Steve Martin and Heather M. Ridout AO, Consul-General New York, at the Manhattan launch of Two Collections.
Photo: Andrew Kelly
Actor, art collector and American Friends board member STEVE MARTIN reflects on his collection of First Nations art, and a new online initiative he hopes will educate American audiences about the art and artists of Central and Western Australia.
There was a time when the most famous thing about Steve Martin’s art collection was its Academy Award and Grammy-winning owner. In the last few years, however, the actor and comedian has been pleased to see some artists in his collection reach new levels of international recognition all of their own.
Martin can trace his decade-long passion for the art of Central and Western Australian painters to one work of art: a sprawling 2013 canvas by Pintupi artist Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri titled Maruwa. Martin first read about Tjapaltjarri’s work in a New York Times article in 2015, and within a day Maruwa had joined works by David Hockney and Andy Warhol in an already sizeable private collection.
‘I've been looking at art my whole life,’ Martin explains. ‘I've never seen anything like that.’
At the time, Martin didn’t fully appreciate how Tjapaltjarri’s work connected with a broader Desert Art movement at Papunya and its neighbouring communities — and a deeper history stretching back thousands of years.
That single canvas began a years-long journey of learning and collecting for Martin and his wife Anne Stringfield. They had soon acquired over 100 works, with Tjapaltjarri joined by paintings by Sally Gabori, Timo Hogan, Yukultji Napangati, and eleven works by Emily Kay Kngwarray painted between 1989 to 1996.
As word spread about Martin’s new passion, he soon crossed paths with John and Barbara Wilkerson, two lifelong art collectors who caught their first glimpse of First Nations art while one of their sons was studying in Australia in the early 1990s.
‘We got hooked,’ John Wilkerson says.
Their collection grew to include works on board that capture the start of the Papunya art movement from 1971 to the mid-1980s – and complemented Martin and Stringfield’s suite of later works.
As Martin, Stringfield and the Wilkersons’ appreciation for Australian art deepened, so did their eagerness to share it. In 2019 Martin and Stringfield shared pieces from their collection at Gagosian gallery alongside works from the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, and in 2021 Martin and Wilkerson both lent work to the exhibition 50 Years of Australian Aboriginal Art at the Australian Consul General’s residence in New York.
In 2022 Martin joined the Board of Directors of the American Friends of the National Gallery. ‘The American Friends has drawn me closer to the art and art world that I love.’ Martin says.
The following year, he and Wilkerson presented their own exhibition, 60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art at Uovo, a Long Island art storage facility (‘We rented some galleries, invited people, gave cocktails,’ Martin says).
‘You know, if you have Matisses, there's no need to educate anyone or share it. But in this case, we were so excited about it.’
In the years that followed their meeting, Martin and Wilkerson have been heartened to see the growing international profile of the artists and communities represented in their collections.
‘Five years later, we realized the word has gotten out; there was an Emily Kam Kngwarray show at The Tate, a massive show at the National Gallery of Art, and shows in Paris.’
As an alternative to another conventional bricks-and-mortar exhibition, the pair began developing a website to digitally share the works in their collection for art lovers and scholars around the world.
Titled ‘Two Collections’, the site was launched in March at the Manhattan residence of Australia’s current consul-general, Heather Ridout, where pieces from Martin and Stringfield’s collection currently adorn the walls.
‘We realized the word has gotten out … it’s already become famous.’
Steve Martin
‘No museum wants to do a one- or two-collector show because it's kind of unethical – because the museum is elevating the value, supposedly, of your works of art,’ Martin reflects. ‘So we just said, “Look, it's already become famous. Let's just have this little place people can go.”’
Ethical considerations are an important point for Martin; in developing the website, the team took care to ensure copyright and cultural protocols were cleared before images of works were reproduced online.
In Manhattan, Martin said collectors like himself and the Wilkersons have an obligation to support works whose creation and proceeds are driven by the communities themselves — and to avoid supporting exploitative practices.
‘They're producing this extraordinary work that supports their entire communities,’ Martin said.
While Martin, Stringfield and the Wilkersons continue to ‘spread the word’, they’re also hopeful that Two Collections might offer a template for other private collectors to open their doors to the public — digitally, at least.
‘I'm hoping other collectors that have fabulous collections and different genres will see this as a way to share their collections — within the rules.’
National Gallery Director Dr Nick Mitzevich says initiatives like Two Collections align with the National Gallery’s commitment to elevating Australian First Nations art.
‘The National Gallery of Australia is the custodian of the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. For more than four decades, the American Friends of the National Gallery has supported Australian art and cultural exchange between Australia and the United States. Online initiatives like this one are another important tool for highlighting and sharing the richness of Australian First Nations art with the world.'
‘The American Friends has drawn me closer to the art and art world that I love.’
Steve Martin
