The VCA Art Collection spans the entire history of the Victorian College of the Arts and its predecessor, the National Gallery School of Art. Comprising painting, sculpture, photography and works on paper, and ceramics most works are by students, staff or alumni. The Collection continues to grow through gifts and acquisitive awards, ensuring that each year a number of graduating students' works are added.
It includes work by such notable practitioners as John Brack, John Vickery, Jan Nelson, Jon Campbell and Sally Smart. There are also many life paintings and drawings from the National Gallery School of Art by prominent alumni including Hugh Ramsay, Charles Wheeler and Constance Stokes. The Margaret Lawrence Australian Ceramics Collection was bequeathed to the Collection in 2004 and comprises some 500 pieces of Australian ceramic work from the 1920s through to 2004.
The National Gallery Art School ceased existence as an independent entity in 1973 when it became the foundation school of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The VCA became an affiliated college of the University of Melbourne in July 1991. After many iterations and affiliations, the VCA integrated into the University of Melbourne in 2007 as a separate faculty – at which time the VCA art collection became part of the University of Melbourne Art Collection, now managed by the Museum sand Collections department.
VCA Collection snapshot
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VCA_James Peter Quinn, Life Study, seated ,man, 1893, oil on canvas -
VCA_Hugh Ramsay, Untitled (Sheet of studies of hands), 1894, pencil on paper on board -
VCA_Hugh Ramsay, Untitled (Study of back of boy's head), 1897, oil on canvas on composition board -
VCA_William Beckwith McInnes, Drawing study, recto, c. 1909, charcoal on paper -
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VCA_Grace Joel, Untitled (back of female half nude), 1893, oil on canvas -
VCA_Hugh Ramsay, Untitled (nude female half length), c.1910, oil on canvas
