‘Having so many imaginations in one room at one time is so exciting’, enthused Belinda Hanrahan, Director of the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery on the southern fringes of Sydney. ‘These artists have really stood the test of time—so it’s very special to have this quality of art in this unlikely place; much more moving than going to see it in the city.’
How did this selection of sixty-three serious post-War works of Australian Modernism find their way to this unlikely resting place in the Sutherland Shire? It began with Hazelhurst Gallery’s recently appointed Patron, Edmund Capon—newly freed from responsibilities at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW)—asking Hanrahan how he could help. Her immediate response was, ‘We want a cracker of a show’. Hanrahan expanded: ‘We have no collection here, but feel responsible for trying to introduce a lot of people to art. So we need an occasional exhibition of significance. And, going by fifteen pages of enthusiasm in the Visitor’s Book, we’ve hit the jackpot with this’.
‘It was Edmund who thought of the Besens. And I think they appreciated the exposure in Sydney—outside their base in the Yarra Valley. But Hazelhurst is also appropriate for them in that we’re the product of benefaction too. Ben and Hazel Broadhust left their house and land for the community—Hazel + Hurst! Now that house is a base for artists’ residencies, and Sutherland Shire built the Gallery next door as a place for local artists—professionals like Gary Shead and George Gittoes at Bundeena or ceramicist Claudia Citton, showing with Modernism; then there are seven studios for less-professional artists to develop their practice’.
Enter Edmund Capon. Immediately he admitted that ‘The Triumph of