Hal Missingham

{{Infobox artist | name = Hal Missingham | image = Hal Missingham 1950 by Max Dupain.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Portrait of Hal Missingham, December 1950, by [[Max Dupain]] | birth_name = Harold Missingham | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1906|12|08}} | birth_place = Claremont, Western Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1994|04|09|1906|12|08}} | death_place = Perth, Western Australia | field = [[Painting|Painter]], [[Photography|Photographer]] | training = | movement = [[Realism (arts)|Realism]] | works = | patrons = | awards = [[Officer of the Order of Australia]] }}

'''Harold "Hal" Missingham''' [[Order of Australia|AO]] (8 December 1906{{spaced ndash}}9 April 1994) was an Australian artist, Director of the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] from 1945 to 1971,<ref>{{cite web| title = Hal Missingham (1906–1994)|publisher =Prints and Printmaking Asia-Pacific| url =http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/catalogues/artist/11562/hal-missingham.aspx| access-date = 2010-01-21 }}</ref> and president of the [[Australian Watercolour Institute]] from 1952 to 1955.

==Early life== Born in [[Claremont, Western Australia]], Missingham was educated at [[Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts|Perth Boys' School]], and later undertook an apprenticeship to the process engraver J. Gibney and Son in 1922. He studied drawing at [[Old Perth Technical School|Perth Technical School]], attended art schools in both Paris (1926) and London (1926–1932).

From 1927 to 1928 Missingham worked in Canada as a freelance artist and teacher. Before [[World War II]] he studied in Perth, Paris and London, where he became friendly with a number of leading artists and developed an interest in photography. He returned to Sydney in 1941 and after serving as a [[Signalman]] in the [[Second Australian Imperial Force]] helped to found the Studio of Realist Art.

==Art Gallery of New South Wales== [[File:ABC Decimal Currency.ogv|thumb|Missingham on the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] in 1964 explaining the design process for the new [[Australian currency|Australian decimal coins]].]] In 1945 he was appointed Director of the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]],{{efn|The Art Gallery's official title between 1883 and 1958 was the National Art Gallery of New South Wales.}} a post he retained until 1971. The previous incumbent was [[Will Ashton]], who resigned in 1943, Ashton and John Young serving as acting directors until Missingham's appointment.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17911099 |title=Acting Director of Art Gallery |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=33,227 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 June 1944 |access-date=6 February 2021 |page=3 |via=Trove}}</ref> He oversaw the expansion of the gallery including the construction of the Captain Cook Wing from 1968 to 1970. His collection policy made an outstanding contribution to Australian contemporary art and he was responsible for bringing a number of influential international exhibitions to the country. His memoirs, ''They Kill You in the End'', were published in 1971<ref>Missingham, Hal, ''They kill you in the end'' Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1973.{{ISBN|0207126143}}.</ref><ref name=bio>{{cite web| title =Hal Missingham| publisher =[[National Portrait Gallery (Australia)|National Portrait Gallery]]| url =http://www.npg.gov.au/site/collection_info.php?searchtype=browse&searchstring=Photography&irn=558| access-date = 2010-01-21 }}</ref> Missingham was the longest serving director of the gallery until [[Edmund Capon]].

==Honours and awards== Missingham was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of Australia]] on 26 January 1978 for service to arts, particularly as Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870238|title=It's an Honour: AO|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=2010-01-21}}</ref>

==Retirement== He retired to [[Darlington, Western Australia|Darlington]], in the hills east of Perth, where his personal collection of paintings and photographs was destroyed by fire in 1986.<ref>''Fire destroys paintings and photographs'' [[The West Australian]], 30 June 1986, p. 1, 3</ref> He died in 1994.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Thomas, Daniel | title=Hal Missingham. [Obituary.] | journal=Art and Australia | publication-date=1994 | volume=32 | issue=2 | pages=204–205 | issn=0004-301X }}</ref>

He was survived by his wife Esther (née Long) 1911–2013 to whom he was married for over 50 years. Esther died on 16 October 2013 aged 102.

==Selected works==

* {{Citation | author1=Missingham, Hal | title=Hal Missingham sketch book | publication-date=1954 | publisher=Dymock's Book Arcade | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19210529 | access-date=5 February 2021}} * {{Citation | author1=Missingham, Hal | author2=Festival of Perth (26th : 1978) | title=Photographs : here and there | publication-date=1978 | publisher=[Perth, W.A.] | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35723068 | access-date=5 February 2021}} * {{Citation | author1=Missingham, Hal | author2=Drysdale, Russell Sir, 1912-1981 | title=My Australia | publication-date=1969 | publisher=Collins | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16345897 | access-date=16 March 2015 }} * {{Citation | author1=Missingham, Hal | title=Australia close focus : the colour and texture of a continent | publication-date=1970 | publisher=Ure Smith | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9403154 | access-date=16 March 2015 }} * {{Citation | author1=Missingham, Hal | title=Design focus | year=1978 | publication-date=1978 | publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold Australia | isbn=978-0-442-25023-2 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/designfocus00miss }}

==Notes and references== {{notelist}} {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{s-bef | before = [[John Henry Young]]|as=temporary appointment}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Art Gallery of New South Wales|Director and Secretary of the Art Gallery of New South Wales]] | years = 1945–1971}} {{s-aft | after = [[Peter Laverty]]|as=Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales}} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Missingham, Hal}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:1994 deaths]] [[Category:Australian curators]] [[Category:Photographers from Western Australia]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of Australia]] [[Category:Artists from Perth, Western Australia]] [[Category:Articles containing video clips]] [[Category:Directors and presidents of the Art Gallery of New South Wales]] [[Category:20th-century Australian painters]] [[Category:Australian modern painters]]