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Million Dollar Painting: Blue Poles
Title:
Million Dollar Painting: Blue Poles
NFSA ID
14336
Year
1974
Courtesy
Cinesound Movietone Productions
The first Australian public viewing of Blue Poles (Number 11, 1952) by American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock at the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW), 1974. The painting was purchased by director of National Gallery of Australia (NGA) James Mollison for $1.3 million in 1973 with approval from Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Mollison is seen here with director of AGNSW Peter Laverty. The painting was a controversial purchase of the time and still a topic of debate today. This is an excerpt from The Australian Movie Magazine No. 7415: Blue Poles.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.