Dear all

The Special Collections team at National Gallery of Australia Research Library have been compiling a site for the James Gleeson Oral Histories. This can be viewed at http://nga.gov.au/Research/Gleeson/Default.cfm

In the late 1970s Dr James Gleeson AO, Australia’s leading surrealist painter, interviewed 98 Australian artists in their studios to discuss their works that had been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia. As an artist, curator, writer and administrator, Gleeson brought a unique perspective to these conversations. The recorded interviews form the basis of a significant resource on Australian visual arts.

In 2007 the Research Library digitised the interviews with the assistance of the National Library of Australia and we are making them available on our website. We currently have 22 interview excerpts available with full pdf transcriptions. More will be added over time.

In 2008 the James Gleeson Oral History Collection was inscribed into the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register 2008.

We welcome any comments, feedback and questions about the webpage.

Yours sincerely

Jennifer Coombes
Special Collections Archivist
Research Library
National Gallery of Australia