From Andy: Gifted to the Archive

From Andy highlights some of the many intriguing and rare items gifted to the Research Library including the Index Book signed by Andy Warhol (pictured), the notebooks of Colin McCahon, Tony Fomison and Giovanni Intra, sketches by John Weeks, photographs by Marti Friedlander, books signed by Charles Goldie, and the 45rpm records of Julian Dashper and John Nixon.

Artists' archives are among the treasures of the Gallery's E H McCormick Research Library. Gifted by artists or their families and friends, they often bear witness to the creative process. Containing all manner of original material - sketches, notebooks, doodles, letters, photographs, clothes, music - they provide compelling insight into an artist's practice.

Archival collections have special significance in the visual arts. Images, documents and objects in the archive are a source of inspiration for many contemporary artists. Scholars and curators utilise archives in a number of ways, from authenticating a work through to discovering new information that might be the starting point for an exhibition or publication.

The research library publishes both articles and artists' pages on its archive collections in its annual journal Reading Room, produced with the support of The Marylyn Mayo Foundation.