Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1918 Melbourne, Australia

Died: 1998 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1950

Biography

Art dealer Alannah Coleman was born on 3 November 1918 in Melbourne, Australia to a Danish father and Irish mother. Her great-grandfather, a German-Jewish emigrant, changed the family name from ‘Gaman’ to ‘Coleman’ during the voyage to Australia, reportedly inspired by a tin of mustard.Displaying an early interest in the arts, Coleman studied at the National Gallery Art School in Melbourne from 1933–39. During this time, she developed close friendships with future prominent Australian artists, such as Charles Bush and Sidney Nolan. Her connection to Australia’s burgeoning contemporary art scene grew further when she co-founded the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne in 1938, an organisation that played a crucial role in advancing modern art in Australia. After a brief period exhibiting her own work in Melbourne, Coleman moved to Sydney in 1946, where she shared a house in Woolloomooloo with artists and designers, deepening her involvement in the local artistic community. However, in 1950, Coleman decided to leave Australia and pursue a career as an art dealer in England.

In London, Coleman quickly built a reputation as a knowledgeable and dedicated dealer, particularly focused on Australian art. After a brief marriage to a wealthy dentist, Coleman found herself in difficult circumstances after their divorce in 1957. With two young children and limited resources, she relocated to Kent, where an acquaintance offered her a lease on a mansion flat in Putney, south west London. She transformed this flat into a salon-style gallery, blending antique furniture with contemporary Australian art from expatriate artists, such as Louis James, Brett Whiteley, and Francis Lymburner. These gatherings became significant social events for the London art world, marking the start of Coleman’s influential career as a promoter of Australian art. Her impact on the London art scene grew further when she was appointed director of the Mansard Gallery atop Heal’s Furniture store, where she expanded her expertise in both British and Australian art. She worked closely with influential figures like Bryan Robertson, director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, loaning works by Albert Tucker for the Recent Australian Painting exhibition in 1961. Her efforts reached their peak in 1963 when she curated Australian Painting and Sculpture in Europe Today, a landmark exhibition showcasing both emerging and established Australian artists. The exhibition, which opened in Folkestone and toured West Germany, was praised by art critic Sir Kenneth Clark for its vitality and contribution to modern art.

Throughout the 1960s, Coleman remained deeply connected to Australian expatriates in London, and her gallery became a hub for their work. Her approach to art dealing was never purely commercial; she focused on supporting a small group of artists whose work she believed in, nurturing their careers with genuine dedication. Her personal connections with many of these artists, dating back to her time at the National Gallery School, helped her foster a unique artist-dealer relationship based on mutual trust. Coleman also maintained a close relationship with her clients, often personally delivering and helping them display their purchases at home. She would take buyers to artists' studios, sometimes to view pieces that were still being completed, ensuring they had privileged access to the latest works. The informal and welcoming atmosphere she created in her gallery made it difficult for visitors to leave without making a purchase.

In addition to her relationships with artists, Coleman attracted a high-profile clientele that included figures such as the HM Queen Mother, actress Susannah York, and distinguished collectors such as Lord Sainsbury. These connections played a pivotal role in building the reputation of Australian art in London. Even as some of her artists, like Brett Whiteley, were picked up by larger West End galleries, Coleman took pride in having played a key role in launching their careers, seeing this transition as a natural progression. Coleman’s role at Heal’s allowed her to work beyond traditional galleries and expand her network across the UK, including academic institutions like the University of Manchester, where she helped organise the Cosmopolis exhibition in collaboration with the Manchester Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1964.

In the late 1960s, as many of her Australian artist friends returned to a thriving art market, Coleman was invited by Kym Bonython to manage his large Sydney gallery, one of the biggest in the southern hemisphere. Eager to reconnect with the Australian scene, she accepted and moved to Sydney in 1970. However, her structured, European-style management clashed with Bonython’s informal, socially-driven approach. Unable to reconcile these differences, she left the gallery after less than a year. Returning to London, Coleman resumed her work as a dealer and curator, organizing exhibitions at venues including the Qantas Gallery and New South Wales House Gallery, continuing her mission to promote Australian artists internationally. Despite the challenges in Australia, she remained a respected figure in both the London and Australian art worlds. Alannah Coleman died in London, England on 12 September 1998. In 2024, Dr Simon Pierse spoke on Coleman at Ben Uri during the Cosmoposlis exhibition focussing on emigre art dealers in London.

Related books

Simon Pierse, Alannah Coleman A Life in Art (Melborne: Evans Mitchell Books, 2023)
Simon Pierse, ‘Alannah Coleman: 1970 – A Year at Bonython's Sydney Gallery’, Melbourne Art Journal, 2017/2018, pp. 1-30
Wendy Donald-Bradley, 'An Extraordinary Woman Alannah Coleman, an Untold Story’, Womens Art Register Bulletin, No.14, March 1992, pp. 13-16
Wendy Donald-Bradley, Alannah Coleman: The Woman and Her Role in Promoting Australian Art and Artists in the United Kingdom 1950–1990, M.A. thesis, Melbourne: Victoria College, 1991
Australian Painting and Sculpture in Europe Today, exhibition catalogue (Folkestone: New Metropole Arts Centre, 1963)
An Exhibition of Paintings by Alannah Coleman and Arthur Evan Read (Brisbane: Moreton Galleries, 1949)

Related organisations

Alannah Coleman Gallery (founder)
Contemporary Art Society, Melbourne (founder)
Mansard Gallery (director)
National Gallery Art School, Melbourne (student)

Selected exhibitions

Australian Painting and Sculpture in Europe Today, New Metropole Arts Centre in Folkestone, England (1963)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Alannah Coleman]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Alannah Coleman gallerist