Christine Abrahams Gallery, first named Axiom, was a Melbourne gallery showing contemporary Australian art between 1980 and 2008.
Foundation Christine Abrahams (5 March 1939 – 15 September 1994) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne University in 1961 majoring in Fine Art. She was a guide at the National Gallery of Victoria for several years, then assisted Patrick McCaughey with research at Monash University, and was a gallery director and major supporter of contemporary Australian art in Melbourne from the 1970s,The Age Friday17 Oct 1975, p. 22 after her marriage to husband Daryl (born 1935), with whom she had three sons Guy, Damian and Ari.
Artist Lenton Parr said of Christine that she valued art "as a gift to the spirit and a source of pleasure and enlightenment," while then director of the National Gallery of Australia, Betty Churcher valued her generosity and enthusiasm, saying she "provided Melbourne with a space and an intellectual climate for some of the most interesting contemporary art from both Australia and overseas."
Abrahams was Manager of Powell Street Gallery between 1976 and 1980 (the lessees were Melbourne solicitor Harry Curtis and Caulfield doctor and art collector, David Rosenthal).
Axiom Until 1982, Abrahams was co-director of Axiom Gallery, established in March 1980 at the address of the future Christine Abrahams Gallery, 27 Gipps Street, Richmond, an inner, once-industrial, suburb of Melbourne. In the same precinct an increasing number of other commercial galleries, including the long-running Pinacotheca, Niagara Galleries, Stuart Gerstman, and Church Street Centre for Photography appeared.
Of Axiom, critic and artist Robert Rooney remarked:
Axiom's opening show consisted of large abstract paintings by Sydney Ball, Fred Cress, John Walker and John Firth-Smith, selling at between $700 and $9500,Robert Rooney, 'Fascination out of obscurity', in The Age, Friday, 9 May 1980 and was followed by a solo of works by photographer David Moore.Advertisement, The Age, Saturday, 31 May 1980, p. 20Tony Perry, 'Moore wins recognition,' in The Age, Monday, 23 Jun 1980, p. 10 By 1982, when the gallery was renamed, Abrahams in an interview proudly detailed its record in supporting women artists:
Axiom exhibitions; 1980, July: Barbara ZerbiniRobert Rooney, 'A Colossus revisited,' in The Age, Thursday, 3 Jul 1980, p. 10 1980, July/Aug: Victor MajznerRobert Rooney, 'Rocky's abstracts go the distance,' The Age, Thursday, 24 July 1980, p. 10 1980, September: Helen GeierRobert Rooney, 'Nomadic Hickey's new brush look,' The Age, Wednesday, 24 September 1980, p. 10 1980, December: Group exhibition: Lesley Dumbrell, Roger Kemp, Sandra Leveson, Victor Majzner, Fred Williams and photographs by David Moore and Max DupainAdvertisement, The Age, Saturday 13 December 1980, p. 25 1981, February, 7-20: Polly Courtin (painting), Tim Bass (drawing), Nanette Carter (photographs), Tom Psomatragos (photographs)The Age, Friday, 6 February 1981, p. 35<ref>The Age, Wednesday, 4 February 1981, p. 10Robert Rooney, 'Greeted by Eric Thake', in The Age, Wednesday, 11 February 1981, p. 10Robert Rooney, 'Grandest quest in close-up', in The Age, Wednesday, 25 February 1981, p. 10 1981, 7–19 March: William Kelly drawingsIThe Age, Friday, 6 March 1981, p. 10 1981, April: Gisèle Freund photographsAnthony Clarke, 'Images of Freund', in The Age, Thursday, 16 April 1981, p. 10 1981, May: Kevin ConnorTony Perry, 'The graphic master', in The Age, Wednesday, 20 May 1981, p. 10 1981, June: Roy ChurcherRita Erlich, 'Roy Churcher's view,' in The Age, Tuesday, 9 June 1981, p. 10Robert Rooney, 'Community mural in the making,' The Age, Wednesday, 17 June 1981, p. 10 1981, June: Michaela Brysha Hair Curler SeriesThe Age, Tuesday, 16 June 1981, p. 10 1981, July: Hector Gilliland drawings, Harold Cazneaux photographsThe Age, Thursday, 2 July 1981, p. 10Anthony Clarke, 'Pioneers of the pictorial,' in The Age, Friday, 3 July 1981, p. 10Robert Rooney, 'Patterns of Arkley,' in The Age, Wednesday, 15 July 1981, p. 10 1981, July-18 August: John WalkerRobert Rooney, 'Between wall and window,' in The Age, Wednesday, 22 July 1981, p. 10The Age, Thursday, 30 July 1981, p. 10 1981, August: The Figure in Drawing and Painting: John Brack, William Frater, Gil Jamieson, Jon Molvig, Merv Moriarty, Peter Powditch, Tony Underhill. Works on Paper, Jeremy BarrettAdvertisement, The Age, Saturday, 15 August 1981, p. 26The Age, Tuesday, 18 August 1981, p. 10 1981, September: Three American Painters: Alan Cote, Ray Parker, Harvey QuaytmanRobert Rooney, 'The quaint, curious and the informative,' in The Age, Wednesday, 16 September 1981, p. 10 1981, September-22 October: Fred CressJane McCredie, 'Adrift in the world of art', in The Age, Wednesday, 14 October 1981, p. 10 1981, November: Lenton ParrJudy Newman, 'The surreal art of Smart,' in The Age, Tuesday, 3 November 1981, p. 19Robert Rooney, 'Retreat to a timeless land,' in The Age, Wednesday, 4 November 1981, p. 10 1981, to 12 November: Pamela WraggThe Age, Friday, 6 November 1981, p. 10 1981, to 11 December: Adrian KerfootRobert Rooney, 'Crowded view of abstractions,' in The Age, Wednesday, 25 November 1981, p. 10 1982, 13 February – 3 March: Simon Blau, Peter Brooks, David Hawkes, Peter Jones, Barbara Neil, Susan Norrie,The Age, Wednesday, 10 February 1982, p. 10 with Julie Patey charcoal drawings.Robert Rooney, 'Six young moderns from Sydney,' in The Age, Wednesday, 24 February 1982, p. 10 1982, to 25 March: Robert OwenGeoff Strong, 'Photography', in The Age, Monday, 22 March 1982, p. 10 1982, to 22 April: Victor MajznerRobert Rooney, 'Inviting Comparison', in The Age, Wednesday, 7 April 1982, p. 10 1982, to 25 June: Enzo Cucchi, Mimmo Paladino, Francesco Clemente, Nicola de Maria, Sandro ChiaRobert Rooney, 'A new Italian connection with the old,' in The Age, Thursday, 17 June 1982, p. 14Robert Rooney, The Age, Saturday, 19 June 1982, p. 14 1982, 26 June – 15 July: Marion Borgelt paintings, Tony Woods, drawingsThe Age, Thursday, 24 June 1982, p. 14 1982, to 9 December: Lesley Dumbrell paintings and watercolours, Sue Ford Photo Book Of Women: 1961- 1982, traveling show from the Art Gallery of New South WalesThe Age, Monday 29 Nov 1982, p. 14 1982, to end December: ceramic sculptures by James Draper, and One Year Hence, jewellery by former students of RMIT and their lecturer, Robert BainesSusan McCulloch, 'Axiom makes mark', The Age Tuesday 30 Nov 1982, p. 21 In summing up the year 1980, critic Brigid Cole-Adams described Axiom as a "good more conventional gallery with interesting contemporary work including both abstract and new realist styles."Brigid Cole-Adams, 'Looking back to a year of browsing in art', in The Age, Tuesday, 20 January 1981, p. 17
Renamed Christine Abrahams Gallery In December 1982 Axiom gallery closed, and with Abrahams as director, was eponymously renamed the Christine Abrahams Gallery, reopening on 12 February 1983.Memory Holloway, The Age Wednesday 9 Feb 1983, p. 14 It showed a broad spectrum of visual arts by contemporary artists, including photography, by architects, and craftspeople and indigenous artists, including jewellers, ceramicists and furniture makers.Jenny Zimmer, 'Access to the global village reflected in crafts,' The Age, Tuesday 2 Jan 1996, p. 13 Stuart Gerstman Gallery opened next door at number 29 in April 1983.The Age Tuesday 22 Mar 1983, p. 27The Age Monday 11 Apr 1983, p. 14 In 1987 Christine's son Guy Abrahams joined her as co-director of the gallery.
The building had been converted in 1980 from a clothing factory by the architect of Abrahams' own 1982 Brighton residence,Where they had moved from their 1961 home in BeaumarisGreenwood, Helen, 'The Hide-Art', Plenty, vol. 5, November/January 1990 pp.42-44 (Abrahams House, Brighton, photographs by Ashley Evans). Daryl Jackson, who designed Abrahams' own house in Beaumaris, preserved the industrial aesthetic of exposed trusses, bare concrete floors and steel roller-door. Jackson himself exhibited at the gallery in April 1984, showing drawings and models for a "more humane" neo-industrial style.Murdoch, Anna (1984) 'Dealing with other people's truths'. In The Age Thursday 5 April 1984, p. 14Holloway, Memory (1984) 'Stimulating architecture'. In The Age, Wednesday 28 March 1984, p. 14. Critic Robert Rooney described the renovation as "spacious and well-planned, and an ideal setting for...large paintings." The configuration of the gallery, with a smaller space to the left of the main gallery, allowed for shows of smaller works on paper (usually drawings, photographs, or prints) simultaneously with shows usually of larger paintings or sculpture. The gallery was recommended in 1994 as a favourite by Susan Fereday, then director of the Centre for Contemporary Photography, and Merryn Gates, director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne.
Exhibitions under the name 'Christine Abrahams Gallery' 1983, February: Eight artists, including Ann Weir and Daniel KoganMemory Holloway, The Age Wednesday 16 Feb 1983, p. 14 1983, to 24 March: Fiona Orr, sculpture (main gallery) and Wendy Stavrianos prints (side gallery)Memory Holloway, 'Sculpture as a way of repairing the self,' The Age Thursday 10 Mar 1983, p. 14Memory Holloway, The Age Wednesday 27 Apr 1983, p. 14 1983, to 15 April: Genny Haasz, drawings and monoprints.The Age Wednesday 6 Apr 1983, p. 14 1983, 20 April to 12 May: Stephen Spurrier paintings, and Sandringham Series by Craig GoughThe Age Friday 15 Apr 1983, p. 14 1983, to 2 June: Ann Thomson, collages and paintingMemory Holloway, The Age Wednesday18 May 1983, p. 14 1983, to 6 July: Fred Cress, paintingsMemory Holloway, 'The mid-career back-room boys,' The Age Thursday 23 Jun 1983, p. 14 and Marcus Shanahan, sculptureThe Age Tuesday 28 Jun 1983, p. 14 1983, to 4 August: Sydney Ball paintings and drawingsMemory Holloway, The Age Wednesday 13 Jul 1983, p. 14Margaret Simons, 'Ball turns to the bush,' The Age Monday 18 Jul 1983, p. 12 1983, to 15 October: Loretta Quinn sculpture, Adrian Kerfoot paintingMargaret Simons, The Age, Wednesday 28 Sep 1983, p. 14The Age Monday 3 Oct 1983, p. 14 1983, to 26 October: Judy Silver, Paperworks and ConstructionsMemory Holloway, The Age Wednesday 19 Oct 1983, p. 14Anna Murdoch, ' 'Explosion' inspired by garden birds', The Age Thursday 20 Oct 1983, p. 14 1983, to 17 November: Elizabeth Gower paintings, and John Firth-Smith lithographsMemory Holloway, The Age Wednesday 16 Nov 1983, p. 14 1983, 22 November to 8 December: Clive Murray-White, John Ballany and Terry SetchThe Age Thursday 17 Nov 1983, p. 14Memory Holloway, 'Northern perspectives as different as night and day,' The Age Wednesday 30 Nov 1983, p. 14Anna Murdoch, 'Scottish painter sees the light,' The Age Tuesday 6 Dec 1983, p. 14 1983, to 24 December: Furniture by Dael Evans, Jane Joyce, Roger Wood and Randall MarshNorman Day, 'Of furniture and culture,' The Age Tuesday 13 Dec 1983, p. 21 1984, to 12 April: Daryl Jackson, architectural drawings and John Gollings photographs of Jackson's architectureMemory Holloway, 'Stimulating architecture,' The Age Wednesday 28 Mar 1984, p. 14 1984, to 31 May: Akio Makigawa sculpture and Carlier Makigawa small jewellery/sculpture worksSue Cramer, 'Understand the basic elements,' The Age, Friday 25 May 1984, p. 14The Age Friday 18 May 1984, p. 14Robyn Clarke, The Age Friday 25 May 1984, p. 14 1984, 5 June to 25 June: Marion Borgelt paintings, Tom Fantl The Prague SuiteThe Age Tuesday 5 Jun 1984, p. 14John Larkin 'Artist in search of a workplace,' interview with Tom Fantl, The Age Thursday 7 Jun 1984, p. 14 1984, from 14 July: Le Corbusier, etchingsAdvertisement, The Age Saturday 14 Jul 1984, p. 170 1984, to 30 August: Victor Majzner, Daniel KoganSue Cramer, 'Raw rejection of formal skills,' The Age, Friday 10 Aug 1984, p. 14The Age Thursday 16 Aug 1984, p. 14