Queensland Art Gallery Annual report 1999-2000

The State Art Co c.-'on BUILDING THE COLLECTION mysticism, especially Japanese Zen Buddhism. The The Queensland Art Gallery is committed to the works are a rich source of information o n the artists acquisition of works of art that will build, refine a n d creative development. This gift provides a rare enhance the State Art Collection. All works of art opportunity to reveal the breadth of a n artist's vision acquired b y the Gallery - whether b y purchase or gift - using a single collection. Plans are n o w underway for a must satisfy acquisition policies a n d strategies approved full-scale exhibition of a n d publication o n the Gimblett b y the Board of Trustees. The Gallery's Collection donation in 2002. Development Policy has identified as major objectives Through the continued generosity of the Myer the acquisition of work produced during the twentieth Family a n d the Sidney Myer Centenary Celebration century a n d also acknowledges the Gallery's role within 1899-1999 Gift, the Galler) was able to make several the state of Queensland a n d its special interest in important acquisitions for The Kenneth a n d Yasuko Queensland-based art. Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Fang Lijun's The growth of the Collection during the year vibrant large-scale painting 980810 1998 references the directly reflects these priorities. In particular, there have artists childhood at the time of the Cultural Revolution been major additions in the areas of Australian, in China a n d the persecution suffered b y his family Indigenous Australian, a n d Contemporary Asian art, a n d These experiences instilled in Fang Lijun a sense of Prints, Drawings & Photographs. cynicism about social a n d political systems, something The major wo r k purchased for the Australian Art that he seeks to portray in works such as 980810. A suite collection was The blue Alice 1 9 5 6 - 5 7 b y Charles of 2 4 photographs b y the Japanese artist Hiroshi Blackman. Inspired b y Lewis Carroll's classic books, Sugimoto, Hall of Thirty-Three Bays (nos 1-24) 1995, was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland a n d Through the Looking also acquired for this profile collection. The photographs Glass, Blackman's 'Alice' series comprised 41 paintings were taken at the twelfth-century Sanjusangendo n o w recognised as a career highlight for the artist. The Buddhist temple in Kyoto, where 1000 life-size blue Alice has been described as one of the most sculptures of the Bodhisattva Kannon stand 10 deep important works b y Blackman o n display in a public along a single wall. The prints were taken at dawn, the collection. In order to procure this wo r k from the only moment of the day wh e n the Kannon, in all its private Brisbane collection that h a d been its h ome since splendid richness, is lit b y natural light. the late 1950s, the Gallery deaccessioned two other The Sugimoto photographs were displayed during works b y Blackman to raise funds. Though the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. deaccessioning must always be cautiously applied This exhibition once again proved an ideal source for within public museums, this significant acquisition acquisitions to augment the Gallery Contemporary Asian demonstrates that it can be a dynamic means of Art collection, which n o w totals over 300 works. An improving a n d refining the Collection. additional 39 works were acquired from the Triennial, The Prints, Drawings & Photographs collection was representing artists from Thailand, India, China, enhanced b y the donation of 92 works b y New York- Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan a n d Sri Lanka. based artist Max Gimblett. These works span the artist's Announcing these acquisitions, The Hon. Matt career from 1967 to 1999, a n d demonstrate the Foley MLA, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice and development of a personal style which blends a range of Minister for the Arts, said that 'the Asia-Pacific Triennial imagery, taking its impetus from European a n d postwar project h a d revealed the depth, energy and importance of American modernism as well as from strands of Asian the contemporary art being produced b y our neighbours'.