Blue Poles: how Australia came to own the Jackson Pollock masterpiece
This edited extract reveals how the Australian National Gallery bought one of the 20th century’s most prized paintings – and why PM Gough Whitlam was so invested in the purchase.
Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles is one of the greatest paintings of the 20th century. National Gallery of Australia
The cable arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday, 6 June, 1973. The news from New York was urgent. Instructed to keep an eye out for a possible Jackson Pollock painting for purchase for the new Australian National Gallery collection, Max Hutchinson had delivered.
“Blue Poles available at two million US dollars with painting retained in USA for one year,” the master scout told his old friend James Mollison, the young gun boss of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra. “Painting is magnificent, condition same.”
Tom McIlroyCanberra Bureau ChiefTom McIlroy is the Financial Review’s Canberra bureau chief based in the press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously the AFR’s political correspondent. Connect with Tom on Twitter. Email Tom at thomas.mcilroy@afr.com
