Collection

From 1955 the BRAG collection has grown to include almost 3,000 works in a wide variety of media and is valued at over $11.5 million. The collection features paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and ceramics by over four hundred Australian artists, including significant works by artists such as Jean Bellette, James Gleeson, Jonathan Jones, Mandy Martin, Lloyd Rees, and Grace Cossington Smith.

BRAG acquisitions are received via the Cultural Gifts Program, and by bequest, donation, and purchase. In 2004, BRAG received a major bequest from the late Gwen Frolich consisting of 75 works then valued at $1.5 million dollars. This remarkable collection, put together when Frolich worked at the Rudy Komon Gallery in Sydney during the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, features work by 30 Australian artists including David Aspden, George Baldessin, Charles Blackman, Leonard French, William Robinson, Jeffrey Smart, and Fred Williams.

The Permanent Collection is housed at the Central Tablelands Collections Facility, a purpose built Bathurst Regional Council collections facility opened in 2022.

BRAG announces the launch of our online collection with a selection of works by founding collection artist Jean Bellette (1908-1991), and her husband, painter and art critic, Paul Haefliger (1914-1982).

Bellette and Haefliger bequeathed their historic Hill End house ‘Haefliger’s Cottage’ to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which has been used for Bathurst Regional Art Gallery’s acclaimed Hill End Artists in Residence Program since 1999 (announcement forthcoming on the next chapter of the Artists in Residence Program).

Stay tuned for further collection highlights as we bring you BRAG’s full collection of almost 3,000 works online!