Simon and Catriona Mordant: The Mordant touch

Alongside his day job as an investment banker, Simon Mordant has been a longstanding champion of contemporary art—a commitment reflected in his philanthropy and influential roles across key institutions. These include the Bundanon Trust, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Tate, MoMA, and the American Academy in Rome. He also served as commissioner and international ambassador for Australia’s representation at the Venice Biennale, playing a pivotal role in the redevelopment of the Australian Pavilion. Alongside his wife, Catriona, the Mordants have spent the past four decades collecting contemporary art, amassing over 600 works by both Australian and international artists. Their collection spans artists such as Gunybi Ganambarr and Narelle Jubelin from Australia, to Binh Danh (Vietnam), Lisa Oppenheim (USA), and Ghada Amer (Egypt), among many others. Recently, they made their largest gift to a single institution—donating 25 works to the Newcastle Art Gallery.

“What started as a modest journey has become a little obsessive”, says Mordant of their art collecting which, for him, began with the purchase of an etching by Judith Feaney from the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition when he was working in the school holidays (the work cost him his weekly wage of 50 pounds). “We particularly love contemporary art as the artist is living and you can talk to them”, he says. As was the case with Feaney’s etching when, as a schoolboy, Mordant wrote to the artist with an enquiry about her work. Their subsequent correspondence is kept with the work…