Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 2002-03

Displaying the Collecti on Documenting and managing the Collection Numerous Collection displays were staged throughout The legal and physical management of the Collection, the year, offering audiences new ways of engaging with and the objects in the temporary custody of the Gallery, works in the Gallery's permanent Collection. continued to be an important function, and a stocktake of the Collection was conducted during the reporting 'Print and Reprint: Contemporary Indigenous year. Photography and Printmaking' showcased some of the innovative forays into photography and printmaking by The Gallery made 55 objects from the Collection both urban and regional Indigenous artists. 'Earth and available to other institutions for exhibition purposes. Water' focused on paintings and sculptures, again by These included the international loan of Ah Xian's Indigenous Australian artists, that express the Human human - lotus, cloisonne figure 1 2000-01 to interconnectedness of Indigenous people with both the 'China Refigured: The Art of Ah Xian (with land and water as sources of food, story and law. Selections from the Rockefeller Collection)' exhibition of Recent acquisitions by artists from Arnhem Land, the the Asia Society, New York (October 2002 - February Kimberley and Desert regions were included. 2003) and Nalini Malani's Remembering Toba Tek Singh 1998-99 to the Adam Art Gallery at the Victoria Conserving the Collection Preventive conservation, treatment, and research relating to the care of works in the Collection continued. Major treatments undertaken by Gallery conservators included the cleaning and coating of the iron plates and stones of APT 2002 artist Lee U-fan's sculpture Relatum 2002. This sculpture, displayed externally in the Gallery's courtyard, had undergone rapid change as a result of environmental exposure, and conservation work was needed to stabilise its surface. Attention was also given to a work by Edgar Degas titled Trois danseuses a la classe de danse {Three dancers at a dancing class) c.1888-90. This oil painting was cleaned to remove a discoloured and inappropriate varnish A special display of work by esteemed Australian painter Margaret Olley was staged in 2003 to celebrate the artist's 80th year. Titled 'Margaret Olley: Celebrating Life', the display presented some of the still-life and interior paintings for which Olley is renowned. Included in the display was the painting Interior IV 1970, gifted to the Gallery by the artist in 2002 and which represents a significant addition to the Gallery's holdings of work by this artist. University of Wellington for its 'Bombs Away' exhibition layer, and a reproduction frame was made. Vibrancy in Also showcasing a new acquisition was 'Contemporary Chinese Art from the Collection', the focus of which was a large-format photographic work titled Night revels of Lao Li 2000 by Wang Qingsong. 'The Joyous Screens of Sonabai' provided the opportunity for visitors to re-acquaint themselves with the decorative sculptures of Indian artist Sonabai, originally exhibited in the 'Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (1999) With APT 2002 extending into the Gallery's exhibition spaces usually reserved for Collection displays, the close of this exhibition allowed a re-configuration of the Gallery's international art galleries. The architectural design of the display spaces was modified to allow viewers to make new visual connections between well-known Collection works and recent acquisitions, such as the Art Et Language installation, a group of contemporary photographs by New Zealand expatriate Bill Culbert, and a late nineteenth-century Dutch landscape in oil by P.C. Dommersen. 14 (June - September 2003). the delicate brushwork is now more clearly visible. Self A total of 595 objects were received by the Gallery for exhibition purposes, including 39 objects borrowed for APT 2002. In June 2002, a Loan Coordinator/Curatorial Assistant (Government Buildings) was appointed to manage works on loan from the Collection of the Queensland Art Gallery to government buildings. The creation of this position was made possible through the financial support of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. A total of 231 objects were on loan to government offices as at 30 June 2003. Work continued on the Provenance Research Project (begun in December 2001) to confirm the Gallery's good title to works of European origin that may have been confiscated during the period of Nazi rule (1933-45). A public lecture, presented in conjunction with the 'Pentimento: The Master of Frankfurt's Virgin and Child' exhibition, highlighted additional information about this painting uncovered during the course of this research project. Portrait at Kusamba beach 1983 by Indonesian artist Affandi also underwent major treatment, including replacing an old strip lining, tear repair, varnish and over-paint removal, surface consolidation and reframing. The painting was not revarnished as curatorial and conservation research indicated that the varnished surface had been added later, and was not part of the original work by the artist. The Conservation department's use of technologies such as X-radiography and infra-red reflectography continued, completing documentation of works by Isaac Walter Jenner and Russell Drysdale. The processes and results of this technology were included as part of the exhibition 'Pentimento: The Master of Frankfurt's Virgin and Child'. Gallery conservators also worked on the 'Old Masters Project' - a collaboration involving the Queensland Art Gallery, the University of Queensland, the Abbey Museum and the Australian Catholic University. This project aims to conserve a number of historical works of art from diverse Queensland collections, and to bring them to the attention of a wider audience.