In the mid-1980s, Pamela Bell became Sydney University’s first art curator – a role she would hold until her retirement many years later. For her son Andrew Bell – at the time in his late teens and early 20s – it was a pivotal moment.

“As a result of her work at the university, I came to learn of the works of Jeffrey Smart, Donald Friend, James Gleeson, Lloyd Rees and others,” he tells The Australian Financial Review Magazine. “That was my introduction to art.”