Art for all exhibition: Recent acquisitions of Queensland National Art Gallery

PORTRAIT DAVID STRACHAN, b y Douglas Dundas . .:O1.s.•.. c I C b l C w / e I q n t e i i f .* M (I The Trustees of the Queensland National Art Gallery desire to express their thanks to the following for their assistance in arranging this exhibition— THE QUEE1ISLAND GOVERNMENT, w h o s e financial support of the Art Gallery h a s m a d e this Exhibition possible. THE DIRECTORS O F FINNEY ISLES & CO. LIMITED, for making their Gallery available a n d for the cordial a n d helpful ma n n e r in which they h a v e co-operated in all the arrangements for this Exhibition, which is part of this Exhibition, is but o n e of the m a n y works of art presented to the Queensland Gallery b y the Trust. MR. LLOYD SEES, the Sydney representative ot the Queensiono Goucry, for iliC i o i o S b i O i i a i uclvloe in the selection of pictures a n d for the explanatory note written b y him on the Portrait of David Strachan b y Douglas Dundas. MISS VIDA LAHEY, for the explanatory notes o n the paintings b y Eric Wilson, Margaret Coen and Gwendolyn Grant. THE MEMBERS OF THE ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE (Messrs. C. H. Lancaster, W . G. Grant and C. G. Gibbs) for the explanatory notes written b y them o n twenty-two of the paintings in this Exhibition. • ••. . ...• : . . . • . . . Wh a t is an r t Gallery' ? A n art gallery epitomizes so m a n y p h a s e s of h u m a n thought a n d imagination that it connotes much more t h a n a mere collection of paintings. In its technical a n d aesthetic aspect the gallery s h ow s the treatment of colcur, form a n d composition In its his- torical aspect w e find the true portraits of great m e n of the p a s t w e c a n observe their habits of life their ma n n e r s their dress the architecture of their times a n d the religious worship of the period in which they lived All this m a y b e a t the cam m a n d of those w h o visit the art gallery The picture which tells its own story is often the least didactic for it h a s n o inner or d e e p e r lesson to reveal it gives no stimulus or training to the e y e quick a s that o r g a n m a y b e to translate sight into thought . . . The art gallery, recalling the gentler appreciations of the past amidst OIL Purchased b y Trustees, 1946 surroundings of harmonious b e a u t y a n d its attendant sense of comfort, is essentially a (Block b y courtesy "The Telegraph", Brisbane) place of rest for the mind a n d eye. "Note h o w t h e figure t a k e s s h a p e a g a i n s t t h e b a c k g r o u n d , w i t h limbs a n d h a n d s carefully p l a c e d to fill — ( E n c y c l o p a e d i a Brittanica) t h e c a n v a s in a n interesting m a n n e r a n d t h e colour u s e d a s a stimulating pattern. E v e r y section of the c a n v a s i s b r o u g h t into the scheme, a n d t h e r e a r e n o d a r k e m p t y spaces, a s in most conventional portraiture. - O v e r a l l is a m o o d of contemplation suggestive of b o t h t h e sitter a n d t h e artist, for here is a portrait in w h i c h b o t h sitter a n d artist a p p e a r to h a v e complete understanding." —Lloyd Bees.