The Herald Art Show
Before WWI, a young journalist was employed by
David Syme of The Age and part of
his job was to help increase the circulation of The Age in the
�establishment� eastern suburbs. We have told the story in our
7 Journalists of Melbourne of
how this young Keith Murdoch
was by the 1930s to become proprietor of The Sun, The Herald,
3DB and as a result, one of the most powerful men in Australia.
This rich and powerful man then surprised everyone by marrying an
attractive girl many years his junior. Of course nobody said anything
publicly but you can imagine many thought it would never last. This young
girl recently only recently died at the age of 102 and still spoke with enormous
respect and affection of their long and happy marriage. Keith always had an
interest in the arts, but
Elisabeth pushed this along a number of steps. The Herald became
the arts newspaper rivalling and often surpassing his old employers at
The Age. Keith sought out expert advice for his own art collection and
then in the late 1930s put together an audacious project.
He arranged for over 200 �modern art� works to be brought from Europe for
a touring exhibition. These included works by the likes of Gauguin, van
Gogh, Braque, Cezanne, Bonnard and others. The
National Gallery of Victoria and
the Art Gallery of New South Wales would have nothing to do with it, but
that didn�t worry Keith. He hired the
Melbourne Town Hall and in Sydney, horror of horrors, he used a
department store � David Jones. Keith had deep pockets but a venture this
size did require an admission charge. That was not a problem. On the whole
artists and the public lapped it up and queued around the block. Some major
gallery establishment figures railed against it describing the art and
artists in highly derogatory terms. That was just grist to Keith�s mill. He
owned a major newspaper and instead of covering up their opinions he quoted
them in large type. As his son
Rupert was to do in later years, he relished taking �establishment
pronouncements� head on. The exhibition did not have to be confined to the
public service hours of the time and for nigh on two weeks over 40,000
people of Melbourne queued until 10 o�clock at night to see these paintings
in the flesh. Some conjectured that this was more than had passed through
the doors of the main establishment gallery in a year. It remains as one of the
most influential arts events to occur in Melbourne�s short history and as
such, we suspect deserves the label of �Bigger than the Beatles�.
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No.6 - The Herald Art Show
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