American Friends
The American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia (the American Friends) is an independent charitable organization dedicated to nurturing the visual arts and promoting artistic exchange between the United States and Australia.
Established in the Gallery’s opening year – 1982 – the American Friends donates significant works of art to the national collection, provides targeted support to exhibition and education programs, and co-sponsors an annual fellowship for Australian visual arts students to advance their studies in the United States.
National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, Photographer: Rory Gardiner © National Gallery of Australia, 2023
About the National Gallery of Australia
Joseph Kosuth, One and eight - a description, 1965, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1978 © Joseph Kosuth. ARS/Copyright Agency
American Collection
Notable gifts by the American Friends
Over the past four decades, the American Friends has played an important role in shaping the national collection through gifts of works by internationally renowned artists including Chuck Close, Philip Guston, Frank Lloyd Wright, Agnes Martin, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Larry Rivers, Mark Rothko, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.
The American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia has also donated works by modern and contemporary Australian artists including Arthur Boyd, Virginia Cuppaidge, Russell Drysdale, Sally Morgan, Sidney Nolan and Imants Tillers.
The combined value of works donated to date is in excess of $US40 million.
Sidney Nolan, Ned Kelly, 1946, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, gift of Sunday Reed 1976
Russell Drysdale, The drover’s wife, c.1945, Gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc., New York, NY, USA, made possible with the generous support of Mr and Mrs Benno Schmidt of New York and Esperance, Western Australia, 1987, © Estate of Russell Drysdale.
Robert Motherwell, Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 1958, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, purchased with the assistance of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc., New York, NY, made possible with the generous support of The Dedalus Foundation and the Foundation of the National Gallery of Australia 1994, © Dedalus Foundation, Inc. VAGA/Copyright Agency.
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When you support the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, all Australians benefit from your philanthropy.
Installation view Bert Flugelman, Cones, 1982, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, commissioned 1976. Purchased 1982. © Bert Flugelman, Photographer: Rory Gardiner © National Gallery of Australia, 2023