{{Short description|Art gallery in Sydney, Australia}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{use Australian English|date=February 2023}} '''Watters Gallery''' (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by '''Frank Watters''' (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends '''Geoffrey Legge''' (1935-1925)<ref name=":0" /> and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibitions and works by some of the most prominent non-mainstream artists in Australia of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Tony Tuckson, James Gleeson, Richard Larter, Robert Klippel, and Garry Shead.
==History== The gallery was opened on 18 November 1964 in Liverpool Street in Darlinghurst by former coal miner, Frank Watters. As a gay man in an era when coming out of the closet was dangerous, Watters had painted a picture titled ''He's a Queer!'', but never shown it in the gallery, keeping it turned to the wall in his bedroom instead. He painted very little after that one, because it scared him.<ref name=end2018>{{cite web | last=Meacham | first=Steve | title=End of an era as the Watters Gallery closes | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=29 October 2018 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/sydney-gallerist-frank-watters-on-the-painting-he-has-never-exhibited-20181029-h17848.html | access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref>
The gallery moved in 1969 to a former pub in Riley Street, in the heart of what was then the red light district, that was built in the 1850s.<ref name=end2018/> [[File:Watters Gallery Exhibition for Hume Coal.jpg|thumb|Reg Mombassa casts his vote at the opening night of ''Watters Gallery Exhibition for Hume Coal'', July 2017]] It was among the first Sydney galleries to show avant-garde sculpture, including that of Bob Klippel, and allowed artists to choose what works to put on show. This was a point of difference from many other galleries.<ref name=end2018/> John Peart's work was also exhibited at Watters, from when he first arrived in Sydney from Brisbane as a teenager, to the end of his career.<ref name=qg>{{cite web | last=Goddard | first=Angela | title=John Peart 'Shoot point' | website=QAGOMA Blog | date=17 June 2015 | url=https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/john-peart-shoot-point/ | access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> The gallery supported him through a radical change of direction in style, even when art investors did not.<ref name=end2018/>
The gallery also represented Marr Grounds, co-founder of the Tin Sheds in Sydney, whose first solo exhibition, ''Morphological structures'', was held at Watters in 1975. He said that he was "treated fantastically" by Watters. Watters also sold works by Imants Tillers and Aleks Danko.<ref name=interview2015>{{cite interview| first=Marr| last=Grounds| title=Interview with Marr Grounds| date=30 March 2015| interviewer-first=Deborah| interviewer-last=Edwards| url=https://www.datocms-assets.com/42890/1614405141-groundsmarrinterviewv2018-12-11.pdf| format=transcript| series=Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive: Balnaves Foundation Australian Sculpture Archive Project| others=Balnaves Foundation| publisher=Art Gallery of NSW| quote=This is an edited transcript of a recorded interview.| access-date=1 February 2023| archive-date=31 January 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131031532/https://www.datocms-assets.com/42890/1614405141-groundsmarrinterviewv2018-12-11.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Artist Tony Tuckson, formerly a Spitfire pilot and later deputy director of the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW), was a great champion of the gallery, and the final exhibition there was dedicated to his work.<ref name=end2018/>
Watters Gallery finally closed its doors on 24 November 2018, after 54 years, with Frank Watters' collection of around 150 paintings and sculptures to be auctioned by Shapiro Auctioneers in 2019.<ref name=end2018/>
Frank Watters died in May 2020.<ref name=vale>{{cite web | last=Fairley | first=Gina | title=Vale Frank Watters – a giant with a gentle smile | website=ArtsHub Australia | date=25 May 2020 | url=https://www.artshub.com.au/news/news/vale-frank-watters-a-giant-with-a-gentle-smile-260424-2367409/ | access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> Geoffrey Legge died in 2025.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2025-12-30 |title=Vale 2025: saluting those we lost this year |url=https://www.artshub.com.au/news/features/vale-2025-saluting-those-we-lost-this-year-2834661/ |access-date=2026-03-26 |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Legge |first=Sonia |title=Tribute: The Ocker Funkism of Geoffery Legge |url=https://artistprofile.com.au/in-this-issue/ |journal=Art Profile Magazine |issue=2026 |pages=112}}</ref>
==Recognition and legacy== For its 50th anniversary, an exhibition was held at the S. H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney, entitled ''Five Decades at Watters Gallery''. Presentations and discussions were held by Watters Gallery artists Euan Macleod, Reg Mombassa (aka Chris O'Doherty), Ann Thomson, Joe Frost, as well as curator and art writer Glenn Barkley, and Sonia Legge, who discussed the future of the gallery.<ref>{{cite web | title=Five Decades at Watters Gallery | website=S.H. Ervin Gallery | url=https://www.shervingallery.com.au/event/five-decades-at-watters-gallery/ | access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref>
Before the gallery closed, Watters offered two senior curators from AGNSW to pick any works from his collection that they wanted. They chose 32 works, collectively valued at over A$1m, including a huge painting by Richard Larter of his wife Pat Larter with her genitalia expose, called ''Five in a Row Show''.<ref name=end2018/> He also donated his archive to the AGNSW Library.<ref name=vale/>
An exhibition at University of Technology Sydney Gallery, entitled ''The Watters' Gift'' was held from 20 May to 17 July 2020), recognising Watters' legacy, after he had donated 67 works by 27 Australian artists to the university, which was most significant gift in its history.<ref name=vale/>
The legacy of Watters Gallery also included the support of the establishment of the Legge Gallery in 1990 in Redfern which was run by Legge's son Jasper Legge and daughter Zoe Legge.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2010-07-18 |title=Gallery director introduced a vital, colourful aesthetic |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/gallery-director-introduced-a-vital-colourful-aesthetic-20100718-10g0o.html |access-date=2026-04-19 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref> The gallery exhibited a range of artists until 2009.<ref name=":1" />
==Further reading== *{{cite web | title=The Story of Watters| first=John |last= McPhee| website=Watters Gallery | date=2014 | url=https://wattersgallery.com/our-story/}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{official|https://wattersgallery.com/}}
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Category:Contemporary art galleries in Australia Category:Art museums and galleries in Sydney Category:1964 establishments in Australia Category:2018 disestablishments in Australia Category:20th-century Australian artists