Macquarie Group Foundation | 2024 Annual Review
Works of art purchased1
artists supported1
Works of art by Indigenous artists1
Through FY2024, the Macquarie Group Collection (the Collection) has continued acquiring art in all media around the theme, The Land and Its Psyche. The Collection supports emerging Australian artists by acquiring and displaying their art in Macquarie offices, while simultaneously fostering a wider appreciation of contemporary art and encouraging conversations about culture and diversity of thought.
Now comprising 940 works, the Collection is on display in 44 Macquarie offices worldwide. This year, art from the Collection has been installed in offices including Dubai, Santiago and Melbourne with preparations underway for installations in Macquarie’s new global headquarters in Sydney and new offices in New York City, and Munich and a major refurbishment in Houston. As part of the Sydney Metro Martin Place project, Macquarie has commissioned several new public art works in addition to restoring heritage art, creating a vibrant cultural precinct.
We look forward to the year ahead and the welcome return of the Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize opening night and exhibition in our new gallery in Sydney, The Art Space.
I’m proud of the Collection’s unique and enduring collecting model which provides support to emerging Australian artists by acquiring and displaying their art in Macquarie offices globally. The return of the Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize in 2024 will provide finalists with the opportunity to exhibit their work in The Art Space, our new public gallery in Macquarie’s global headquarters, in the heart of Sydney.”
Jacqui Vanzella
Chair, Macquarie Group Collection
Executive Director, Financial Management Group
In FY2024, the Macquarie Group Collection acquired 19 new artworks, supporting the careers of 16 emerging Australian artists. The Collection’s volunteer Art Committee visited multiple galleries and art fairs to make these acquisitions.
In September, the Art Committee visited the Sydney Contemporary acquiring two works on paper by Sally Scales. Sally’s works will soon be on display in Macquarie offices.
(left to right): Curatorial Consultant Felicity Fenner with Committee members Anne Murphy Cruise, Kate Riley, Clinton Bradley, Jacqui Vanzella, artist Sally Scales, Linda Evans, Robert McRobbie and Belinda Wright.
Sally Scales, Untitled, 2023, work on paper, 76 x 56 cm
Over the last few years, the Collection has been engaged on the new Sydney Metro Martin Place precinct development. This has involved restoring and reinstating heritage art and commissioning new public art within the precinct.
The new Macquarie Group public art includes commissions by Mikala Dwyer, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, Debra Beale and Tina Havelock Stevens. Additionally, commissions by First Nations artists Jamie Eastwood, Suzy Evans, and Frances Belle Parker will feature in Macquarie’s new workplace.
(left to right): Kate ffrench Blake and Michael Silman (Macquarie), with the Macquarie Group Collection’s curatorial advisor Felicity Fenner and Collection Director Helen Burton, conducting a site visit of the public art gallery, The Art Space, in Macquarie’s new Sydney office.
Image: Vincent Namatjira’s Self Portrait (Leaving Home), 2019, on display at the Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Given the Collection has been acquiring art for more than 35 years, an increasing number of Collection artists are now at the stage of holding survey exhibitions that reflect on their art career. The Collection often receives requests to loan art acquired by the Collection early in the artists’ career. In the past year, loan activity has included:
The return of Jonathon World Peace Bush’s painting included in Groundswell, an Artback NT touring exhibition on the road for two years to regional galleries in the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia
Vincent Namatjira, Self Portrait (Leaving Home), 2019 in Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour, a survey exhibition that commenced at the Art Gallery of South Australia before moving to the exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Nadine Christensen’s painting, Remember the Nights, 2007, in Around, the Nadine Christensen survey show at Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne
Elisabeth Cummings' diptych, ’Bird in the Bush, 1995 in Radiance: the art of Elisabeth Cummings at the National Art School, Sydney.
Read more about how the Macquarie Pride Employee Network Group (ENG) collaborated with the Macquarie Group Collection (the Collection) on a unique initiative in Macquarie’s three Sydney offices to celebrate 'Wear It Purple Day'.
Left: Sophie Dumaresq, The Hairy Panic, untitled #7, 2019-2020, rag photographique, ed 2/3 with a Wear it Purple badge
Right: Nick Heynsbergh, My explanation for coming out to my parents as gay was that I was attracted to men, 2021, watercolour and charcoal on paper. Nick Heynsbergh, When I was in grade 6, the ‘cool’ guys would corner me and my best friend and throw us against the back of the portables, insisting that we were gay, 2021, watercolour and charcoal on paper, with a Wear it Purple badge.
Thank you to the Collection’s Art Committee, which comprises employee volunteers, and our Curatorial Consultant Felicity Fenner, for their expertise and passion over the past year. Their dedication to identifying new art and artists and volunteering at Collection events throughout the year makes Collection activities possible.
The FY2024 Art Committee members are:
