Private Art Collectors, Collecting and Cultural Philanthropy

What role did private collectors play in establishing the Museum of Fine Arts' remarkable holdings? How did private mansion collections influence museum interiors and the display of fine art?

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) was born from the private collections of civic minded individuals and philanthropists in 1870. This masterclass situates the MFA within a historical context and sheds light on the contributions of private collectors and benefactors in their quest to make private art collections accessible to the public.

Join Dr Georgina Walker to learn more about the individuals and philanthropists who helped shape public institutions in America and beyond.

Presented by Dr Georgina Walker

Georgina Walker is Lecturer in Art History and Curatorship at the University of Melbourne. She has developed a significant academic profile in the emerging field of private museums and cultural philanthropy at the University of Melbourne, in Australia and internationally, with an innovative specialisation in private and public museum studies, historical and contemporary museum/curatorial and art market studies. This expertise contributes to the versatility and scope of her research, allowing Georgina to use historical knowledge/developments to interrogate/interpret contemporary issues, and vice versa. The rise of private museums has dominated her scholarly research since 2010 - Master Thesis and Doctoral Dissertation. Her monograph The Private Collector's Museum: Public Good Versus Private Gain (Routledge, 2019) is the first study to connect the rising popularity of private museums with new models of philanthropy, collecting and complex inter-relationships between private and public museums.

With NGV Curator, International Exhibition Projects, Meg Slater

Meg Slater is Curator, International Exhibition Projects, NGV. Since 2017, she has worked on eight of the NGV’s major international exhibitions, including MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art, 2018; Keith Haring | Jean Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines, 2019/20; Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi, 2023; and Yayoi Kusama, 2024/25. She was also one of the five curators who organised QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection, 2022. She holds a degree in Art History and Business from the University of Queensland and a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.

Schedule

From 5.45pm	Arrive via main waterwall entrance.
6.00pm - 7.00pm	Masterclass presentation (40-minute masterclass \| 20-minute curator conversation).
7.00pm - 7.45pm	Light refreshments served in the Garden Restaurant.
7.45pm - 8.30pm	Exhibition viewing time.

This Masterclass is part of a series presented by the Melbourne Public Humanities Initiative. The University of Melbourne’s Learning Partnership with the NGV provides an opportunity to spend an evening (or three!) in the gallery hosted by Dr Olivia Meehan, art historian and object-based learning specialist from the Faculty of Arts.

Follow this link to view the series and register for other Masterclass sessions:
https://collections.humanitix.com/french-impressionism-a-melbourne-masterclass-series

Image credit:
Claude Monet
Grainstack (snow effect), 1891.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Gift of Miss Aimée and
Miss Rosamond Lamb in memory
of Mr. and Mrs. Horatio Appleton Lamb.
Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
All Rights Reserved.