The Johnstone Gallery Archive
The Johnstone Gallery was a commercial art gallery that operated in Brisbane for 22 years during a seminal time in the development of an audience for contemporary art in Australia. It opened in 1950 and closed in 1972. The gallery brokered strong sales year after year for Australian artists of the period, including Charles Blackman, Sidney Nolan, Donald Friend, Arthur Boyd, Ray Crooke, Margaret Olley, Lawrence Daws, Robert Dickerson and others.
Photo collection
Photographer Arthur Davenport regularly recorded exhibitions at the Johnstone Gallery from 1964.
Correspondence
Gallery correspondence penned almost exclusively by Brian Johnstone spans the early 1950s to the 1970s.
Exhibition catalogues
The Johnstone Gallery produced increasingly lavish catalogues to accompany most of its exhibitions.
Scrapbooks
Throughout the life of the Gallery and beyond, Marjorie Johnstone compiled scrapbooks which record its history.
About the Johnstone Gallery
Its history, buildings and gardens, the Twelfth Night Theatre, and Lindy, a lady of volatile temper.
The Artists
The Johnstones' network of artists, include Ray Crooke, Donald Friend, and Len and Kath Shillam.
Send us a memory
If you have recollections or anecdotes about the Johnstones and their gallery, let us know.
About the Johnstone Gallery Archive
The Archive was donated to the State Library of Queensland's James Hardie Library of Australian Fine Arts in 1994.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to donors who generously made this virtual exhibition possible.
More information
If you have an enquiry, contact us in any of the following ways:
For general enquiries:
- Ask at your local Queensland public library
- Other libraries [new window]
Last updated: 8th July 2009
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