Franco Belgiorno-Nettis founded Transfield in 1956 and it took five years for the company to find its footing to permit it to launch the Transfield Art Prize, in its day the most expensive acquisitive contemporary art prize in Australia. 'The Transfield' ran for 10 years and includes in its list of winners Jon Molvig, Roger Kemp, Ron Robertson-Swann and Fred Williams - relative unknowns at the time.
In 1973, Transfield refocused its support of the arts through Franco Belgiorno-Nettis' idea to bring the Venice Biennale concept to Sydney, and so was born the Biennale of Sydney. Transfield remains its founding partner.
The Transfield Art Collection now contains works from the Biennale of Sydney as well as the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation - of which Franco Belgiorno-Nettis was a founding trustee. (The Dobell Prize for Drawing, is now one of Australia’s most important drawing prizes.)
Below is a list of artists in the collection. Select a name below to get started.
