NGA establishes public review of Asian art collection

Instead, it's the harsh glare of the media spotlight as the gallery grapples with the vexed issue of antiquities and provenance.

But, as far as director Gerard Vaughan is concerned, the attention is welcome and necessary.

Just six weeks into the top job, he has already set in train a rigorous independent review of the gallery's entire Asian collection, starting from the top down.

And, in another distinct turnaround for the famously secretive institution, Professor Vaughan has ordered that the entire process be as open and public as possible, with a list of the first 54 objects to be the subject of the review now posted on its website.

The list includes known details of provenance of each item, as well as how much the gallery paid for it.

Each item will then be subject to a review, with more information to be posted as it comes to light, and the list will be augmentedas the project progresses, until eventually, the entire Asian collection is accounted for.

It is, says Vaughan, simply what the public deserves to know when it comes to a national public institution.

"What we're going to do is methodically work through and just give a report – we won't be hiding anything," he told Fairfax Media on Friday.

"And if we're going to say there is a gap that we couldn't establish or corroborate, we'll say so. The principle is one of being very honest and open."

He was also quick to point out that the first 54 objects to be posted online – among which is the $450,000 Nandi bull bought for the gallery by Ros Packer in 2009 – were not under particular suspicion but were simply the big-ticket items that cost the most and were mostly on permanent display.

An independent reviewer – possibly a retired judge – will be appointed early in the new year to oversee the project, and a further team assembled to undertake "a very complete and thorough and methodical investigation of all the evidence".

He said the process – which would also ultimately include works beyond the Asian collection – would probably take years, and that he was hopeful new information, either from the public or from further investigations, would come to light for some objects.

But he warned there would be many instances, particularly for minor objects in the 5000-strong Asian collection, where details of provenance would be hazy or non-existent – so-called "orphan objects".

"It may be in some cases – I'm not saying it will be – but in theory, officials in another country might say, 'We think this was illegally exported and we think there's enough evidence, we can't pin it down to a place or a date or anything', and ask for it back," he said.

"If that's the case, then we obviously would go through a process here that we have, according to the best practice rules that have been published by the government, and the board would simply assess the evidence and make a decision on what to do next."

He pointed out that every collecting institution in the world was facing similar issues.

"Yes, there's a spotlight on us at the moment, and that's fine. We are the national institution and we have no problem with that spotlight," he said.

"But almost every gallery in Australia has similar problems, and every gallery in the world that collects this kind of material, all over the world right now, there are curators and directors and boards of trustees trying to get their head around these issues. So we're not alone, and I think it's very important to see it in that context."

He said ultimately, the issue of provenance had become a distraction from the larger purpose of the gallery, and one he wanted to "draw a line" under.

"None of those problems that emerged in the past will happen again because we are so much more rigorous now in the way we approach it."

"Going forward's no problem. We're now going to go back retrospectively and … either give everything a clean bill of health, or say these are the works where there does seem to be a problem."

The list of the first 54 items subject to the review is now available on the NGA's website nga.gov.au