TarraWarra Museum of Art
Annual Report 08-09 (7.59mb)
The TarraWarra Museum of Art Limited was established as a company limited by guarantee in October 2000. It is the first privately funded, significant public visual arts museum to be set up under the Australian Government's philanthropic measures announced in March 1999. TWMA operates as a not-for-profit institution, with a charter to display Australian art from the second half of the twentieth century to the present day. The museum was launched by the former Prime Minister, The Honourable John Howard in April 2002.
Eva and Marc Besen had long dreamt of sharing their inexhaustible passion for Australian art with the people of Australia and beyond. In 1999, the first steps were taken to make this dream a reality, with the formulation of a vision for a new museum in the Yarra Valley, with its own collection of Australian art chosen from their private collection that has been lovingly assembled over the last fifty years.
In 2000, an architectural competition was conducted with five of Melbourne's most outstanding architects invited to present design schemes for the museum. Allan Powell's design for this elegant building, arcing gently from the earth in concert with the contours and hues of the landscape, was chosen. With its hull resting permanently at TarraWarra, this vessel provides a worthy addition to recent Australian architectural accomplishments within the public arts sector, and as an inspiring environment within which to view modern and contemporary art. This new museum built by Probuild Constructions was opened by the former Victorian Premier, The Honourable Steve Bracks in December 2003. The building won for Probuild constructions the 2004 Excellence in Construction Award while Allan Powell won the inaugural Premier's Design Award.
The TWMA collection is comprised of Australian works of art primarily from the early 1950s to the present day, the same period during which Marc and Eva Besen have collected art. The collection highlights artists whose work has come to prominence from the 1950s onwards: artists who have shaped the development of modern art in Australia since the precursors of the 1930s and 1940s. While containing examples of internationally informed art, the TarraWarra Museum of Art collection demonstrates a coherent and uniquely Australian character, strongly founded in this nation's interior and exterior world. When the Museum opened all of the works, save one donated by John Olsen in October 2003, were gifts to the museum from the Besens.
TarraWarra Museum of Art has a commitment to making a selection of this unique collection available for the public to view throughout the year. During each annual programme, temporary exhibitions focusing either on particular facets of the collection, or using the collection as impetus for an examination of a wider selection of art, will be exhibited together with contemporary installations and themed exhibitions. Each year a minimum of four exhibitions will be mounted to coincide with the different seasons.
This realisation of Eva and Marc Besen's vision in their gift to the public, provides a retreat from the city and an opportunity to experience three of their enduring passions, Australian modern art, architecture and the beautiful Yarra Valley landscape.