Collection

Overview
The Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Collections consist of over 1,000 objects, primarily featuring paintings, sculptures, works on paper and photography. The Collection covers three distinct areas:

• The Lewers Bequest
• Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Collection
• Penrith Performing & Visual Arts Collection.

 Specifically….

The Lewers Bequest
The Lewers Bequest is a composite bequest comprising site, buildings, furniture, artworks, books, publications, photographs and printed ephemera given by Darani Larsen and Tanya Crothers to Penrith City Council in 1980. The 1980 bequest includes:

• Artworks
• Furniture and soft furnishings
• Books, publications, photographs and printed ephemera
• Aboriginal rock engravings.

Gerald and Margo Lewers were actively involved in the development of the visual arts. This activity occurred through their practice, their formal and casual associations with other artists, writers, administrators and their desire to collect and preserve for the future. They lived in a specific period and were known to be keenly interested in the development of new and unique thought and practice in the visual arts.

The Lewers were interested in the development of the art of their time and their influence upon and place within that development. Thus the Lewers Bequest should be seen within the context of the Lewers, their contemporaries and the cultural debates of their time.

Gerald and Margo Lewers also collected books, journals, periodicals, catalogues and other printed material (including photographs) related to their interests and artistic milieu. This material is an important element of the Lewers Bequest and is available for research purposes.

Penrith Regional Gallery Collection
The Penrith Regional Gallery Collection is made up of artworks, cultural objects or ephemera purchased by, donated or gifted specifically to Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest from 1980.

Margo and Gerald Lewers were actively involved in, and committed to, the development of Australian visual arts. Both were keenly interested in the development of new and unique thought, artistic practice, debate and visual arts education. Thus many works have been acquired in order to reflect, explore and critique the practices, histories, interests and philosophic commitments of Gerald and Margo Lewers and their contemporaries.

The Penrith Regional Gallery Collection honours and builds upon the spirit and intent of the original Lewers Bequest. The Gallery, as practicable, continues to acquire works which demonstrate and/or reflect:

• The philosophies and practices explored by Gerald and Margo Lewers and their contemporaries;
• The contrasts and comparative philosophies and practices of Australian Modernism (1930 to 1980);
• Those philosophies and practice which influenced the practices of Gerald and Margo Lewers and their contemporaries (particularly Abstraction, Constructivism and Minimalism)
• Analysis, exploration and/or critique of Australian Modernism and Abstraction by contemporary artists (post 1980).
• Excellence and rigorous commitment to contemporary practice by Western Sydney artists and/or artists working in the region.
• The people, place and history of Penrith and western Sydney as reflected in contemporary visual culture.

Penrith Performing & Visual Arts Collection
The Penrith Performing & Visual Arts Collection is made up of artworks, cultural objects and ephemera specifically purchased by, donated or gifted to Penrith Performing & Visual Arts.

Penrith Performing & Visual Arts is premised on a commitment to artistic excellence, contemporary practice and community engagement across and between the performing and visual arts – with specific focus on the city of Penrith. The Penrith Performing & Visual Arts Collection, and is made up of artworks, cultural objects and ephemera which demonstrate and/or reflect:

1. The history of Australia performing arts, with particular reference to:

• The work and repertoire of Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge
• The history of the Q Theatre Company (a.k.a Railway Street Theatre Company)
• The history of the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (and Penrith Conservatorium of Music);

2. Excellence in the performing and visual arts in Penrith;

3. The people, place and history of Penrith.

Artists represented in the Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Collections include:
Harold Abbott
Brook Andrew
Yvonne Audette
Sydney Ball
Ralf Balson
Mimi Jaksic Berger
Jo Boag
Nancy Borlase
Kevin Connor
Lyndon Dadswell
Harold David
Destiny Deacon & Virginia Fraser
Shay Docking
Max Dupain
Roy Fluke
Bert Flugelman
Thomas Gleghorn
Ricky Emmerton
Paul Haefliger
Melinda Harper
Leonard Hessing
‘Bim’ Hilder
Frank Hinder
Margel Hinder
Frank Hodgkinson
Cherry Hood
Paul Hopmeier
Louis James
Michael Kempson
Michael Kitching
Eva Kubos
Darani Lewers
Gerald Lewers
Margo Lewers
Elwyn Lynn
Arthur McIntyre
Ian McKay
Desiderius Orban
Wendy Paramor
David Porter (a.k.a. Jacques L’Affrique)
Jon Plapp
Carl Plate
Stanislaus Rapotec
Henry Salkauskus
Martin Sharp
Ron Robertson-Swann
Greg Semu
Vernon Treweeke
Tony Tuckson
Peter Upward
Leon Urbonas
Guy Warren
Regina Walter
Margaret West
Justene Williams
Reinis Zusters

Access to the Collections is by application and appointment only.

For further information please contact
M/s. Shirley Daborn
Collection Manager
Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest
Phone: 02 4735 1100
sdaborn@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au