Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 1 : Presscuttings, 1959-1962

THE COURIER -MAIL FRI JANUARY 12 1962 Art charge criticised IT Is most unfair that ' a charge (2/) should be made for the public to inspect their own 'awes in their own W- ert' The authorities have not even the excuse of having laid out large sums of money for these pictures Some of them, they admit, are worthless. Why then the change of policy by making a charge? The timing ton. makes it worse. Many people down from the country for the vacation like to look at, any additions to the gallery since their last, visit. and school children on holiday should be able to look at what Is part of their own heritage, with- out charge. Hes the success of parking meters, parkatareas, sod similar methods of extract- ing money from a usually meek public emboldened the gallery trustees to try to ateh their little bit?- Wee MIMem," Ashgrove, Telegraph, Monday, January 15, 1962 4500 see ti pain ngs More than 4500 have attended the Queensland National Art nary aleck-taking exhibition to date. The gallery reopened on January 2 to give the public a view of its stock of '150 paintings anti 50 pieces of sculpture, vetoed at L150,000. The gallery is open from 10 n.m. until 5 p.in . Mon- day to Saturdev end 2 to 5 p.m. on WARY. Adinis- den is V- adults anti ed. children. THE COURIER -MAIL UT J hNUARY 1.2 1962 Art charges "1lDenefit all" nUEENSLAND Art charged for admis vice-president (Sir L terday in Brisbane. "But the trustees do have the power to impose a charge on the public," Sir Leon said. "Any money obtained this way will always bene- fit the public." A Courier-Ma reader, of Ashgrove, said in a Letter to the Editor yes- terday that It chargeost unfair that a (2/) should be made for the Public to inspect their own FeircPres in their own gal - Sir Leon said: "We thought the present exhi- bition was one which could be used for the pur- pose of assisting the gal- lery financially. "It we have the fin. ances, other costly exhibi- tions can be shown to the public. have unfortunate that we had to turn down the exhibition of some Gallery very rarely ion, Gallery Trustees 'on Trout) said yes - world masterpieces because the gallery could not un- ertake the costs of trans- port and insurance. "Also, the trustees have to keep in mind the pro- ject for a new gallery. More revenue is ne THE COURIIRAIAIL PRI JANUARY If 1942 Let one man build our State Art collection T HERE is, certainly, no space left sculptures owned by our State Art In these cramped con- ditions it is hard to appreciate even the best. But the idea is, to give a chance for stock -taking. What have we got? What mistakes have been made? What are the plans for the future? Rubbish We have a number of very fine paintings and a few sculptures, of which we may be ,justly proud. e have also a be- wildering assortment of quite worthless rubbish, which, for some time, has been entombed In storage rooms (where It took up the little space we have). The decision to get rid of it. Is a step in the right direction. In addition, we have a depressing lot of simply mediocre and uninspiring stuff. The bad and the mediocre is the sad accumulation of gifts. which ought never In have been accepted, end of un- informed purchases. The sum total spent In this way could have bought a few first-rate works of art. Quality Let us bear in mind that there are many public Col- lections in the world, which are famous, not for their size but for their superb quality. THE ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY IS BEST LEFT TO ONE PERSON. AN IN- FORMED DIRECTOR. Even granted that he could make a mistake occasionally. the risk is email as compered with the wastage resulting from en uninformed majority vote. Some of the best collec- tions in the world have been built up by the genius of one single personality. Sorting out the wheat from the chaff, it may be seen that we have several nuclei around which specific collections could be built. Patchy The largest nucleus, as It must be, we have for a re- presentative collection of Australian Art. Early Aus- tralinn anti Australian Im- pressionism (some of both only of historical value) make a decent, but some- what patchy rollection. And, of course. we are lv proud of our Dobrlls, Drystieles, and a few other works by the not -so -young cOliteinporaries. But a traveller to our shores wishinu to form an idea of post-war develop- ments in Australian art, surely, would not get a cor- in the full display of the paintings and Gallery. ***********************************trertred By Dr. GERTRUDE LANGER COURIER MAIL ART CRITIC 44,409444e(444444441.44,2(14.01144441*444*990444440 rect impression of what is going on here at present. Only very recently has a start been made to in- clude representation of some of our tine young painters, who are earning even wider recognition. Otie trusts that a fine contemporary collection will be built up while we can still afford to do so. We have also a nucleus for the building up of a col- lection of British painting end sculpture. Epstein One should wish to keep only a little of the examples of the Victorian era. We have sonic good ortraits of the 18th and 10th centuries (we have no Constable, no Turner I. Our quite handsome col- lection of English Impres- sionism and Post -Impres- sionism includes some paint- ings by important names. The Epstein bronzes, of course, are among the highlights of our gallery. But what do we own of "British Art Now"? Ought we not have at least one sculpture by Henry Moore while this Is still within our reach, rather than spending on a dozen minor works? And what about some representation of the younger generation of British artists? Further, we take pride In our small but import- ant collection of French paintings and bronze sculptures. While there is slender hope of ever having a much larger collection of "names" who made history, we might well aim at adding works by artists who will make his- tory. A grand opportunity was missed when no purchases Were made in the French Travelling Exhibition several years ago. Other Australian State Galleries (and AUbrey Gib- son of Melbourne) were wiser. What they bought has risen by a multiple on the art market since. How- ever, it is not too late In give a second thought to "Contemporary French." While it is Impossible for us to compete with the world market and even try to build up something re- sembling a gallery with adequate representation of the heritage of art, we could nurse, nevertheless, an am- bition to collecting some worthwhile paintings and sculptures of former periods. And, there is always the lucky chance, too, of gener- ous gifts. However, who can pre- dict the future? The im- mediate present calls for a proper policy. I think this Is being realised by the gallery's administra- tors. Lastly, one hopes that the day is not off too far when we start building a more adequate gallery. This should be a place not only where there is adequate space for the permanent display of at least the im- portant works (as it is, even they have to be removed when a temporary exhibi- tion arrives), but one where one can enjoy art under ideal conditions, and one which houses all the facili- ties now expected from a national gallery. A policy