Sydney gallerist, philanthropist and scholar Dr Gene Sherman is notable for her incredible eye for contemporary art, rigorous approach to curation and generosity as a modern-day patron. Her remarkable life and collections of art, fashion, jewellery, architecture and design have come together in a new book The Spoken Object: A collector’s journey in fashion, jewellery, design and architecture.
The book is a fantastic size – somewhere between a biography and a large-format art book – and is the perfect choice for this mix of the written word and sumptuous imagery. As editor, Sherman has limited her own writing to a short preface, instead choosing to hand the baton to other writers, including friends, former employees and collaborators, all of whom are talented and many of whom are powerful figures in their own right, including museum directors and academics.
The first section, written by respected curator Dolla Merrillees, is part personal essay and part short biography of Gene, charting the key milestones in her life. Joni Waka, another long-time collaborator has written his own portrait of Gene, splitting his short text into five descriptions of “Dr G” – the teacher, the friend, the phoenix, the persona, the catalyst. From here, the book is split into four main sections: Fashion, Jewellery, Design and Architecture, with between two and four short essays per section. Each writer has brought their own flavour to the essays, while focusing on the subject of the book – Sherman’s collections.
For this book is nothing if not a celebration of Dr Sherman’s life as a collector. For one so broad-minded, many of her early choices in fashion and collecting have led to remarkably tight collections – her fashion collection, for example, has been collected over 58 visits to Japan, with Japanese fashion including designs by Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto at the core of her signature style. Black is also a signature in almost all of her outfits.
Her personal selection of sculptural and cutting-edge jewellery designs is more international but also has a specific aesthetic that is recognisably Gene. Her architecture “collection” is slightly different – the result of several pavilions that were built during the time of the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation.
Meanwhile, Sherman’s collection of furniture and lighting design is more recently acquired, and largely the brainchild of Don Cameron, the interior designer who worked on Sherman’s current home, Braelin, which was designed in 1918 for Sir Allen Taylor, then former Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Located in Centennial Park, Braelin is extraordinary and filled with a carefully curated selection of furniture and lighting pieces. Many of the pieces are unique, by unknown designers, that Cameron has had shipped to Australia from Europe, while others are design classics, rare or otherwise. The balance is perfect – the house is expansive but doesn’t feel too large thanks to careful design.
I was lucky enough one spring day to be part of a tour of the house on the occasion of the launch of this book and it is a wonderful home, though it was sad to be there without the presence of Brian Sherman, Gene’s lifelong partner, who passed away earlier this year.
This book is a gorgeous object, and gives a wonderful insight into Gene Sherman’s remarkable eye for design.
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