Jim Sharman personal art collection for auction

For those who would like to own a piece of Australian theatre history, here is a chance to do so and support Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art at the same time.

Jim Sharman, one of Australia's best known, trail-blazing theatre artists, is auctioning 47 works from his highly regarded personal art collection, with all proceeds going to seed the creation of the NIDA Future Centre. 

Sharman is a NIDA alumnus who graduated in 1966. 

The public auction will feature 47 artworks – paintings, photographs and select stage and film posters. The auction will take place on June 20 at 6.00 pm both online and in person at the Annex Gallery in Chippendale, Sydney. The works are available to view online now and at the gallery from June 15. 

The collection includes a masterwork by Tom Polo, major works from important periods of Bill Henson’s career, Archibald-Prize winner Nigel Milsom, Michael Ramsden, Geoffrey Proud, Andrew Purvis, and many others, including for theatre buffs, rare posters signed by Sharman for his productions of the musicals Hair and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Martin Sharp’s poster for the Adelaide Festival and the historic revival of Patrick White’s A Cheery Soul that was the highlight of the inaugural Sydney Theatre Company season.

Jim Sharman has created over 80 productions, many of which had a transformative effect in Australia and internationally. His groundbreaking work has traversed stage and screen, including opera and musicals. His productions include three era-defining musicals – Hair (Sydney, Tokyo, Boston), Jesus Christ Superstar (Australia, and nine years in London’s West End) and The Rocky Horror Show (UK, USA, Australia) – as well as countless premieres and radical interpretations of classics, including works by Shakespeare, Mozart, Strindberg and Brecht. 

Sharman was artistic director of the influential Lighthouse (State Theatre of South Australia) and the 1982 Adelaide Festival, bringing Pina Bausch to Australia. He revived and premiered plays by Patrick White and directed the premiere of Richard Meale’s opera Voss, based on White’s novel. Among his film work, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the longest running film in the history of cinema. He is the recipient of the JC Williamson Centenary Lifetime Achievement Award. His memoir, Blood and Tinsel, was published in 2008. 

The NIDA Future Centre will be NIDA’s research and innovation lab. It will foster courageous ambitious new ideas for entertainment experiences created through new technologies, new forms, and new relationships with audiences. It will take a global perspective and draw on a diversity of influences from arts, media, interactive entertainment, and generative AI. It will be a space for imagining and inventing the future of entertainment.

Sharman has additionally made a significant donation through the Jim Sharman Future Fund. This includes supporting a triennial Future Award, which will be one of the key activities of the Centre.  

View the Collection online now or in person from 15 - 20 June.