Summary

Colour photograph of former Exhibition Trustee Chairman Freeman Strickland OBE, former Director John Elden, and former Exhibition Trustee Ken Christian gathered around Gerrard Lants' watercolour painting of the French Fountain, presented to Elden at the 'At Home' celebration for Christian and outgoing Exhibition Trustees Director John Elden held at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, on the evening of 18 May 1985.

Gerrard Lants depicted several scenes of the Royal Exhibition Buildings, at least one of which was exhibited at the Centenary Art Exhibition held in 1980. It was subsequently purchased by the Exhibition Trustees at the conclusion of the exhibition, and is now held in the collections of Museum Victoria.

This is one of 959 photographs (or images) of the Exhibition Building collated by the Exhibition Trustees as a 10 volume pictorial history of the Exhibition Building spanning the years 1880 to 1985. The pictorial history was instigated by the centenary of the Exhibition Building in 1980 and forms part of a larger Royal Exhibition Building collection of documents, photographs, objects and research files.

Description of Content

Former Exhibition Trustees Chairman, Freeman Strickland OBE, former Trustees Director, John Elden, and former Trustee Ken Christian, posing with Gerrard Lants' watercolour painting of the French Fountain in the eastern forecourt of the Royal Exhibition Building. The painting was presented to John Elden on behalf of the Exhibition Trustees at the 'At Home' to Ken Christian and Elden held in the Royal Exhibition Buildings on the evening of 18 May 1985.

Physical Description

A colour photographic print on a page of a photograph album. There is a printed caption below the photograph.

Significance

The ten Exhibition Trustees' albums provide an invaluable visual record of past use, history, maintenance and restoration work of the Royal Exhibition Buildings prior to the building being recognised with a World Heritage Listing in 2004.

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