James Fairfax: Portrait of a Collector in Eleven Objects

James Fairfax was one of the nation’ s greatest philanthropists, collectors and champions of Australian art.

Chairman of what was then known as John Fairfax Ltd, he published Art in Australia, put together one of the country’ s most important collections of European old masters, and was one of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ s most generous benefactors.

This evocative new biography from his nephew, Alex Gilly, pieces together Fairfax’ s life through the prism of his collection. From a long-case clock built by Fairfax’ s grandfather and given to his parents as a wedding gift to a sculpture by Robert Klippel and a silkscreen by Henry Moore and a mural created for his country home by Donald Friend.