Shakespeare to Winehouse open 9:00am–7:00pm on Thu, Fri, Sat from 7 July
Geoffrey Legge (b. 1935) and Frank Watters (1934–2020) ran Watters Gallery in Darlinghurst from 1964 to 2018. Watters grew up in a working-class milieu in Muswellbrook and left school at 15 to work in the coal mines. Having developed an interest in art he moved south and served his apprenticeship in dealing under Barry Stern, then one of the leading gallery owners amongst the very few in Sydney. Legge was born in Uganda and educated at Charterhouse before coming to Australia, where he studied economics at the University of Melbourne. In 1963 he rented a house next door to Stern's gallery and began to 'hang around' there; in due course the men decided to open their own gallery in Liverpool Street, Surry Hills. Legge, deferring to Watters's more practised eye for art, insisted that the gallery be named Watters. In 1969 the gallery moved to Riley Street, where it became an intellectual and artistic hub attracting the likes of Patrick White, who bought many works for the benefit of artists and, ultimately, the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Watters Gallery closed on the 24th November 2018.
Purchased 2021
© Anne Zahalka/Copyright Agency, 2022
Anne Zahalka (age 42 in 1999)
Geoffrey Legge (age 64 in 1999)
Frank Watters OAM (age 65 in 1999)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.
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