Possessed
Mitchell and Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales, 1997, with guidebook.
Possessed revealed the Library’s collections of paintings, photographs, manuscripts and rare books as it investigated the history of collecting and classification. The first gallery was titled Wunderkammer and evoked the history of private collectors and cabinets of curiosities. As the exhibition progressed, the artefacts grew in scale and ambition, concluding with works such as J.J. Audubon’s The Birds of America, 1827–1838, and the world’s largest wet plate negative, Sydney from North Shore, 1875, from the Holtermann Collection.
“… clean, clear and clever concept. A visitor is constantly eager to see more, to explore more, to learn. Exhibition curator John Murphy is also the author of a booklet accompanying the exhibition. And what a work of art his publication is: knowledgeable yet not preaching, well researched yet popular, concise yet as sweet as could be. Beautiful. Rare.”
(Zoja Bojic, Sydney Bulletin, 18 March 1997.)
Vincenzo Coronelli’s celestial gores intended for a globe, printed by Jean Baptiste Nolin, 1693.
State Library of New South Wales, Safe 4/4.
The wet plate negative, Sydney from North Shore, 1875, from the Holtermann Collection and J.J. Audubon’s The Birds of America, 1827–1838.
State Library of New South Wales, XR 45a, 45b, XR 46 and Safe/ BX598.273/ 1–4.