Barry Humphries: Artist & Collector

On the 3rd of June, Leonard Joel will bring to auction a selection of artworks from the private collection of Barry Humphries AC CBE in Sydney.

The auction features work by Humphries himself, alongside other well-known Australian and international artists. Best known for his work as an actor and comedian, particularly his satirical portrayal of the characters Dame Edna Everage and Les Patterson, Humphries was also an avid art collector. He was a true aesthete with an incredible intellectual curiosity and his collecting habits spanned books, sculpture, painting, photography, printmaking and drawing from the 19th century through to now.

In April we sat down with Humphries’ daughter Emily to chat about her father and his collecting passions.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Can you start by sharing with us the story of how your father’s interest in collecting began?
I think Dad has always been a collector. Our grandfather Eric adored his eldest son and I have been told he indulged Dad with an endless and impressive stream of costumes. The demonstrative display of affection and praise that followed may have been the first strides in a pride of ownership and display. However, I think growing up in conservative, mid-20th Century, middle class Melbourne had a lot to do with it too. Dad always described himself as feeling oddly displaced as a child. This amplified as he grew older, being bullied badly at school. I think the ladder out of that certain kind of hell is to either become more like your contemporaries or become more like yourself. Dad most certainly did the latter. I think he found a surer identity in collecting, as the act of collecting draws you closer to the company of the inspired. It’s one of the generous things about Art, the simple act of viewing can alone transport you to a virtual and sometimes kinder space. It can change and add to your perception of yourself and the world around you and in that it adds to your world more than the cost of the exchange.

What are some of your earliest memories of your father’s collecting habits?
As the daughter of a collector who was always on the hunt, I have very few memories of my father that weren’t around collecting, talking about or looking at art. My brother Oscar summed it up perfectly in saying, “some families have sport as something that brought them together and ours had art because Dad’s sport was hunting out artworks.

If you took a stroll with him or wandered down a street, he would almost immediately circumnavigate the journey, swooping suddenly from the pavement into a book shop, gallery or antique shop. On snowy or cold days, it was not always such a winning move. Off cuff he would describe himself as a dilettante, but he was incredibly erudite with his constant and deep enquiry, coupled with his almost insatiable thirst for objects of beauty. Objects would nag and beckon him round corners or upstairs, it was like he would simply look until he could quiet them or himself, or both!

Where were some of his favourite places to acquire pieces from?
There were no particular favourite haunts, or rather many. His eye was always roving and he travelled constantly, so his network of haunts stretched continents. He did form special relationships with art dealers and antiquarian book sellers. Mostly however, he loved being in the company of other artists with their free spirited and ready exchange of ideas and information. In London in the 60’s our Little Venice living room was a staple of boozed up English comedians and extraordinary Australian artists, all escaping the same turgid fear of conformity. It was a fabulous mad house of wit and terror always sliding on the edge of a new idea or experience. When Dad’s life took a more sober turn, his passion for the wit and fuel of others didn’t diffuse. Art and artists, that was his life force really.

Do you know what artists formed his early collection?
The Heidelberg artist, Charles Conder, was probably Dad’s original and most enduring passion. He loved Sydney Long too and had some excellent examples of his work. Throughout his career as a collector he never lost his profound connection with late 19th century and early 20th century art.

Do you recall a special purchase he celebrated or was particularly thrilled about at the time?
Yes, I remember him showing me works he had bought by the French symbolist, Gustave Adolf Mossa. He was also delighted with the charming works he had acquired by George Barbier, a French artist who painted around the time of Conder. The large and more notable works in his collection were not essentially viewed by him as better. He had a keen eye and a real commitment to honouring it. If it was less known and exquisite, it had a different kind of allure.

What relationship do you feel his collecting had with his career? Was it a private hobby that he maintained separate to his professional accomplishments? Or do you feel the two intersected?
Whenever I think about my father, I see both the collector and the creator really side by side. It would be hard to determine which had greater dominance. Whether it was acquisition or delivery he was delighted and inspired by the creations of others.

Your father produced a prolific body of his own work. How much a part of his life was his drawing and painting?
Painting was, from very early in his life, Dad’s primary joy. The Humphries family had a holiday house at Mornington where he would perch on the sandy cliffs and paint. With aspirations to be a painter, he went on to take lessons with Melbourne artist George Bell. In the early 50’s he had his own style Dada exhibition with works such as, ‘Pus in Boots,’ a pair of leather boots spilling with custard amongst others. His Willie Weeties, photo-lithographs, which form part of the auction, had their genesis in the sixties. My mother, who arrived in Australia as a principal dancer in the newly formed New Zealand ballet, tells the story of a young man in the 1950’s who was a painter by choice but called to the stage. As fate would have it, his theatrical talents eclipsed his designs, with his profound ability to make the spectacle, himself.

Did you ever watch him paint or draw or was this a more private part of his world?
Dad was an odd mix of extremely public while also being quite a closed shop. He was always making something or at the least spinning something in the ether. Holidays with him would often involve the transportation of wet canvases produced in awkward locales such as a Samoan beach or a windy urban balcony. It was almost impossible to have a meal with him without a pen appearing at some point, a black felt tip tearing up a napkin. He would spot a quirk in someone across the floor and he would rapidly commit his vision to the closest paper at hand. I remember him actually scribbling in ink on a starched tablecloth in a rather expensive restaurant. The watercolour and ink study of Provence and the Paris street-scenes remind me so much of landing in Paris, where we would stay in a little hotel on the left bank and awake to the bustle of the street market below. So I guess I relive that jaunty Parisian experience when I look at these pieces. When I look at his sketches today, most of what I see is this joyous and incessant desire to engage. His desire to capture life in an instant, join with something, reflect upon it and then place it where it can live on.

Are there a few pieces in the auction that give an insight into him as an artist?
Yes, I would say, the work by the Scottish artist Paul Binnie is a good example of his way of viewing, and the works by George Barbier too. Binnie, is a very fine contemporary artist and printmaker who captures character in a strikingly modern and yet timeless way. The beautiful Janniot bronze, speaks to his enduring love of the French art of that era. Notable too, are the Photographs in the collection. Dad had an affinity for photography’s ability to capture spirit. On entering his Quay West apartment, you would be immediately greeted with the blooming, curvature of Joanna Lumley’s behind. Resting on the same wall were George Hurrell’s smoky divas of the past, Marlene Dietrich and Gene Tierney. So much of how Dad saw himself; iconic creatures freed by the gaze and yet captured in the light.

The Barry Humphries: Artist & Collector Auction will take place on Tuesday, 3 June at 6pm in Sydney. For viewing times and to see the full catalogue please visit our website.

By Madeleine Mackenzie, Head of Decorative Arts & Art, Sydney

Top Image: Barry Humphries / Alamy

May 2025