The NGV entrance and Coat of Arms

By Robin Grow - President, Australian Art Deco & Modernism Society After many years of planning, deliberating, and negotiating, the new National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) opened in 1968 in St Kilda Rd, Southbank on the former Wirth’s circus site. It was the first stage of the Victorian Arts Centre. Construction on the site began in 1962 – when finished, the rectangular gallery building included a number of outstanding features, including three internal courtyards that provided light and external views to surrounding galleries, an abstract ceiling of multicoloured glass by the artist Leonard French, a Bamboo Courtyard with fountains, black bamboo and bluestone pebbles, a sculpture garden outside the side entrance (known colloquially as the “mouse hole”), and a water wall at the front entrance (derided by some, loved by most). Overall, the bluestone-clad, reinforced concrete building, designed by Roy Grounds in modernist style, is relatively unadorned. It is surrounded by a moat and entry is through a semi-circular entry arch. Above the arch is an oval plate that contains a sculptural version of Victoria’s Coat of Arms, a subtle gem that sets the understated tone for much of this outstanding building. The bronze work was by Norma Redpath. She was a student at Swinburne during the 1940s and later worked extremely hard to demonstrate the ability of women to succeed in this exacting craft. She lived and worked in Australia and Italy, leaving a large legacy of innovative sculptural works. Her design was chosen from those submitted by a range of sculptors, both men and women, and funding for the work was raised by a women’s group associated with the gallery. In 1970 she received an Order of the British Empire for her services to Australian art and sculpture. She passed away in 2013. The NGV work represents a modernist version of a classical crest. Completion of large sculptures is difficult enough for the artist, but this work required her to follow the many protocols associated with State crests. This design comprises a shell (about two by three metres) in which the Coat of Arms of the State of Victoria is portrayed in bas-relief in black and highly polished bronze. It included a shield with silver stars arranged to represent the Southern Cross, a kangaroo holding an Imperial Crown, and two female figures on either side of the shield – one represents peace and carries a sprig of olive in her hand, the other represents prosperity and holds a cornucopia, symbolic of abundance. Beneath the figures and the shield is a banner proclaiming the motto of “Peace and Prosperity”. It is an outstanding work of public art, but probably under-appreciated. So, next time you visit the gallery, why don’t you stop outside the entrance and take in this marvellous piece of modernist sculpture •