William Nuttall
Director
William established Niagara Galleries in 1978 in Melbourne when he was just 22 years old. Almost three decades later, he is the Director of one of Australia’s leading galleries, representing forty-five significant contemporary painters, sculptors, photographers and printmakers from around the world.
William is also interested in the work of important artists from the 1930s to 1960s and has mounted exhibitions which highlight the incredible influence artists such as Fairweather, Beckett, Tuckson and Vassilieff still have on the contemporary art scene. It is this recognition of historical relevance that is critical to William’s curatorial perspective as a Director.
Over the years William’s reputation has grown enormously and his experience and impartiality of advice has attracted a number of notable private and corporate collectors and public art bodies. On his regular travels to Europe each year to attend Basel Art Fair, he has developed many links with other major galleries and overseas collectors. William has also established working relationships with galleries from New Zealand, Japan and Korea, and now looks to opportunities in other world art markets, especially China.
William is frequently invited by the media to comment on varied art related matters and he is also requested to speak at various art forums and judge awards. Everything he undertakes is done with a down-to-earth "hands on" approach. As a past-chairperson, William remains an active member of the Australian Commercial Galleries Association. In 2008 he joined the board of the Melbourne Art Fair Foundation.
Highlights of William’s career as gallerist include his role in assisting to establish the Australian Contemporary Art Fair (now Melbourne Art Fair) in 1986, organizing the first de Kooning exhibition in Australia in 1997, the exceptional Beckett, Fairweather and Vassilieff exhibitions held at Niagara, and the maturing position of Australian art in a world context.
William is the current Chairperson of the Melbourne Art Foundation.
