Art for art's sake

We went for contemporary Australian art because it reflected the company," Beaumont says. "At that time, Macquarie was a young organisation establishing itself in a market that was dominated by international investment banks. The work of emerging artists fitted well with that profile.The Macquarie collection is rated as one of the best contemporary art collections in Australia.

Australian businesses are back in the auction houses as they transform their collections to reflect modern sensibilities and inspire staff. 
By John Kavanagh

The Toyota Community Spirit Gallery in Port Melbourne
Image: Paul Jones

The highest price paid for an Australian painting in 2005 was $2.04 million for an Arthur Streeton landscape, Sunlight Sweet, Coogee, which went under the hammer at a Sotheby's auction in May. The figure was close to the record price paid for an Australian painting - $2.3 million for a Frederick McCubbin work auctioned in the late 1990s. The Streeton came from the collection of the brewer and winemaker, Foster's Group. The company consigned all 70 paintings in its collection to Sotheby's and realised $13.3 million.

Foster's Group is one of a growing number of companies that have sold their art collections in recent years. Other sellers include BHP Billiton, Orica, John Fairfax Holdings, and Coles Myer. Sales have become so common that art collectors have been wondering whether the corporate collection is a thing of the past, and also how the art market will be affected if companies are not buying.

Prized Streetons, McCubbins, Sidney Nolans and Arthur Boyds are being taken down from boardroom walls, crated up and shipped off to Christie's and Sotheby's in greater numbers, but rumours of the death of corporate art collections are unfounded. There are as many companies starting collections as there are companies selling.

Macquarie Bank has been building a collection of contemporary Australian art for 20 years, and recently its lead has been followed by the investment banks ABN-Amro and Deutsche Bank, the accounting firms Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the law firms Blake Dawson Waldron and Allens Arthur Robinson, and Wesfarmers and ANZ Banking Group.

A principal of the auctioneer Deutscher-Menzies, Chris Deutscher, says: "What we have seen in the past few years is a generational change. In the older industrial companies, you see the old guard moving on and new management taking a hard look at the company's assets and its culture. Chief executives in companies like Coles Myer and Foster's want to send out signals that things have changed."

The chief executive of Foster's Group, Trevor O'Hoy, says: "Foster's made the decision to sell its art collection as it was no longer seen as a strategic fit. The sale of the collection reinforces our focus on becoming a truly global premium beverages company." The core of the Foster's collection was put together by the directors of Elder, Smith & Co (later Elders IXL), a pastoral company, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the work was Australian landscapes. Elders and Foster's came together in the 1980s, forming part of a conglomerate headed by John Elliott.

Coles Myer's chief executive, John Fletcher's, purpose in selling the company's art collection was to overcome an impression that the people at the top lived a lavish lifestyle that was remote from staff and customers. A former chief executive, Brian Quinn, was jailed in 1997 for defrauding the company of $4.5 million, which he used to fund an extravagant home renovation.

Fletcher runs a much leaner head office than his predecessors and there is no place for art. Asked what he would put on the walls in place of the 220 artworks that were consigned for auction at Christie's in November 2004, Fletcher said he favoured the idea of photographs of Coles Myer staff working in the company's stores.

The publisher John Fairfax Holdings replaced its art collection with framed prints of photos from its publications, which include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Sun-Herald, The Australian Financial Review and BRW.

Not all sellers are giving up on corporate art. A note in the Christie's catalogue for the sale of the BHP Billiton collection says: "[The] collection began in 1972, based on three criteria. The collection would be Australian, support and encourage the young and talented, and provide stimulation in their workplace. BHP Billiton will maintain its commitment to innovation and excellence in the visual arts. The proceeds will be used to establish a new collection that reflects both the identity of the merged companies (BHP merged with Billiton in 2001) and a contemporary view of our environment." The company has a curator in Johannesburg and, according to art-market reports, several acquisitions have been made since the sale of the original collection in August 2003.

Deutscher says PwC and Deutsche Bank have been selling work in the market this year, and both are buying new work with the proceeds. Deutsche's collection was heavy on the Australian moderns - Nolan, Boyd and John Olsen - but the focus of the collection is on contemporary Australian art, he says. PwC has sold a collection that was put together in the 1980s and has hired the Melbourne art consultant John Buckley to advise on the selection of new work.

The focus of almost every corporate collection these days is contemporary art. Companies that want to present an innovative image like to make the connection with the experimental, sometimes provocative, nature of contemporary art. Other companies like to be identified with helping the careers of emerging artists because it sends a signal to junior staff members that they are interested in developing talent.

On a more practical level, companies feel that contemporary art is a more appropriate decoration than older styles in modern offices. And on an even more practical level, contemporary art is cheap; most companies report that they are spending between $5000 and $10,000 for work. Works by the popular Australian Heidelberg School of painters and moderns would cost a lot more.

The Macquarie Bank's non-executive director, Julian Beaumont, recalls the conversation he had with a former chief executive, Tony Berg, 18 years ago. "Tony was looking at the annual report of a Swiss bank that was illustrated with reproductions of the bank's European old masters collection. Tony asked whether it made sense to do something similar and use art as part of Macquarie's corporate signature." Beaumont took charge of the development of the collection and has overseen the acquisition of 400 works since.

Beaumont works with a committee of 12 Macquarie employees on the selection of work. He has a part-time manager, Liz Morell, and from time to time takes advice from Nick Waterlow, an art consultant and a former curator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The committee is given an annual budget.

We went for contemporary Australian art because it reflected the company," Beaumont says. "At that time, Macquarie was a young organisation establishing itself in a market that was dominated by international investment banks. The work of emerging artists fitted well with that profile. We decided the focus would be landscape because we liked the idea of art that conveyed spirit of place and because we thought it was the style that would have broadest appeal."

The Macquarie collection is rated as one of the best contemporary art collections in Australia. In recent years, a lot of the work has been sent overseas as Macquarie has expanded its operations. Beaumont arranges an occasional evening when staff can have a drink, view the work and hear a talk on the collection. Recently, he has started running similar events for outside groups; staff from Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art were guests at a recent viewing.

Beaumont is also developing relationships between Macquarie and the art world. The Macquarie Foundation, the bank's charitable arm, sponsors the National Sculpture Prize, which is run at the National Gallery of Australia each year, and Macquarie has a strong relationship with the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

A recent trend is for companies to use their corporate art collections as a focus for events. ABN-Amro launched the ABN-Amro Emerging Artist Award in 2004. It is an acquisitive prize, with the winner paid $10,000 for the work, which is added to the company's collection. There is also a staff-choice award, with a round-the-world airline ticket and spending money as a prize.

Deloitte has employed a curator to mount exhibitions in its reception area in Sydney. Staff and guests are invited to openings and the work is for sale. A panel led by the curator, Barbara Flynn, selects a work from each show for the Deloitte collection.

Toyota Australia does not have an art collection, but it has an art gallery. Located at its Port Melbourne headquarters, the gallery was opened in 2004 and has been the venue for seven shows of work by local artists and staff. Toyota works with local arts bodies and councils to publicise the gallery and exhibit work. Toyota's head of public affairs, Kath Templeton, says the art gallery is part of the company's corporate citizenship programme, Toyota Community Spirit. "Our aim is to use the gallery to build relationships in the communities in which we operate," she says.

Templeton works with a curator, Ken Wong, to run the gallery. Work is obtained through local councils and arts bodies. There is no charge to the artists for the costs involved in mounting the exhibitions and no commission on sales. Toyota prints a catalogue and launches each show with an opening to which the artists can invite guests. Templeton plans to have one show of employees' work each year.

Toyota has a partnership with the Aus-tralian Business Arts Foundation (ABAF), to help arts bodies work on their business plans, find business partners and participate in ABAF training programmes (which are designed to help companies get involved in the arts).

"It has been good for the business," Templeton says. "We use sports sponsorship as a way of contributing to the community, and arts sponsorship works just as well. It brings people in the company together - to attend an opening, work on a selection committee for a show, or put work into a show. It provides a focus for staff and clients in the workplace and it brings lots of people from the community into the organisation."

ABN-Amro's chairman, Peter Young, says exhibitions in the office create more interest than static collections. When the company moved to a new office in Sydney in 2002 (Aurora Place, designed by Renzo Piano), Young decided it needed art that reflected the building's contemporary style. He put together a small collection and then decided to expand the collection with an annual exhibition and prize.

"We felt there was a corporate responsibility to support the arts and that we could have the most impact with emerging artists," Young says. This year's ABN-Amro Emerging Artist Award attracted 70 entrants, and was won by Sydney artist Julie Fragar. The judging panel decided to buy a second painting, by Sydney artist Todd Hunter. Staff get involved by voting for an employee award, with a prize of an airline ticket and spending money, which was won by Fragar.

Young says staff have got behind the award, with more than 200 staff voting for this year's winner. He would like to develop the award and is working on a plan to place the winner in a studio overseas for a period of time.

The most radical and provocative art to be found in a corporate environment is on display at Deloitte's Sydney office. Last year, the NSW managing partner, John Meacock, commissioned a curator, Barbara Flynn, to put on two shows a year. Flynn headed a selection panel that acquired one or two works from each show. One of the pieces acquired from the first show was a sculpture by the Sydney artist Mikala Dwyer, which consisted of two intertwined hoops made of clear, moulded plastic hanging from the ceiling. The current show, the second curated by Flynn, features Furry Trees, a sculpture by the Sydney artist Kathy Temin, which is a large wood and steel construction covered in bright-green synthetic fur. Another piece features mechanical sunflowers dancing in a pot.

Meacock says he gives Flynn a free hand and is pleased with the results. "Our people have loved it. I see staff taking their clients around the floor to look at the show. We bring the artists in to talk to our staff and we organise client functions around shows. The fact that the work is more funky than what you would normally see has helped capture people's imaginations. One of our aims was to present ourselves as an innovative organisation. I think we are doing that."

 

Martin Place	—	Perth

© 2006 Art Equity - ABN 88 104 300 950
www.artequity.com.au