Grammar Gazette - Issue 2, 2023

MS LORRAINE THORNQUIST MANAGER, FINE ARTS COLLECTIONS

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FROM THE BGGS Fine Arts Collections THE REMARKABLE LEGACY OF GORDON BENNETT

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A s part of the extensive Fine Arts Collections at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, we are privileged to hold a series of inkjet prints by esteemed Australian artist, Gordon Bennett. Bennett saw himself less as an Aboriginal artist than as a painter of history, intent on invoking a conversation about what constitutes identity, and in particular Australian identity, at times using satire and irony to frame this conversation.

Following his untimely death in 2014, the family trust of Gordon Bennett—John Citizen Arts Pty Ltd, ATF, the Bennett Family Trust—donated 23 of Bennett’s inkjet prints on archival paper to Brisbane Girls Grammar School. Bennett had a personal connection to the School, with his daughter Caitlin Bennett (2009) attending BGGS. The donated prints, all of which are artist proofs, are signed and dated, and were published between 2003 and 2006. This treasure of his print works, held in the Fine Arts Collections at Girls Grammar, demonstrates his exploration of a range of cultural and social issues and ideas. In recognition of Bennett’s significance in contemporary Indigenous Australian art, in 2021, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art held an extensive retrospective exhibition of his work. Titled Unfinished Business, the work aptly pays tribute to Bennett’s ongoing experimentation with artistic styles and visual language to question inherited ways of thinking, and assist in building relations between Indigenous and non‑Indigenous identity. The Gordon Bennett Collection reflects the heart of our Fine Arts Collections: that of donations. There are no clear historical records of how the Fine Arts Collections came into being

at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. It is assumed that early Trustees and Principals brought in works of art, which came to play a significant role in our identity as a School of lifelong learning, beyond formal lessons. Over the years, many donations have been gifted from Girls Grammar parents or alumnae, but others have been unexpected, very welcome additions from artists themselves or from families in the wider community. To discuss donating a piece of art, please contact the Development team via development@bggs.qld.edu.au, or phone 07 3332 1300. CAPTIONS 1 MS LORRAINE THORNQUIST 2 GORDON BENNETT, DINGOES, 2006 3 GORDON BENNETT, MALEVICH’S HOMETOWN, 2006 4 GORDON BENNETT, TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, 2005 5 GORDON BENNETT, BRAND NAMES, 2005

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GAZETTE • ISSUE 2, 2023 ISSUE 2, 2023

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL