Edmund Capon 1940-2019
Edmund Capon, who has died in London at the age of 78, made an outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Australia.
In his 33 years as director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, he never wavered in his commitment to the core mission of a public gallery: to make great art accessible to the people.
Appointed by Premier Neville Wran, Capon arrived in Sydney with his wife Joanna in 1978. One of his first acts as director was to remove the turnstiles at the Gallery and make entry free to everyone. He fought to keep it that way, resisting an attempt by the Greiner government in 1991 to introduce entrance fees. For many supporters of the Gallery, not least its army of dedicated volunteers, that was the principal reason they gave years of service to the institution.
He went on to build a first-class body of curators, a highly professional conservation department, an outstanding educational department and a fine library.
In the 1980s his exhibitions of the Terracotta Warriors and of Monet had people queuing along Art Gallery Road to get in. As his curatorial departments developed, in the 1990s and early 2000s a series of original exhibitions raised the level still further. They included in Asian art, Jackie Menzies’ ground-breaking Buddha and Goddess; in Aboriginal art, Hetti Perkins’ Papunya Tula; in Australian art, Barry Pearce’s Sidney Nolan; in European art, a series of exhibitions by Terence Maloon including Michelangelo to Matisse and Cézanne.
Edmund Capon’s infectious enthusiasm energised every section of the Gallery staff and supporters. He was tireless in his efforts to build its Foundation, and fully supported the independence of the Art Gallery Society as a means of channelling community support.
His fund-raising from that extensive network was focused entirely on building the collection, which remains his great legacy to the people of NSW. “The entire value and pertinence and sustaining quality of the institution relies on its fundamental product which is art,” he told me when I spoke to him at his Bellevue Hill home in 2016.
He was passionate about enabling people to look at art. “Art is about contemplation, not activity,” he said. He loved to see children from schools across the state come in to the Gallery, with free and equal access.
“You don’t have to turn great art into a children’s product in order to engage children with great art. I’ve watched schoolchildren, my grandchildren, sit in front of an altarpiece. There’s no trivialising: they’re looking at something that’s been around for 400 or 500 years. They’re looking with their eyes, but they’re seeing the humanity that’s in there. I don’t think you have to change the art to make it accessible. You have to change the attitude of the people.”
Few people in the Australian art world have done so much as he to change attitudes and to raise the cultural level of our society. He is greatly missed.
A wonderful summing up, thank you Judith. I would only add that, as someone who worked in the building for the Art Gallery Society, I was amazed by the number of times I saw Edmund around and about the Gallery. He was not only aware of every detail of what the public was seeing, he knew the names of everyone who worked there and included them in exhibition openings, no matter what their job was. He is indeed missed.
A timely and appropriate tribute to a fine person who made an invaluable contribution to both the importance of art for its own sake, and the importance of equity of access. Government’s must contemplate his philosophy and his legacy in setting the future path. Event managers need not apply. Thank you Judith.
A splendid commentary on the life, work and drive of one of this nation’s preeminent champions of the Arts. He was profoundly missed as soon as he depared. The Gallery as he bequeathed it to the people of NSW and the nation on his retirement, alas has now become an eloquent statement of what it was in 2011 and a melancholy signpost to a dream becoming a nightmare. What was the “gallery masterplan” I wonder to which Matthew Westwood refers in the last paragraph of his piece in today’s Australian? Joyce Morgan (SMH) also reports Brand’s curious and to my mind equivocating comments. Edmund Capon established a respect for curators and their work, reinforced by the unstinting support of the Art Gallery Society, volunteers and thus of all art lovers. He mined the true integrity -that precious core-of a very special passion. .
Judith you knew Edmund well, which is clearly apparent from your tribute here. He respected you enormously for your dedication to the cause that was Art for the people. In his words … ‘Art is the great communicator … Art has wonderful capacity to open doors and windows to people’s mind and souls that they didn’t know they had’
Edmund was a fabulous communicator and omnipresent dedicated lover of art and life. RIP Oncle and as you would frequently say to us …’Wu Wei’ x Cc
A beautiful tribute Judith. Thankyou
Couldn’t have been better summarised Judith. Edmund was the great resuscitator, the dazzling leader Sydney so badly wanted and needed, and I fear we shall never see his like again. Barry
Very sad that Edmund Capon has died and thank you Judith for the fitting tribute. All galleries like orchestras depend on the virtuosity and inspiration of their directors and Edmund had that and turned the gallery into an exciting place to visit
His is a legacy that won’t be replicated .
Lovely words Judith. After all these years working in the art world, I’ve come to greatly admire his inimitable leadership style which indeed was so rare and so warm. It was a privilege to know him and those in the teams who worked with him. He indeed is missed.
A fine tribute Judith to a true gentleman, a man of vision. Edmund made art available to the citizens of any society who need it the most, the ordinary people. Not cloistering art away for the elite to embrace in their status, but creating an enrichment venue, at no charge, so those whole communities could enjoy empowerment through the nourishment of International creativity. We have been, through Edmunds living guidance, richly blessed, we will be, I believe in his passing, left looking longingly into the hole in Sydney’s soul.
Beautiful and true. Thanks for posting this, Judith.