2012 has been a big year for the National Gallery’s Tyler Collection. We have learned the exciting news that Kenneth Tyler will be made an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia at an investiture ceremony in Washington DC on January 23, 2013. Ken has been nominated for this well-deserved honour for his ‘service to the Arts, particularly through the Kenneth Tyler Collection at the National Gallery of Australia and through philanthropy.’

In April the Roy Lichtenstein: Pop remix show started its national tour at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, and headed to the Queensland University Art Museum in Brisbane in late June. The fantastic catalogue that accompanies the show, written by curator Jaklyn Babington and designed by Carla Da Silva, won a Printing Industries Craftmanship Award in November.

Jaklyn Babington’s award winning catalogue

Throughout the year, works from the Tyler Collection featured prominently in the Gallery’s changing displays of international art, with series by Jasper Johns, Richard Serra and David Hockney shown in the Pop and Contemporary galleries. Bruce Nauman’s Pay attention – which inspired Tony Albert’s work of the same name – was hung at the entrance to unDISCLOSED the second National Indigenous Art Triennial, and several works by Tyler artists are featured in the Word pictures exhibition currently on display in the Children’s Gallery.

We continued to build the collection’s web presence, launching a new look collection website and creating a Facebook account to reach a broader audience. Assistant Curator Emilie Owens attended the Museums Australia national conference, aptly themed ‘research and collections in a connected world’. Her reflections on the conference can be found in the current issue of IMPRINT magazine.

A particularly exciting development on the web-front is the new Tyler Graphics Ltd ‘Team’ page. The page gives printers and workshop staff who worked with Tyler in his various workshops an opportunity to share their experiences and give readers another perspective on the printmaking process.

The year also occasioned reflection and sadness as it marked the passing of three great artists featured in the collection, namely Ken Price, Paul Jenkins and Maurice Sendak. Robert Hughes, one of the key figures in the early acquisition of Tyler’s prints for the NGA, also passed away.

We wish you all a safe and happy festive season, and look forward to bringing you more from the Tyler Collection in 2013.