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Rebecca Hossack (born October 1955), is an Australian-born London gallerist, who helped introduce Indigenous Australian art to a British audience.[1][2][3][4] She is considered an expert on Aboriginal art, Australian Aboriginal culture and non-Western art traditions,[5][6] who was the first to introduce many of the Aboriginal Australian artists to Europe, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri.[7][8][9][10][11] She also curates African Art and indigenous art from other countries such as Papua New Guinea.[12][13]
Rebecca Hossack | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rebecca Anne Hossack October 1955 (age 69) |
| Occupation | Gallerist |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Spouse | Matthew Sturgis |
She founded the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in 1988. Janet McKenzie, co-editor of Studio International said, "Hossack has almost single-handedly introduced Australian Aboriginal art to Britain and Europe".[3] In 1989 Hossack launched the first of her ongoing Songlines seasons of Aboriginal art, which ran from June to September annually. The exhibitions are named in honour of Hossack's friend Bruce Chatwin, inspired by his famous novel about Aboriginal culture, The Songlines.[14]
Hossack was born and raised in Hawthorne, Melbourne, one of four daughters of the surgeon Donald W. Hossack and his wife Joan.[15][16] Her father was awarded an OBE for his research into seat belts in cars, which in 1970, resulted in Victoria being the first jurisdiction in the world to mandate the wearing of seatbelts.[17] Her father published his autobiography at the age of 90.[18][19][20][21]
Hossack attended St Catherine's School in Melbourne,[22] Geelong Grammar School,[23] and went on to study law at the University of Melbourne,[24][25] in addition to taking a History of Art degree at the Australian National University at Canberra University College.[26] She was president of British branch of the Melbourne University Alumni for nearly two decades.
In March 1988, Hossack opened her first London gallery on Windmill Street in Fitzrovia.[27][28] She soon opened a second space at 28 Charlotte Street. In 2007, she took the lease on a four-story building in Conway Street and retained her Charlotte Street gallery as a secondary space in central London.[29][30]
In 1989, Hossack met the Aboriginal artist Clifford Possum in Alice Springs, and he accepted her invitation for a solo show in London on condition that he could meet Queen Elizabeth II.[31][32] When Possum arrived in London for the opening of his 1990 exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, he was indeed taken to meet the Queen and gifted her one of his paintings for her collection.[33]
In addition to her London galleries, Hossack had a gallery on Mott Street in New York for ten years that she relocated to Little Havana in Miami in 2019, opening with a show called Priceless, by Kansas-based artist, John Holcomb.[34]
Hossack was a member of the board of LAPADA,[35] and a Trustee of FANZA (the Foundation for Australian and New Zealand Arts) for many years.[36]
Hossack's galleries exhibit craft, sculpture, and art, and while specialising in Aboriginal art,[37] her exhibitions cover fine and decorative arts.[38][39] The gallery’s list of Western artists includes Pippa Small, Rose Blake,[40] Andrew Logan (sculptor),[41] Ann Stokes and Joan Dannatt. [42]
Promotion of aboriginal artists
Emily Kame Kngwarreye had her first solo show there in 1994.[43] Other notable Aboriginal artists who first showed in Europe at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery include Clifford Possum,[44][45] Robert Campbell Jr.,[46][47] Jimmy Pike who showed with her 1991 and 2001,[48] Owen Yalandja, Lloyd Kwilla who showed at the Gallery in 2008,[49] Janice Murray,[50] Jean Baptiste Apuatimi with an exhibition titled Tapalinga in 2009, and Alick Tipoti in a show titled Malungu (From the Sea) in 2008. A 2011 exhibition featured artists of the Garrawa, Marra, Gurdanji, and Yanyuwa peoples. According to Will Self, three of the featured artists, Nancy McDinny, Madeleine Dirdi, and Stewart Hoosan came to the gallery in London for the vernissage.[51]
Hossack has worked with Papunya, Yuendumu, Lajamanu Aboriginal communities,[52] Balgo Hills,[53] Ampilatwatja, Spinifex people, Arnhem Land, Warmun Community, Fitzroy Crossing, Tiwi Islands, amongst others.[54][55] The art of these communities has been growing in international stature across the fine art world. "I don't understand why Aboriginal art is not on the national agenda in schools", said Jonathan Jones in 2011, and that: "After all, it's the only art movement to come out of Australia."[56]
Cultural Development Officer
From 1993 to 1997, Hossack served as the first Cultural Development Officer at the High Commission of Australia, London, at the newly created Australia Centre with separate entrance on the Strand.[57][58] During her time in office Hossack organised literary and cross-cultural events centering on Australia House and across London. When her term ended in 1997, the Australian community in London, including Barry Humphries, Clive James, Germaine Greer, and Kathy Lette, protested publicly.[59]
Camden councillor
Rebecca Hossack was elected to London's Camden London Borough Council, as a councillor for Bloomsbury in May 2006. At the time, she was the first Tory candidate elected to the Bloomsbury ward in 36 years.[60] While in office, Hossack campaigned for the planting of more trees in the borough,[61] and for other green issues.[62] [63][64]
Hossack is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society (also known as the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies, or NADFAS).[65][66] She campaigned to have Aboriginal artists included in the obituaries sections of the leading British newspapers, and has written several herself—including obituaries for Western artists—in The Guardian and The Independent.[67][68] Hossack has also written introductions for art books.[69]
She has also written regularly for Resurgence & Ecologist, the magazine of the Resurgence Trust founded by Satish Kumar.[70] Many of Hossack’s articles are concerned with Australian Aboriginal culture and communities.[71]
Since 1991, Hossack has been married to biographer and historian Matthew Sturgis—a portrait of the couple by Abigail McLellan was painted in 1998.[72] A 1999 photographic portrait of Hossack by Polly Borland is held at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[73] Their house in London's Fitzrovia has been photographed for the front cover of World of Interiors and featured in many other magazines.[74] Hossack is known to ride a bicycle to get around in Central London.[75]
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