Consulting
JOHN BUCKLEY
ART CONSULTANT
With a wealth of experience gained from a career spanning over two decades, John Buckley is highly sought after as a fine art consultant and curator. In addition to his commercial activities, he has curated many important exhibitions of international art, including the late works of Philip Guston and Robert Mapplethorpe. He has also arranged visits of prominent artists to Australia including Keith Haring, Michael Craig-Martin, Rodney Allen Grenblat, Carl Andre and William T Wiley.
Buckley was director of the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane from 1975 to 1979 and the Australian Commissioner for the Paris Biennale in 1982. He was the founding director of the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art in Melbourne from 1984 to 1985. Notable exhibitions of Australian art staged by Buckley include the first major retrospective of Sir Sydney Nolan Works on Paper at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1983 and Nocturne at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in 2002. From 2000 to 2006 he was the Director of John Buckley Fine Art Gallery in Prahran, before opening John Buckley Gallery in Richmond in 2006.
Buckley curated the Loti and Victor Smorgan Collection of Contemporary Art, which is now a major part of the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. He has acted as an advisor to a number of major private and corporate collectors including the Michael Buxton Collection, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Bankers Trust, Potter Warburg, the Adelaide Hilton Hotel, the Melbourne Westin Hotel and recently completed the refurbishment of the Melbourne Grand Hyatt, which included a number of major public commissions.
• Provides independent advice on artists and the art market for private and corporate collectors
• Establishes guidelines for new collections
• Provides on-going information for collectors about artists and artworks
• Values artworks for insurance and undertakes annual updates of valuations
• Is a registered valuer for the Commonwealth Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme
• Appraises and assesses artworks with clients prior to auction and undertakes bidding on the clients’ behalf
• Advises on the hanging, lighting and installation of artworks in domestic and corporate environments
• Prepares inventories
• Recommends on the sale & dispersal of artworks
• Provides an art leasing & rental service
• Offers conservation advice and arranges conservation treatment of artworks
• Negotiates commissions of new work
CURRICULUM VITAE
Born: 9 January 1941 Nhill, Victoria
Qualifications: Dip Fine Art (Painting) RMIT, MA Univ British Columbia
1962 – 1976 Teacher of Art, English and History, Geelong Grammar School and in Art and English, Shawnigan Lake School and St Georges College, Vancouver
1976 – 1979 Director of the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
1979 – 1983 Humanities teacher at Glamorgan, Geelong Grammar School
1984 – 1986 Founding Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
1986 Independent curator and consultant
John Buckley: TALKING 'BOUT MY GENERATION Issue 52 April - June 2010 Art Collector
John Buckley: IMA- A History