NERAM Director Rachael Parsons, left, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and Manager, Exhibitions & Curatorial Belinda Hungerford in front of the Hinton Collection.
Tuesday, 17 December 2019
A PROJECT recording personal stories about the iconic Howard Hinton art collection, which once adorned the walls of the Armidale Teacher’s College, has received a $2,200 State Government grant.
Northern Tableland MP Adam Marshall announced the funding today and said it would help local historians document people’s memories off the iconic collection.
“Between 1928 and 1948 a collection of more than one thousand art works by Australia’s most famous painters hung on the walls of the Teacher’s College,” Mr Marshall said.
“These paintings, curated by art lover Howard Hinton, are by iconic names like Norman Lindsey, Margaret Preston and Arthur Streeton and have been stored in the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) since 1983.
“Through the Hinton Collection/Armidale Teachers’ College Oral History Project art historians are now trying to record the stories, memories and anecdotes of the former students and staff whose privilege it was to observe these masterpieces over their stay at the college.”
Mr Marshall said the Hinton collection was brought together as a means of encouraging new artists and educating students.
“There really is no collection like this anywhere else in Australia and I support every effort to research and celebrate its history,” he said.
“These paintings tell a very important story about life in Australia at the start of the twentieth century and I’ve always thought it very special that history is housed here in Armidale.
“Howard Hinton was obviously a man of passion and I look forward to hearing how his collection inspired other up and coming painters to pick up a brush and pursue their love of art.”