The Making of Mona
Australian History Biography Art History Cultural Studies Museum Studies Architecture Art Criticism Travel & Tourism
The Making of Mona: The Ideas, People and Place that Created Australia’s Most Provocative Museum – First Edition Hardcover
Adrian Franklin’s 2014 debut, The Making of Mona, is the only insider account that traces the transformation of a Moorilla Winery shed on the banks of Hobart’s Derwent River into MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. This 353-page, fully illustrated first edition from Viking Press dissects how collector–gambling heir David Walsh’s “subversive adult Disneyland” rewrote Australian cultural life. Franklin, a sociologist and long-time Walsh confidant, blends art history, biography and Tasmanian social studies to show how MONA’s labyrinthine architecture, shock-exhibits and dark-humour curation became a global pilgrimage site for contemporary art fans.
Collectors prize this hardcover for its 70-plus colour plates—many showing works that were later removed from display—plus unseen construction photos and Walsh’s original sketches. First-edition copies in very-good, smoke-free condition are already scarce; the book was never reprinted in the same large-format, image-heavy design. Keywords that surface this title: MONA museum book, David Walsh biography, Tasmanian art history, Australian culture studies, Adrian Franklin first edition, illustrated art hardcover.
Beyond the art world, the narrative doubles as a crash-course in Australian branding, tourism and philanthropy: Franklin details how Walsh financed the $75 million build through his gambling syndicate’s algorithmic betting, then convinced politicians, artists and tourists to embrace a private museum with no labels, no curatorial wall-text and a deliberate disdain for blockbuster exhibitions. Young-adult and adult readers curious about cultural entrepreneurship, or travellers planning a Hobart visit, will find practical take-aways on risk-taking, curation and place-making.
Gift-givers searching for a prestige Australiana title, or collectors hunting the definitive Mona origin story, can confidently add this copy to cart. The sturdy sewn binding, intact dust-jacket and clean, unmarked pages ensure it will survive repeated browsing and coffee-table display while appreciating in collector value as MONA’s global reputation continues to grow.
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