Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 3 : Presscuttings, Sept 1959 - Sept 1967

''Garrets are 011t," says L ,\ UR I , <'I' NICIIO I.AS ·1II OMAS Ill wt a11<1thc·1 u g,1'.c'lle anJ ,now J 1111_patientl) · in hr, d 1:11 r. " I 1e g,ll 1111, reputat llln fur ,·111- p~1a, ,_, ing l'llflte111pur:1ry art," lw " "'-'· " hut 1 don t give a narkc·r when a thing b paintcJ. h11w, or hy \\hum. Ju, t a, long as it's gnod." Laurie Tl11.Hn,,,. -l8 this year. and recognised as one of the n111,t knuwlcJgahk men in the art world of Au,tralia , is Jirectllr cif the Ouecn, – land National Art Gallery. By JO'\ C:t-: STIJU.l i\C 111, ·'J'Pli, ,iliPn pape r, fpr Im pr,·sent P'"' at thl' (. ue...n .land (.i alk rv .,ml a,~eJ me '" rea d 1hc111. . Well it appears he enkred Queen's Col- 1.- ~l' at the Unive rsi ty of Melbou rne in l l)35. a1J did an ,\rts ..:llllr ~-- , pccialising in Engli,h . T hree yc·ar, lakr he hc·came a tutor in Engli,h at the ,a111e university. took out a Diploma of Education anti in I'J40 was appointed lecturer in F ngli , h :11 th,· l 'niw r, il y of \Vc;tcrn A1 1 ,– tralia . Australian art Tall. dark and almost as well known in ,he ,ocial world as he ,s in the art world , his manner ,till carries a trace of the 11:nscness he probably ac4u1red m the days when he was battling: And his speech is a rather interesting combination or a Cambridge gr,1duate expressing himself in Aflc'r ,everal years· war service, he wa, down-to-earth Australi,lll . awardcJ one of the Gowric post-graduate Life for Laurie Thomas has not always run tra w lling research ,cholarships and went Ill smoothly. As a young man he found himself on Cambrid~e Uniwr,ity to study ac,thetics , art the labour market in the middle of the dcprcs- and Philo,ophy. sion, tramped the streets looking for work for Since he came back to Australia in 1949 he nine months, and worked for several years as has been acting assistant-director at the National a clerk and rent collector. Gallery of Victoria, art critic and book-reviewer When I asked him to tell something of his for th.: Mdbourne " Herald," Director of the Art scholastic background he tentatively produced Gallery of Wc~tcrn Australia and. until 196 I . ........... ..................................................................................................... illr L !\', 'f'lromll.<. 11, ,(1111•11,t11-1•llrllr art ,r;,,,.,,,,. WOM,'\N'S D,'\Y w:11, WQM,'\N , Apr:! I , 19b] lcaJ cr-wntcr. thc.,trc and art criti,. and fcat11re- 1H 1t,·1 ft1r 1hc S}llnq "Sun " I auri,· Thoma\ h:i. a grea t re,p.:ct [or the }11trng Au,tr.ilian p:iinter, or tnda y. and the Jilhcultic, under \\ hich they work . " A man can't hc a \\eek-cnd painter." he says. "and hnr ,· 1,1 du his best work. On the oth.:r hand th,: yuung Australian painter finds ii im– po,siblc to , uppllrl a wife and famil y with his brush. "There wa, a time wh,:n the dcJicatcd painter starved in ., ga rret [or the sake or his art. Today, he goes ,,ut and .1ugrncnts his income in any way he can find . Some or our painters run framing shops. some do commercial Hrt, one or two even work as cleaners." Laurie Thomas hclicvcs that Australian r,aintcrs arc in world class. "With th: co-operation uf other Australian Gallery directors," he sa iJ , " l would like to collect abuut RO first-clas, Au~tralian contem– porary paintings and show them here and abro,1d-Europc, Japan, United States, Brazil. That way we could sec ourselves with inter– r:at ional eyes." • n