Sharing a love of art

David Adams, alongside the late Professor Marion Adams, has collected German expressionist prints for over 40 years, and many of these now reside in the University of Melbourne’s Baillieu Library.

“We started collecting prints in 1971,” Mr Adams says, “when we bought two lithographs in Melbourne – a Chagall and one by Paul Wunderlich, which was based on Albrecht Dürer’s ‘Frauenbad’.

Mr Adams credits Marion for turning him into a rounded individual – a successful mechanical engineer who has become a respected collector of antiquities, prints and woodcuts, and says she was the inspiration behind the collection. Professor Adams was an academic who was Dean of Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1988 to 1993.

“She was my muse. She took me from being a plain engineer into somebody with a humanist element,” he says. “Without her, I would never have got involved in all this.”

Professor Adams’ studies took the couple to Europe in 1972, a trip that greatly expanded the collection, but the fascination continued back home.

“We went on collecting steadily for years, mostly by mail order from firms that specialised in expressionist prints,” Mr Adams recalls.

Professor Adams’ sudden death in 1995 derailed the prospect of a happy retirement spent together but after retiring six months later, Mr Adams devoted himself to an eclectic group of interests that included the continuation of the expressionist print collection.

“I went on buying from German dealers after Marion died, but my taste had been formed by her ideas on prints and drawings. Really, I have maintained and continued the collection on her basis.”

The couple’s tastes had diversified to include the addition of much Japanese art from the Ukiyo-e period of the mid-19th century in the collection.

“It started with Marion’s interest in German art from the early 16th century. Then she gravitated towards the later periods.”

There was however a core element to their diverse cultural collection – the importance of emotion.

“Marion’s view was that all German art was expressionist. It all had an expressionist element, going back to Dürer. His emphasis was on feeling rather than the aesthetic,” Mr Adams says.

“When you look at Italian art of the period, there is almost a sculptural quality to it – there is an aloofness, whereas the German work is ‘full on’. No concession is made to beauty; the emphasis is on getting a message across.”

Mr Adams believes expressionism contains particularly vivid portrayals of the range of human emotions.

“The characters [in German expressionism] aren’t pretty or beautiful, but they are dynamic and energetic. That’s the aspect that appealed to Marion – the energy, vitality, richness of colour and the economy of form; the richness of line.”

German expressionism became taboo during the Third Reich (1933-45), the Nazis resenting art that appealed to the subjectivity of emotions. Their obsession with the ‘purity’ of classical art and realism devastated the expressionist movement.

The sinister and callous repression of expressionist artists led to works being secreted away and stored by cultural custodians.

“The Nazis were against expressionist art,” Mr Adams says. “In fact, it is amazing that so much expressionist art still exists in Germany considering Hitler’s determination to suppress it.”

Concentrating on his pre-existing passions during retirement, Mr Adams has nevertheless been cultivating new interests.

“My passion was the antiquities, which is still my central interest. However Marion and I both became extremely eclectic in our artistic tastes,” he says.

The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne has been a large beneficiary of their catholic interests, previously displaying the wide-ranging catalogue donated by the David and Marion Adams Collection. Treasures range from Etruscan and Ancient Greek sculptures, through to artefacts from Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

The Baillieu Library has received 79 prints and woodcuts, while the National Gallery of Victoria has also benefitted from the Adams’ collecting and philanthropy.

Donating to the University of Melbourne is of special interest to Mr Adams. “Large galleries have only a small percentage of their collections on show. They show the headline pieces and the other works get overlooked,” David says. “But as teaching aids, other works can be exceptional.”

Mr Adams highlights the work of Dr Andrew Jamieson and the Potter Museum in displaying his collection in 2009.

“When I saw my collection, I thought these artefacts have never looked so good,” he recalls.

“It strengthened my belief that the University needs to promote gifting through the media in order that people will recognise a potential home for their collections.”

He believes other collectors should consider making similar donations, as universities are likely to value and protect cultural treasures.

“The risk is that if people don’t find an appropriate home for their collections, then they end up at places like the Camberwell Market!”

A polymath, Mr Adams continues to involve himself with the University through his mentorship of current students. A favourite pastime has been to take students to the opera, where he introduces them to a new cultural influence.

“Mentoring is terribly important, especially when young minds are exposed to new influences.”