Andrew Sayers
{{Short description|Australian curator and museum director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Andrew Sayers
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|AM}}
| birth_name = Andrew George Sayers
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1957|6|29}}
| birth_place = London, England, UK
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2015|10|11|1957|6|29}}
| death_place = Melbourne, Australia
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| education = Asquith Boys High School
| alma_mater = University of Sydney
| occupation = Curator and museum director
| organization = National Portrait Gallery (Australia)
| spouse = Perrohean Sperling PSM
| partner =
| children = Three
}}
Andrew George Sayers {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (29 June 1957 – 11 October 2015) was an Australian curator and painter. He was the first director of Australia's National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to 2010, and director of the National Museum of Australia from 2010 to 2013.
Early life and education
Andrew George Sayers{{cite web |title=Queen's Birthday honours |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=13 June 2010 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/queens-brithday-honours-20100613-y62o.html |access-date=3 October 2024}} was born in London, England, on 29 June 1957. He emigrated to Australia at the age of seven, arriving in Sydney with his family in 1964.{{cite web |title=Andrew Sayers :: biography |website= Design and Art Australia Online |date=29 June 1957 |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/andrew-sayers/ |access-date=3 October 2024}}
He grew up in Mount Kuring-gai,{{cite web |title=Andrew Sayers AM, b. 1957 |website=National Portrait Gallery people |url=https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/andrew-sayers-1957 |access-date=3 October 2024}} and attended Asquith Boys High School, in Asquith, an upper north shore suburb of Sydney, from 1970 to 1975.{{cite news |title=ABHS Old Boys Newsletter |url=https://asquithboy-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/doe/sws/schools/a/asquithboy-h/old-boys-newsletters/old-boys-newsletters/ABHS_Vol20e.pdf |issue=20 |pages=22–27}}
He studied fine arts at the University of Sydney graduating with an honours degree in 1978 or 1979, and for a while considered becoming an academic.
Career
After university, he worked "in the back rooms" at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, as Registrar of Collections. From 1981 until 1985, he was assistant director at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, in Newcastle, New South Wales.
In 1985 he moved to Canberra to work as curator of Australian drawings for the National Gallery of Australia, later becoming assistant director of collections.{{cite news|title=Andrew Sayers: Former director of National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Australia dies|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-12/andrew-sayers-former-director-national-portrait-gallery-dies/6846454|accessdate=15 October 2015|work=ABC News|date=12 October 2015}}
In 1998, he was appointed as the inaugural director of the new National Portrait Gallery (NPGA) - then occupying a few rooms in the old Parliament House, and with just six members of staff. In 1999, his exhibition The Possibilities of Portraiture{{cite web |title=The Possibilities of Portraiture |website=National Portrait Gallery exhibition |url=https://www.portrait.gov.au/exhibitions/the-possibilities-of-portraiture-1999 |access-date=3 October 2024}} which included both historical and contemporary works in a number of different media, illustrated his vision for the future of the NPG. However, he was also committed to developing of the gallery "as a centre for biography and history". During his tenure, he created policies, made press appearances, commissioned artworks, and wrote proposals to acquire individual works. He also undertook research and wrote text for gallery displays. Other exhibitions conceived by him or created in partnership with him during his tenure, include:
- Arthur Boyd Portraits (1999-2000)
- Heads of the People (2000)
- Nolan Heads (2001)
- Intimate Portraits (2002)
- Contemporary Australian Portraits (2002-2003)
- POL: Portrait of a generation (2003)
- To Look Within: Self-portraits in Australia (2004)
- The World of Thea Proctor (2005)
- Clifton Pugh Australians (2005-2006)
- Open Air: Portraits in the landscape (2008)
In 2010, he was appointed as director of the National Museum of Australia; however, he left the role in 2013, three years into a five-year contract, to move to Melbourne, where his wife Perry was working for the Victoria State Government.{{cite news|title=National Museum director to retire|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-27/national-museum-director-to-retire/4597654|accessdate=15 October 2015|work=ABC News|date=27 March 2013}}
Painting
Sayers is known for his painted portraits. In Melbourne, he resumed his love of painting, producing several portraits in his Richmond studio which he entered in competitions.
In May/June 2015, an exhibition of his work featuring landscapes painted around the Victorian coast, called Nature Through the Glass of Time, was exhibited at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art in Melbourne.
Recognition and honours
- 1994: HE Stanner Award of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, for his book Aboriginal Artists of the 19th Century
- 2001: Centenary Medal, for service to society and the arts{{cite web|title=SAYERS, Andrew George|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1127030|website=It's an Honour|publisher=Australian Government|accessdate=15 October 2015}}
- 2010: Member of the Order of Australia, for service to arts administration, particularly as the director of the National Portrait Gallery, and to the promotion of Australian portraiture{{cite web|title=SAYERS, Andrew George|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1142731|website=It's an Honour|publisher=Australian Government|accessdate=15 October 2015}}
- 2011: State finalist for Australian of the Year
- 2014: Self-portrait, finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize
- 2015: Portrait of Tim Bonyhady, finalist in the 2015 Archibald Prize
Later life, death and legacy
After retiring in 2013, Sayers painted full-time.
In May 2014, Sayers was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which he called "the background static of [his] life".{{cite news|last1=Hawthorne|first1=Mark|title=Portrait of an artist. Life turns full circle for Sayers|url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/victoria/portrait-of-an-artist-life-turns-full-circle-for-sayers-20150501-1mxr7v.html|accessdate=15 October 2015|work=Canberra Times|date=1 May 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019021850/http://www.canberratimes.com.au:80/victoria/portrait-of-an-artist-life-turns-full-circle-for-sayers-20150501-1mxr7v.html| archive-date=19 October 2015}} He died on 11 October 2015, aged 58.
In November 2015, an exhibition of his new work was mounted at Beaver Galleries in Canberra.{{cite web |title=Vale Andrew Sayers |website=Lauraine Diggins Fine Art |date=15 October 2015 |url=https://www.diggins.com.au/2015/10/vale-andrew-sayers/ |access-date=3 October 2024}}
His curatorship at the National Gallery "led to significant redefinitions of Australian art", and his ideas and decisions shaped the future of the National Portrait Gallery, which was in its infancy when he assumed control. The Australian Academy of the Humanities wrote that thanks to Sayers, Wally Caruana, Howard Morphy, and other experts, "Australian art history has been rewritten", with his 2001 book Australian Art covering both Aboriginal and European art.{{cite web |title=Recognising Aboriginal art, transforming Australian culture |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |date=18 October 2021 |url=https://humanities.org.au/power-of-the-humanities/recognising-aboriginal-art-transforming-australian-culture/ |access-date=3 October 2024}}
In 2018, the inaugural Andrew Sayers Memorial Lecture was held at the NPG, given by artist Tim Bonyhady, the subject of Sayers' 2015 entry for the Archibald Prize.{{cite web |last=Pleasants |first=Zoe |title=Nine things to do around Canberra this weekend (29 June) |website=Riotact |date=28 June 2018 |url=https://the-riotact.com/nine-things-to-do-around-canberra-this-weekend-29-june-1-july/251451 |access-date=3 October 2024}} The series is continuing.
Personal life
Sayers was married to Perry, and they had three daughters.{{cite web |last=Grishin |first=Sasha |title=Andrew Sayers: Former National Museum of Australia director changed our culture |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 October 2015 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/andrew-sayers-tribute-former-national-museum-of-australia-director-transformed-our-culture-20151013-gk7pfy.html |access-date=3 October 2024}}{{cite web |title=Andrew Sayers AM FAHA: 13 October 2015 |website=National Portrait Gallery |date=13 October 2015 |url=https://www.portrait.gov.au/content/andrew-sayers-am-faha |access-date=3 October 2024}}
He ran 15 marathons between 2005 and 2014.
Publications
- Drawing in Australia (1989)
- Aboriginal Artists of the 19th Century (1994)
- Australian Art (2001; Oxford History of Art series)
References
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Category:Directors of museums in Australia
Category:Australian portrait painters
Category:Members of the Order of Australia
Category:University of Sydney alumni
Category:English emigrants to Australia
Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Australia
Category:Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state)