$38m gift could be the seed for Art Gallery of South Australia’s growth

A ‘transformative’ $38m bequest to the Art Gallery of South Australia may be the catalyst for an expansion of the Adelaide institution.

Art Gallery of SA director Rhana Devenport and Ramsay Foundation chief Kerry de Lorme standing in front of the Black Watchful painting at the AGSA. Picture: Matt Turne

A “transformative” $38m ­bequest to the Art Gallery of South Australia — which the Marshall government has claimed as a boon to state coffers — may be the catalyst for an expansion of the institution.

The James and Diana Ramsay bequest, announced last month, is one of the biggest cash gifts to an Australian arts organisation, intended to buy exemplary artworks for the state collection. Interest from the ­endowment is expected to provide $2m a year for acquisitions.

The government this month counted the bequest as among several windfalls that contributed to a bigger-than-expected surplus in the mid-year budget review — a move the Ramsay Foundation has dismissed as “creative accounting”.

“I was surprised to read it ­because the state government here do not provide funds for ­acquisitions to the gallery — it’s not a saving,” said Kerry de Lorme, the foundation executive director. “It’s an endowment fund; how can it be counted ­towards the surplus?”

The Ramsay bequest, on top of $20m the Ramsays had given previously to the AGSA, may spur the government into action. The Ramsays stipulated their money be used only for artworks on permanent display, so the gallery will run out of exhibition space if it does not expand.

AGSA director Rhana Devenport said the gallery and government were discussing options to expand, but no site nor definite plan had been agreed. “The Premier was very close to Diana, he was very aware of James and Diana’s love of the art gallery,” Ms Devenport said. “I believe he is conscious and respectful of what James and Diana would have wanted for the gallery.”

The government already has plans for a $150m Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre at the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital, and Ms Devenport said there was agreement to address the AGSA’s storage needs.

Several works have been acquired through the Ramsay bequest including The Black Watchful, a painting by British-Ghanaian artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and an installation by Olafur Eliasson.

Ms de Lorme said the bequest was comparable in size to Alfred Felton’s 1904 bequest to the National Gallery of Victoria. “We want this outstanding example of generosity to be a shining light, and encourage others, so the government do have to respond, because there are storage issues at the gallery,” she said.