Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History established following major gift

The great-niece of artist Hugh Ramsay, Patricia Fullerton, and other members of the Ramsay family have honoured the artist through a major gift to the University of Melbourne, establishing the Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History.

The gift to benefit the Faculty of Arts is especially meaningful for Fullerton, who remains a proud alumna of the Faculty since her university days in the early 1960s. Her studies in Fine Arts and French at the University of Melbourne culminated in her Masters thesis focusing on her artistic relation, entitled Hugh Ramsay: a consideration of his life and work, a precursor to the biography she would later publish in 1988, entitled Hugh Ramsay: His Life and Work.

Fullerton's contribution to the preservation of Hugh Ramsay's legacy extends beyond the written word to the visual arts, where she has previously gifted a number of Ramsay's works to institutions around Australia, in addition to curating the first retrospective exhibition of his works at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1992, reigniting Australia's passion for the artist.
Patricia Fullerton was recently honoured as one of the University of Melbourne's most significant benefactors on the new donor wall located in the heart of the Parkville campus.

The Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History will provide opportunities for research into Australian art, with Indigenous art history a particular focus.

Further information about the establishment of the Hugh Ramsay Chair are featured in the latest edition of The Voice. If you would like to learn more about supporting the Faculty of Arts for future generations, please visit our website.