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

Srdne,, N.S.W .:--4 A H1'64 recent e~hihitions frnm Engh,n,I. :mJ Robert Klippel, Nicholson\ wooJcn o<eulptor, shows un original uJuptation of the gravcrost iJeu; while Parr. Flugel– mun. Stngpoolc JmJ Lorraine Boreham Mtpporl with wo~s of reu,onablc impact. Perhaps the 1110,1 successful work in lhe lra,litional 1ee1ions, by S~li Herman, whose old sk~ls r~•a cur in "Ml Isa ~incs" as uu1hcn11 7 ro unlic hinJscape, 1s upproached h)' E. H, I. M. Brady un,I R. Zusters. Hernliln·s 1 winning entry in lhe lnduWi:tl seclion{i;minds one or the difference between a 1 ·~• s c ccivctl us ,kill in imil:t1ionr d a as pcr,on:11 lcslimony. D. Sehl c~e : paint in!,! which won lhc "Rural' f;1lls inlo the firsl c:itegory, ils broken lighl foclually rccortle,I lending lo di,pcr,c rather than inh.•~ralc COlll!lOSil ion. ' P. '? JOHN Ht, NSIIAW ( :~~s~~~:~ .. !~~~ aml how soon - Australia's arl boom will slumr. (t is imercsling lo lake ...\J a look al one c,1r11al city where arl has really boomed in recent yc:1rs. To those who hear little of Qucens- 1:in,I e.xcepl for its oil, ils beef, the rro– poscd alumina works al Gladstone nnd the S1a1c·s much vaunted "imluslrial potential", it may come as a surrrisc thal the hist 12 months saw Brisbane reach its peak as a boom town in art. In Brisbane, art auctions nrc :,lmost as rare as a Queensland Arl Gallery spring clcan-0111 which caused one :1bou1 a year ago; the number of Australian paintings sold annually in the general auction marts would scarcely keep a courle of major artists in paint. But Brisbane has very high painting per carita selling 11owcr and al one-man shows at gallery cshibi1ions ii is in the hcst-scllcr cl.1ss. Ami figures which help lo prove this come from Brian John– stone, dircclor or the Johnstone Gallery, where five shows which sold p:1intings worth £4000 uncl upwards were held lasl year. in addition to 01her shows which comfortably climbed over lhc £IO00 m.irk. Most of the sak, were made on the opening day. On the "hcst-scller" lisl were Margaret Ollcy (£4000), L1wrcnce Daws ( £4000), Charles Blackman (.£4700), Donald Friend (£4000) :1nd Ray Crooke (£5500). With a new gallery - Gallery F - added lo what was already Austr:ilia's largcsl privalc gullcr)·. Brian Johnstone, for one, seems confident 1h:11 the Bris– bane hoom will la,1. The l\·lorctnn Gal• lerics began 1hc yc:,r prospcrou~ly with braml new carpcling and a remodelled Tt1E But.t.F.TIN, April 4, 1964 g,1llcry. The first ,how in February was un i111cre,1ing mi~etl one with interstutcrs Albert Tucker, John Ol§cn and Ray Crooke hc,1,ling nn impre-.il'c name li,t. Another sign of confi,foncc was 1hc end-of-I W,3 opening of a new gallery in the Grnnd Ccntrul Arca.Jc. Queen Street. The only sign of uncertainly comes from the Douglas Galleries which opened with a show by LeonarJ French onl y a year ago. Asked ahout his pi.ms for the year. director Jim D,,uglas gave a "no commcnr'' reply. In lhc nrnin, Brishanc huvcr, "buv Australian" for their wall,. ·Anti the)' ;ire not unusual in Brisbane in that arl huycrs fall into roughly four categories: those who buy :,s inve,tmcnts because paintings lnnk hcttcr on wall, th:,n share ccrtitic,,tcs; womi:n ,,hl, huv art in the saml! interior dccora1ur spiiit :1s lhc.•y huy nc,, 1 cur1,1ins: lh(h,t.: who yield to the not-so-hidden per,u:iJcr, 11 ho urge the ,talus value nt c11llec1ions - unJ names: the genuine :1rt 1,wcr~ who hu y with arrrccialion and a <tukkcncd n::-ipOn!<IC lo lhc magic in :1 painting. Two years ago, Laurie Th,.lma..:; gave an addrc,s cin ,.:on1cmp0r~1ry p.-1i111ing when he was tirsr aproinlcd dircc1or of the Queensland Art Gallery. l\lany mc111hcr1, of his audicnc1..• reacted as though modern an anJ especially abstract ;1rt was a new Thomas tliscovcry aml Pica,so had been 10<1 in limh<> for the last half-century or sn. Bui this kind of public ignorance is ovcr-cmpha,iscd and over-publicised in rcuard to Bris– bane. II cxis1s. And ii ortc,; c.\ish among people wh11,c incomes would allow ~omcthing hclll'r than a few had ballcl prints. To an cstcnl. it i, al,o remarked on because llri, h,111c pcorle . rcn·1 afraid to be ,·ocal in mlmittin~ their lack of knowledge on matll'l's II l~ich the\' would like to know more ahnul. But 1i1c 0\'er– cmpha,is is unf.iir to tho,c - and 1hcrc is a strong body of them - who :ire arlisticall y aware. well informed. anJ not ncccssarilv monicd. The e,;t11usiasm for arl in Bri,hanc is real. There is a rash of pc,,plc want– ing tn learn to painl and In c'\hibit their paintings. Even the lale ~l aj,ir Harold Rubin , "anonymous donor" of lhc Queen,land Arl Galler1·s prize Picasso, has hcen rcroncd as saying 1ha1 he would probahl y hold an cshihi1 ion of his own work . Hi~ wives :H(' reputed to fi gure largely as his subjccls. Mainr Rubin owned Australia's finc,I c11llcc1ion of Dohcll pain1ings. Brisbane has its nrl societies. The Contemporary Art Socicly. the Royal Q11ecn,land Arl s,,cicly and 1hc Half Dm cn Ci rnup arc ~omc of them . Bui it is not a place of f?roups or mo,·t•mcnls like l\lelhournc. There is no clearly defined llri,hanc school. The climate for ar1is1s is ea,y going i.hcn compared with Sydney. There is little ,hiirp.:ning of competitive claws amons lhe artists. This may menn a cert,1in h1ck of stimulus but it is no bad lhing for ,in ,1r1is1 lo live in a place which allows him to develop in his own way wi1hou1 group pressures or the lug and pull of currenl vogues. Quccns– lantlcr-by-ildoption lun Fairwcuthcr h,1s foun<I it rew,1rding lo go nwny from the city allogether and rarely leaves Bribie Island. While inlcrslate artists have "dis– covered" Brisbane ,is ;1 market. some of the bcsl known artisls living in Brisbane go ,outh for their exhibitions. Apart trom nrnjor group exhibitions like "Aus– tnilian Paintings Today·•, the Brisbane public rarely sees the work of Jon Mol\'il,!. Most Thur, Jay nights, artists drop in :11 Molvig's , tudio. Artists like John Aland. John Ri~hy, Neville l',fotthcws, arc regulars. Up-and-coming painters such as Gordon Shcrherd,nn an.I Mer– l')'n Moriarty arc also visitl)rs. This is around JO p.M. From eill,ht lo len uch Thursd.&y, John Molvig conduces •-· ing cla""es. These classes are worth menlionin1, not only because Molvi11 provides excel– lent tuition but because lhrouah them he makes a direct personal contribution to arl. A couple of years back when mo,,I lc..chers were uppina their prices, Molvig cul his. He aims only to make enough money lo pay his models. As classes :ire well atlcnded, he usually ha5 no troubh: doing this but with studenls free lo come and go as they please, arounJ holiday times, there mm,1 be lean nights when he is out of pocket for the evening. And al the present lime he is using lwo models each Thursday, Businessmen have rcceivcJ MDEs for contributing less. Hotels and small rdtaurants arc in lhc art swing in Brisbane. The Royal in Queen Street ha, ~ainlings perma– nently on its wall, anti has recenlly con– ducted an awan.1-hy-popular-\'ote nrt competition. The Marisc cotke lounge always has intercs1ing examrles o[ slutlenl work on uisplay. At least three commercial bousc-s have lheir own :irl galleries and al present a Queen S1rcct store is showing a collec– tion of pain1ings on Joan from the Queensland Art Gallcrv. Brisbane needs a ne,;, Queensland Art Gallery anti just where and when lhis is to mulerialille is a eottst~nt controversy,