Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

The Advertiser 10 July 1982 Brisbane gets a gallery - at last I T may seem strange to any– one from Adelaide - or any other r.ity in the world with a comparable history of cultural and artistic endeavor - but Queenslanders have only dur– ing this past week or so been given, for the first time in the State's history, their own per– manent Art Gallery building. IL's been a long wait s ince the Queensland art collection was assem– bled in its firs t temporary home in Queen Street. Brisbane. in 1895. Growing over the years , 1t was shuf– neu around t he c ity three more times. end ing up in l 97~ in po key quarters way up in the Mount Isa Mines high-rise building in Ann Street. Now the collection h as found a worthy home in a spce tacularly beautiful $28m. bu 1ld111g u n the south bank of the Brisbane R iver. j ust five minutes' walk from Qu ct'n Street across the s leek Vic to ria Bridge lc<1d– in1,: to South Brisba ne . The new Queensla nd Art Gallcrv - officially opened with a i.rood dral of jusllfialllc prid e oy a Pn•mic•r not generally noted for his, or his party 's. ded ication to t he Art s - Will IJ(' Ill(' centrepiece of the impressive QucL• ns– land Cultural Ce n tre due to br <'<>m– plctcd by the e nd of I 98~. Even as the opc11111i.r ·clcbrat ions were ta king place durini.r the week. huge r.ranes were clronm1~ a ncl ron – crcte mixers whirri n g a<"ross t hr. roacl in Melbourne Stree t , whrrr builders arc ha rd at work o n what promisrs to be an eq ua lly imprcssivt' Perfc1rn1in~ Arts Centre. lnclucl111g a 2000-scat theJtrc , a 2000-scat ronce rt hall and a 200-seat experime nt.al Iheatre. That should be read y for u se by early I984. Behind a nd nght. ne x t to the Art Ga llery will be t he new Queensland Museum. due to open in 1985, F'urthcr upstream from the Art Gal– lery and the plus h Foun tain Room restaura nt right 011 t Ill' nve r hank. will be St age Fow of the ·ulLU ral complex - t hr new Stat r L11J rnrv. which will include the unusual fa,: j. Ullt1111lllll1111tl111111tllllltllltllllllll/UIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUlllllllll111ltll From CHARLES STOKES in Brisbane 111111mu1111111111m111m111mm1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 lily, totally suitable for the Brisbane climate. of outdoor reading areas. Around all the buildings the princi– pal architect, Robin Gibson, has de– signed refreshing areas of la ndscap– ing - lawns, shrnbs. and trees - and also stretches of wa ter twater malls. Mr. Gibson calls theml to provide ,t1 most effec tive and artistic link with the Brisbane River flowing p ast the front. of the whole complex . Inside the Art. G a llery, too. , are fountains and water malls whose -$im– ple ~eauty is enric hed by m r)dern sculptures and scores of spreading b'TCCn indoor plants. High ceilings and great w a lls or glass - in places bronze-glazed to soften the harshest light of the Bris– bane sun - give a feeling o f great spaciousness. A skylight fills the area with brilliant na tural light. The gallery provides 4700 squa re metres of display space on different levels, with 15 e xhibition a reas de– signed to allow the cl isplay o r the ftallrry's perma ne nt <'o llcc t10 n . as well as a widP ra nge of loa n <'Xhibi – tion~ The gallery's own collect.Ion of more Ihan ~000 pieces includ es some nutalll,' masterpie ces. in c ludin g Picasso·s La Belle H olla11dai~e or 1905, Dobell's 7'//,· Cypriot and Drys– da lr.. s Back Vcrm1da// Not surprism(:(ly, the favontc works ul the gallery director. Mr. R aoul Mrllish, include three of t he latest acq uisitions - l'nrlrail of a Yo1111y Laciy by Rubens cbought by the Ar , Gallery Foundation for $120.000 a nd officially unveiled last 11· 'C k , a fter the official openini.r by thr Deputy Pre– mier and Treasurer. Dr. Edwards!. Tintorello's 1'//c Ucs1irreclio11 and Van Dyck's l'orlrait of Ilic /Harchcsc Filippo Spi11nla . Mr. Mellish. who has bee n c hief cxccuti1·c of the gal lPry for nmc years and therefore m ti ma tt>ly invo lved in the design and whole conce p t of the new gallery. spea ks 11·11 h pride also o f ,. I Just the finishing touches remain 011 the $28m. Queens- land Art Gallery. a fine bronze bust by Gauguin and a "a dynamic. ever-changing place that 300-year-old bronre sculpture depict• Quee nsla nders In the next <·enlUry ing Hercules and Omph a le by will go to for stimulation. spiritual Giovanni Foggini. replenishment and intellectual re- Mr. Mellish said the gallery's 1·01lec- ward .'' lion had "improved immensely" over T o satisfy the more basic needs of the past few years. visitors to the gallery, Mr. Gibson has Many people believe it will continue a llowed for plenty of comfortable, to improve steadily - and wit h a far relaxing seats twith backs to lean on. b'Teater momentum now that the gal- l'k · 11 · d lery can provide such a rich setting for un I c seats m many ga Pries - an a irport tenninals. for that matter - gifts and bequests from business around the world l, a cafeteri a. with !inns and private citirens. · d To celebrate the opening of the 111 oor and ou tdoor dining areas over- ga llery. however, the trustees arc not looking a sculpture garden and the only exhibiting the gallery's collec • water mall la cheaper but. of course. tion. they have also managed to s tage' far less elegant and sophisticated five major ex hibitions which will ea t111g-place than the Fountam Room eventually find their way to othe r n•sta u ra nt on the river bank . which 1s Australia n capital cities. also now among Brisbane's top 10 They arc Maslerpieces f rom Iii, restaurants, and dazzlingly ant1scp- /clc111ils11 Colleclio11 . a remarkable t ic- looking, white-tiled washrooms selection of Japanese art from tllC' from which some of the liquid soap private collection of one of the Pre • conta iners had already been stolen micr's affluent business friends in only three days after the gallet}' S Tokyo: a collection of pictures by the open mg. Soviet artist Vasily Kanditsky. lent The Founta111 Room·s owner and lJy the Guggenheim Museum in New i1cc nsce, Mr. Ian Hankcv, whn 1s a York: a spectacular exhibition of fo rmer t rombonist with i11r Queens- ll alian Renaissance bron1.es . from t he iand Symphony Orr hcstra, 1s excited Ashmolean Museum al Oxford a nd to be partofQuee nsla11ct·s 11ew cultur- thc Victoria and Albert Museum . al complex. London : an exhibition of Brit ish " It 1s a magmfict' nt undertalong to watercolors and drawmgs from the ha l' c I.he four d1scqil111es of the arts F1tzwilllnm Museum. Cambridl(e, and nrtually under the one runf he said . !J7 paintings, drawings, and prints hy Mr. Hankey. who prol'1des first - Ihe American realist Edward Hopper <·lass cuisine and a comprehensive As if all this were not enough to fra y c hoice of wines. also plays the grand tnc ruling National Party's hayseed piano 111 the restaurant durin~ thr image. the new Minister for T ourism cvcnmg - as he used to do, some- and the Arts, Mr. Tony Elliott , to ld times, Ill a chamber musu· tno~at h · 1,"l1csts at the gallery opening ce re- fo rme r restaurant 111 downtown s - mony he hoped the ga llcrv wou ld ·b bane. . ~-