A PERSONAL collection of artworks owned by celebrated Canberra artist Rosalie Gascoigne and her astronomer husband, Professor Ben Gascoigne, has been gifted to the ANU Drill Hall Gallery by the late couple’s family.

These works were given to the ANU by the executors of the estate of Professor S.C.B. Gascoigne through the Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Today the couple’s son, Martin Gascoigne, conducted a tour of the works, explaining how each piece was acquired and the fascinating relationships between his parents and the artists.

According to the director of the gallery, Terence Maloon, the 12-piece collection is made up of  “artworks that Ben and Rosalie bought together or were gifts from people who were of paramount importance in their lives.”

“For example,” Mr Maloon went on, “there are three works by Carl Plate, whom Ben met when they shared a cabin on the last passenger ship to leave Britain for Australia during World War II, two of which were painted during visits to the couple’s house on MountStromlo in the early 1950s.”

Originally from New Zealand, Gascoigne worked as an astronomer at the Mount Stromlo Observatory and the fledgling Department of Astronomy at the ANU from 1941 until 1988.

In 1943 in Canberra, he married Rosalie Walker, a university friend from Auckland, and they lived on Mt Stromlo until 1960. During this time Rosalie developed a strong feeling for the Australian countryside and honed the sensibility that would permit her to become the most illustrious contemporary artist ever to emerge from the Canberra region.

The family lived on Mount Stromlo until 1960 and three children all graduated from the ANU.

It was during her time at Mt Stromlo  time that Rosalie Gascoigne developed the strong feeling for the Australian landscape and honed the sensibility that mark her as Canberra’s most illustrious artist. Many of her early sculptures were made from materials that she found during her regular walks through local countryside.

“We are greatly honoured by the Gascoigne family’s wish for such a significant gift to be given to ANU…These are works that have an intimate connection to the story of their lives,” Mr Maloon said.

It must be emphasised that these are not works by Rosalie Gascoigne but works that had considerable personal significance for hr and her husband, by artists Georges Braque, Tony Tuckson, Peter Booth, Ken Whisson, Robert Klippel, Carl Plate, Michael Taylor and Pam McFarlane.

The collection will be on view at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery during opening hours (Wed-Sun 12-5pm) for the next three months, alongside Sidney Nolan’s “Riverbend.”

Pictured above:  Peter Booth, Untitled c.1978 (detail), gouache and silver paint on paper, 55 x 74 cm.