Charles Nodrum Gallery turns 40

2024 will mark 40 years of exhibitions for Narrm/Melbourne’s Charles Nodrum Gallery, established by Charles Nodrum in 1984. The Australian art world stalwart has seen many impressive artists present, and a number of seismic shifts in artmaking and collecting.

Born in London, Nodrum had a wealth of experience in the art world when he first opened the doors of Charles Nodrum Gallery, from working with Joseph Brown to chairing the McClelland Gallery, to working at Christie’s auction house, to even studying philosophy. The gallerist describes opening his own space as the “only credible option”, and established the first iteration of the gallery on Church Street in Richmond, opening with a group show Australian 20^th Century Prints, Drawings and Water Colours. Often, the initial shows at the gallery were made up of works from Nodrum’s own substantial collection, but it was not long until the endeavour took off.

From the beginning, the gallery’s presentations have been defined by Nodrum’s aesthetic tastes, the gallerist having a notable and early appreciation for abstraction. Nodrum remembers there being a dearth of interest in abstraction during the gallery’s youth, but luckily he was not swayed by prevailing trends in the art market, and today Charles Nodrum Gallery is well known for its exhibitions of abstract art and artists – with the Abstraction exhibition series still running after more than 20 years.

The gallery continues to grow, with new additions to Charles Nodrum Gallery’s stable including senior abstract artist Yvonne Audette and the promising Samara Adamson-Pinczewski.

Nordrum has summed up his experience as: “get the best pictures you can, and after that you just have to hope for the best”.

“You can’t encourage someone to buy a picture they don’t like, and equally, there’s a sense in which you don’t need to worry about good paintings finding good homes because they almost always do”.

The gallery will host an anniversary group show to celebrate this milestone, which will run from 20 July to 10 August.