TRENT WALTER looks at the history, the artists and the activities of one of Melbourne’s venerated galleries.

Housed in a converted Victorian terrace on Melbourne’s notoriously congested Punt Road, Niagara Galleries must be one of the most driven-past galleries in Australia. On either side of its façade, the words ART DOES MATTER give an insight into the engagement and passion Niagara has for the status of art in contemporary culture. Housing two large exhibition spaces, Niagara also accommodates offices, a stock room and a private viewing room designed by local architect Peter Corrigan.

With forty-six represented artists, including Rick Amor, Ken Whisson and Fiona Foley, Niagara Galleries is committed to exhibiting works by living artists. This main activity exists alongside a strong interest in the secondary market, manifest in its annual Blue Chip exhibition each March. As gallery director Bill Nuttall reveals, “The gallery situation provides a much more sympathetic way of selling [secondary market] works than perhaps an auction house ... which has automatically meant that we’ve been drawn into interfacing with the secondary market perhaps more than other galleries.” The Blue Chip shows are a link to Niagara Gallery’s past and align it closely with the practice of European and US galleries where interaction with the secondary market is more common. It also serves a broader purpose, namely the exhibition of contemporary works in the context of an established art-making tradition. According to Nuttall “[it] maintains our link with the historical”.

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