Anne Von Bertouch

Australian art dealer, author, environmentalist and art gallery director

Anne Von Bertouch, (29 June 1915 – 31 March 2003) was an Australian art dealer, author, environmentalist and director of the Von Bertouch Galleries in Newcastle, New South Wales, believed to be the first commercial gallery outside a capital city in Australia.

Born Anne Catherine, to parents Jean (née Duff) and George Whittle on 29 June 1915 in Eastwood, New South Wales, she was educated at Sydney Girls High School and Armidale Teachers College. After teacher training her first posting was at Adamstown Infants School in the 1930s. She married Roger Von Bertouch in 1939. In 1941 she was the organiser of a National Fitness Camp for girls at Broken Bay, New South Wales. She and Roger moved to Tasmania, where they taught and she studied at Hobart Technical College. In 1942 she performed modern interpretive dance at a Town Hall concert in Hobart organised by the Australian Broadcasting Commission Patriotic Committee as a fundraiser on Allies' Appeal Day. She danced also in Hobart's Opera And Ballet Festival for International Week in 1945. Intending to develop land and to pursue their artistic interests, they moved to Mungo Brush in the Myall Lakes, New South Wales, in 1951 or 1954, and were appointed Honorary Rangers there in 1955 under the Wild Flowers and Native Plants Protection Act. Anne's 1959 semi autobiographical documentary novel February Dark gives an account of their time there. Finding their block unviable, they moved to Newcastle where they renovated a terrace house. In 1987 von Bertouch joined the 1988 Australian Bicentennial First Fleet reenactment, sailing on the Soren Larsen from Portsmouth in May 1987 and arriving at Port Jackson on Australia Day.

Anne and Roger von Bertouch opened the von Bertouch Galleries in their home at 50 Laman Street in Newcastle on 9 February 1963 which, as noted by The Bulletin magazine, was close to William Dobell's birthplace and the Newcastle Art Gallery. An annual Collectors' Choice exhibition with a price maximum of 15 guineas (a value of A$500 in 2022) was established. the couple separated. She acquired near derelict Hunniford Terrace, a row of four narrow 1877 houses, opposite hers, on three titles surrounding 61 Laman St. They were threatened with demolition, and she combined and converted them, over five years and with the help of friends, to house the gallery, which opened in 1974, after the couple had dissolved their partnership in the gallery in 1973. Gael Davies became Anne's gallery manager in 1975. Von Bertouch Galleries showed contemporary work by nationally prominent artists, as well as artists associated with the Hunter Region of New South Wales, including still life painter Margaret Olley (1923 2011), landscapist Shay Docking (1928–1998), mid century modernist painter and textile designer Mary Beeston (b. 1917), naïve artist Virginia Geyl (b. Holland 1917– d.1999) and the surrealist/religious painter Rona Scott, who created a mural for the film Tommy when it came to Australia.</blockquote>The same 1974 issue of The Bulletin listed selling prices in A$ of a number of exhibitors; Charles Blackman $2400 (equivalent to more than $20,000 in 2022); David Boyd $1150; Donald Friend $525; Irvine Homer $300; Pro Hart $950; Reinis Zusters $960; George Lawrence $650; Lloyd Rees $6000; Louis James $200; Ray Crooke $4500; Jamie Boyd $330; Keith Looby $75–$2400; Rona Scott $50–$7000; John Winch $75–$1200; Margaret Olley $200–$950; Virginia Geyl $50–$280; Lillian Sutherland $85–$450; Rae Richards $175–$350; while at its annual Collectors' Choice works were $75 and under (equivalent to $650 in 2022). David Thomas, a previous director (1965–75) of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery remembered her as "tough lady"; "By tough I mean she was of strong character, dedicated to making sure artists were well represented and improving the city's cultural life"

On Saturday 9 February 2002, before its closure, Von Bertouch held a party to celebrate the Galleries' 39 years.

Von Bertouch’s 1959 novel February Dark, runner up in The Sydney Morning Herald Literary Award, was based on her experience of life in Myall Lakes. It was reissued by Hunniford's Lane Press in 1982.

Anne Von Bertouch died on 26 April 2003. Her funeral at Christ Church Cathedral with a eulogy by Newcastle Region Art Gallery director Nick Mitzevich was attended by 500 mourners. Shortly before her death Von Bertouch bequeathed a total of 136 works from her personal collection to the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, the biggest art collection bestowed to it in 58 years and valued in the millions of dollars; they were exhibited there in March 2003. In November 2005 350 artworks still in her gallery were auctioned as required by the Uncollected Goods Act of 1995. After her death manager Gael Davies attempted to hold a 41st Collectors' Choice exhibition on October 31, 2003, and the remaining scheduled shows for 2003, but an estate dispute was underway and the shows could not go ahead; consequently the gallery remained closed. Von Bertouch left her estate to her then 23 year old great niece Cassandra Bird and to Davies. In March 2004 Bird sought to buy Davies' share and to reopen the gallery. Davies rejected the offer as unviable and proposed instead a new, smaller gallery be built on a parcel of land in Laman Street from the sale of surrounding land. The dispute became litigious with the outcome being its sale in 2007 by Supreme Court appointed trustee Ferrier Hodgson. and in 2010 were listed for sale at A$1.6 million. Matt and Marilyn Sainsbury, new owners of the gallery buildings, with Matt's sister Helen Griffin, commissioned Newcastle sculptor Graham Wilson, an exhibitor at the gallery, to carve a bust in Wollombi sandstone honouring her memory and her place in Cooks Hill life. Installed in 2019, it stands outside the former gallery on Laman Street.