Historical information

This booklet is a catalogue of most of the works of art that were displayed in an exhibition in the Warrnambool Art Gallery in 1994. It was described as ‘a celebration of artists committed to living and working in country Victoria’. It was intended to be the first of similar exhibitions and was initiated by the Warrnambool-based Cultural Association of the South Coast and Western Plains. The Warrnambool Art Gallery was officially opened in 1886 though the local Mechanics’ Institute and Museum had been collecting works of art before this date. When the Mechanics’ Institute building was taken over for Council use in 1963 the Art Gallery ceased to exist and the works put in storage. The Gallery re-opened in temporary premises in 1971 and the present Warrnambool Art Gallery, a memorial to Fletcher Jones, was opened in 1986 in Liebig Street.

Significance

This is an interesting catalogue as it is one of the few examples we have of the work of the Cultural Association of the South Coast and Western Plains. This Warrnambool-based group operated for a short time only in the 1990s.

Physical description

This is a soft cover booklet of 40 pages. It is bound with metal staples. It has a white cover with black printing and reproductions of black and white works of art on the front and back covers. The booklet contains reproductions of the works of art (in black and white) by 34 south west Victoria artists