, the Art Gallery’s new building. For more information, visit: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au for details.
Image: Cara Pinchbeck, head of First Nations, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Michael Horton; Maud Page, deputy director and director of collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales – photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Joshua Morris