Wendy Sharpe, Blue Harbour, 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 92 x 183cm. Courtesy: the artist and Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney.

2024 marks 100 years of public collecting at MAG&M. To celebrate, they are presenting a series of three special exhibitions throughout the year.

Collection 100: Gifted is the first in the series. The exhibition will celebrate the philanthropists, artists, donors and member groups whose generosity and foresight has grown an impressive art collection that holds 100 years of stories about the cultural life of the region, city, state and nation.

To mark a century of collecting, they have chosen works by ten artists which have come to MAG&M through conscious community action and giving. Selected works relate to key private donors and artists, starting with the first work which established the Manly Art Collection in 1924. Significant bequests have been received from Theo Batten, Lady Askin and Roger Peitri, as well as numerous donations by Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, P.S. Garling, The Women’s Auxiliary Committee, and MAG&M Society, and artworks gifted by countless artists and donors over the years.

The exhibition includes early works by James R. Jackson, Tom Roberts, Ethel Carrick Fox and Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, and more recent works by Elisabeth Cummings, Wendy Sharpe and Katthy Cavaliere.