Australia Day honours: Art collector Michael Buxton adds an award to his haul

Michael Buxton’s first collection was blue glasses belonging to his mother, then he started stamp collecting — and now part of his art collection is on display at Buxton Contemporary.

Michael Buxton.

Michael Buxton’s first collection was blue glasses belonging to his mother, then he started stamp collecting — and now part of his art collection is on display at Buxton Contemporary, a gallery created in partnership with the University of Melbourne.

Mr Buxton says liking art is a requirement for being a collector, and a brief stint at art school helped him decide he would be a better collector than an artist.

“I like beautiful things and ­creative things, and the arts is pretty special,” he said.

Mr Buxton has a background in property, with a brief interlude studying sculpture at art school before the recession in the early 1990s drove him back to work.

In 1995, he co-founded property development company MAB Corporation, and a successful business life allowed him to grow a collection he now shares with his family and the public.

“Collecting art is a passion; it’s almost a disease, it’s compulsive,” he said. “We’re very lucky we can indulge ourselves, even though you have to be fairly disciplined. You can’t buy everything.”

Mr Buxton has been made a member in the general division of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the visual arts and to the property development sector.

He said he started collecting contemporary Australian art with the specific plan of building a museum, and he partnered with the University of Melbourne ­because “I decided when I passed away it would be very hard to keep it going”.

“They get the collection, probably the best collection of Australian contemporary art for the next 20 years, and I’m involved for the next 20 years,” he said.

Mr Buxton said he was now ­focused on collecting international art, especially drawings, paintings and sculpture.

As a life member of the National Gallery of Victoria and the chairman and founder of NGV Contemporary, Mr Buxton said he had seen art education increase phenomenally over the past 30 years, not just through Buxton Contemporary Museum but also through the NGV and all the major museums

“I think it is available a lot more to people — and, of course, online education is fantastic,” he said.

While Mr Buxton keeps an eye out to add to the Buxton museum’s collection, he said he was also continuing to grow his private collection, which includes works by Jeffrey Smart and Gareth Sansom.

His personal collection also includes the blue glasses Mr Buxton inherited from his mother.

He said he hoped his love of art and sharing art had been passed on to his family of eight children and 22 grandchildren.

“We have spent quite a lot of time trying to infuse them with as much as we can to keep this going,” he said.