The Collection of the Late Dr Jim Masselos | Oceanic & Aboriginal Art

A Lifelong Love of India

Dr Jim Masselos was a distinguished scholar of South Asia, with a particular interest in the history of Mumbai and Bombay.

Born in Townsville, Masselos studied at the University of Sydney under Marjorie Jacobs (1915-2013), later Chair of History. Masselos was drawn to film as a student and became president of the Sydney University Film Group, the forerunner of the Sydney Film Festival. A screening of the 1955 Indian film, Pather Panchali, sparked an interest in India, and he relocated to complete his PhD at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, studying under Professor William Coelho (1905-72). After university, he returned to the University of Sydney to lecture, mentoring students for decades.

He continued to visit Mumbai and Bombai regularly.

Pictured: Thomas & William Daniell, Britain (1749-1840, 1769-1837), Portico of an Excavated Temple on the Island of Salsette, From Antiquities of India Vol 4 1799, Handcoloured aquatint

A Scholar, Author & Curator

A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH), and since 2001, an Honorary Reader in History at the University of Sydney, Dr Masselos was a driving force in Asian studies. He helped establish the South Asian Studies Association in 1970 and its journal, South Asia. He oversaw the arts committee of the Asian Studies Association of Australia from 1982-90 and was a Fellow of The Asiatic Society of Bombay. He also co-founded The Asian Arts Society of Australia (TAASA), regularly contributing to the TAASA Review.

Dr Masselos wrote two books, and more than 50 essays, he curated many exhibitions of Indian and Asian Art held at University of Sydney galleries and library, and he collaborated with scholars in Australia & internationally – including Jackie Menzies, Narayani Gupta, Naresh Fernandes and Rachel Dwyer – to produce exhibition catalogues and edited volumes.

Dr Masselos retained close ties with friends and colleagues in India and across the globe. The AAH quotes an Indian scholar and friend as saying: “His legacy endures in the scholars he mentored, the readers he inspired and the streets he chronicled with such care.”

Pictured: Jack Djiwul Wunuwun, Arnhem Land (c. 1930-1990), Galwun, Bush Yam, the Artist’s Totem, Earth pigments on Eucalyptus bark

An Eclectic Collector

Dr Masselos travelled frequently between Australia, India, and Southeast Asia, building an organic collection over many years.

He started by purchasing Indian artefacts and artwork during time spent in India, then began to acquire Oceanic and Tribal Art. Later in life he added Australian and international art to his collection. His home in Stanmore (Sydney) was described as an archive, library and gallery, with piles of books, artworks and objects.

In 2024, he donated a selection of photographs, paintings and textiles to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Among the collection to be offered at auction are hand carved ancestral figures and masks from Papua New Guinea, South Pacific Tribal Shellwork, Australian Indigenous paintings, as well as painting, photography and mixed media artworks.

The Collection of the Late Dr Jim Masselos | Oceanic & Aboriginal Art
Monday 10 November | 6pm
View Catalogue
Enquiries | Sally Hardy

Pictured: Robert Edward Klippel, Australia (1920-2001), Untitled 1984, Pastel on green paper