Art Gallery of NSW to open new Sydney Modern building

Donors have chipped in $150 million for the revitalised Art Gallery of NSW, as it prepares to open its new wing on Saturday.

Michael Brand, Frances Ingham, John Ingham, Kathryn Gustafson and Dr Mark Nelson in front of the northern reflecting pool at the Art Gallery of NSW. Picture: Mim Stirling

Sydney couple John and Frances Ingham were on an evening stroll past the Art Gallery of NSW in early 2020 when they noticed some friends at a donor function for the gallery’s new Sydney Modern wing.

That pre-pandemic introduction to the Sydney Modern project led the Inghams to join a capital campaign for the gallery which has now reached $150m.

Their undisclosed donation – towards the installation of one of two reflective pools outside the gallery – is the last major gift for Sydney Modern to be announced before the new building officially opens to the public on Saturday.

“This is our daily walk – you can see it every day,” said Mr Ingham, a businessman and racing enthusiast. “Looking at the beauty of this, I think it’s great.”

The new museum has doubled the space available to the AGNSW for exhibitions and events. The light, modern design by Japanese architects SANAA includes an entrance-level gallery of Indigenous art and a below-ground venue for contemporary art that was a navy oil tank.

Sydney Modern has been billed as the largest public-private partnership for a cultural project yet realised in Australia. The state government contributed $244m towards the initial $344m budget, contingent on the gallery itself raising $100m.

When that target was reached in 2018, the gallery quietly raised its ambitions to $150m.

“We got there – it’s been phenomenally successful,” said Mark Nelson, chairman of the Sydney Modern campaign committee.

Major donors include the Ainsworth, Lee and Lowy families, Gretel Packer, Aqualand and the Neilson Foundation.

The largest donation is from Isaac Wakil in honour of his late wife Susan. He raised his $20m pledge to $24m when the gallery was just shy of the $100m target.

The donated funds have also contributed to newly commissioned artworks, upgrades to the existing gallery building, and the landscape features by US landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson. Her reflective pools outside the heritage sandstone gallery are constructed from polished black granite, cut in what she called an argyle design.

Frances Ingham said Sydney’s philanthropic community had embraced the new gallery. “We were probably a bit slower than others – we like to think about things,” she said. “But those who thought quicker have achieved some great results.”