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

1 f h 1. imiimmumnmmummminlimmmummunnumummuniumminmmiummilimummmunnumilmmummummumnmilimmifinuti Mr. ROBERT HAINES, Queensland's new Art Gallery director -elect, says a new gallery El should be suited to the climate, built round a courtyard with a large pool of water. Local vege- E tation around the pool could provide the ideal setting for sculpture with paintings and other E = exhibits displayed in long rooms or enclosed cloisters surrounding the courtyard, with glass x :-.. ..i. walls on their inner sides. He visualises something like this: = mamummommonmmiumminmmummommumnummomiiimmilmummummmiiill Mr. Robert Haines trill leave the post of Assistant Director of the National Gallery of l'ictoria in April to take up the Brisbane directorship. He will go from what is one of the world's most richly endowed galleries outside Ame- rica to one which, until comparatively recently, was to the citizens who own it a mere append- age to a museum. -NEW GALLERY Could put us on art ma QUEEN 5 LAN D could make a wonderful con- tribution to Jubilee Year by building a new Art Gallery for this State. "In Brisbane you have a world famous Town Hall and a magnificent new University, but the Art Gallery...;' observed Mr. Haines, when I saw him in his attic -studio looking office at the National Gallery of Victoria. There is a new broom atmo- sphere about Mr. Haines-a kind of evangelistic seal for sweeping away the cobwebs with which the man in the street associates with art galleries. He is vital, enthusiastic, and meticulous, and at 98 is Australia's youngest art gallery director. His conception of his work, which is also his hobby, is this: "Art is not something you hang on a wall, it can as easily be some- thing you drink out of-it in not something you look at occasion- ally, it is a part of life." "In Australia we are Just be- ginning to develop some sort of culture of our own. Everywhere there is tremendous activity," he says. "National ballets, orchestras, and theatres are springing up, and culturally the people are in a very receptive state.' BIG CHANCE "BRISBANE has a wonderful oppor- .' tunity to establish itself as an ; art centre by building a new gal - 1 lery-not a monumental building but something quite different from anything existing in Australia," said Mr. Haines. Mr. Haines sketched a rough ',.ri, from which The Courier - ti created the above im- sten of what the Queensland' An. Director -elect visualises. "This type of gallery could bs built wing by wing," he says. "With Brisbane's varied and luxurious vegetation and won- derful climate, for eight months of the year, such a gallery could show sculpture in a setting that could rival those which have made the gardens of Italy fam- ous, and could show paintings under conditions that would at - Greek head and a sea,, Ligure by Lyndon Dadeweil, of Sydney. Mr. Haines owns about 50 paint- ings, mostly by Australian artists. One of his favourite possessions is drawing of a girl by Rodin which he found in a small London gal- lery. Rodin gave it to Bernard Shaw's wife and It was sold after IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIhIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII By JACK O'CALLAGHAN Courier -Moil's Melbourne Representative numummummumfmumuunnumuniliummuuniumummuumri tract every visitor to Brisbane to the gallery. "But the new gallery should be closer to the city. Now it is just a little too far away for people to come during their lunch hours to talks and lectures, or just to look. "The old Government, House site near the Botanic Gardens would be ideal." ART HIS LIFE MR. Haines describes himself as "not a serious painter, but one who paints for his own amusement- chiefly still life and landscapes." and as one who learnt painting to understand some of the problems of the artist. While he was a student at Mel- bourne University, he took night classes under Bernard Hall and McInnes. Later he studied with Max Meldrum. Art. he says, is his life, not his job. lie does not believe that a gallery director starts at 9 a.m. and finishes at 5 p.m. From his own personal environ- ment and from his social contacts, a man who hopes to raise the ar- tistic standards of the community can, and should, hove an impact on his associates, he says. He has "a fairly catholic taste" in his own collection. It includes English oak furniture of about 1000 and contemporary Pieces made of Queensland block bean and New Guinea walnut: he has a fourth century B.C. sculptured her death with the rest of her effects. Mr. Haines' four most absorb- ing interests are Australian paint- ing, Chinese art, sculpture, and furniture. Of these he says:- Australian painting: Every Aus- tralian gallery should try to show a chronological survey of Australian painting from the early artists to those of the present day and should include a section showing the bark paintings of the Australian aboriginal. Some contemporary Australian work compares very favourably with that of othe countries, but I feel we are too much influenced by contemporary English artists who lack the charm and colour found. for instance, in French paintings. Chinese art: Australians should take more interest in the whole of the East as much for our material as for our artistic bene- fit. The more we know of Oriental peoples the better we will understand them and they are our neighbours. PUBLIC DEITY "AUSTRALIAN " furni- ture design is often bad, consisting of copies (not very exact) of 'period' designs. or poor quality modern design, of bombastic shapes, in putty and plywood, covered with French polish," he says. "We have magnificent woods In this country, and there are a few furniture makers using them, but the woods are too little known and are seldom seen in the shops." I.Mr. Haines has been lecturer in furniture at the Melbourne Univer- sity School of Architecture.] In 1049, Mr. Raines won a British Council scholarship and spent six months nt the Courtauld School of Art, London University. There he specialised In Chinese art, and the care, cleaning, and restoration of paintings. This was followed by a six months' tour of the continent- thr,e months In France, and three In I sly, where he studied thc-,ol- lectals, and enquired into the ad- minis,ation and display of world famous sslleries. OMe P.." believes that an ' ati der'..0,not a storehowv. It is ands ea tdon.., al instituti,`" , as with a ty public, 1 h a duty to it ......- - - - MR. HAINES He says that what a gallery can do for a community will Ilepend on its scope, but its succeis will hinge largely on how it goes about ita work. Mr. Haines knows that people cannot be driven to culture, so they must be enticed. Too few will come to gaze at the same old statues and paintings. Exhibits must be changed, illustrated talks given, clearly descriptive cata- logues prepared, photographs of xhibits must be made available to the public. ART ALONE "OUR galleries are art galleries, not pic- ture galleries," Mr. Haines says. "Talks and lectures on, for in- stance, furniture, pottery, glass, silver, and design are important, and are an integral part of a gallery's function. They do an enormous amount to raise public taste and to encourage Australian art. "Even In the Victorian era galleries were still just homes for stockpiled art treasures. "Now the trend is towards bringing these long dead mauso- leums to life, filling them with people by fulfilling the purpose of a gallery-which is to educate the public taste. I When Mr. Haines says taste he says it in capital letters.] "All the national art galleries are galleries of a State, not of a metropolis, yet thousands of Aus- tralians have never seen an orig- inal painting." GIVES TALKS "THERE should be exr:. hibitions to all p' of the country," says Mr. Haines. "In Victoria tis tional Gallery has sent travel, exhibitions to many country towhs, and the education officer spends most of his time travelling to these towns and hiving talks on the ex- hibitions. The response has been astounding." Brisbane will get to know Mr. Haines much better through one of the first decisions he will have to make. What will become of the popu- Iar but artistically despised "Evic- ted" under the sew director? linve to wait, and see, has never.