Benalla Art Gallery – The Bennet Bequest

Toward the end of 1996, the Benalla Art Gallery received a transformational Bequest from Gladys Bennett comprising 15 artworks and a significant contribution of $1M to be used for the purchase of artworks supplementing the original Ledger Bequest.

The Bequest specified that the funds were to be used for ‘ the purchase of paintings, watercolours and pen and ink drawings to be hung in the Ledger Gallery and to be applied also for the maintenance and extension of the said art gallery ’.

The Bequest enabled the Galley to acquire works by key artists to extend and augment the original Ledger Collection, thus creating a greater sense of continuity and completion both historically and stylistically, and developing new strengths in contemporary art.

Following the recent exhibition of The Ledger Collection, this exhibition will chart another significant development in the Benalla Art Gallery Collection, spanning the strategic purchases of works by leading Australian contemporary artists of the time.