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

.,AUSTRALIAN'' Australia :~,~ 'Public art galleries mus\ to benefit the peo~}.:~ • aim SfR - I refer to Sir Leon Trout's remarks on the Queensland Art Gal• !_cry ( letters, ,June 13 ). The situation in mos1 Stille i.tnllcrirs shows thHt tcns1011s and frustrations lJetwccn a ,-:ollcry clireclo,· and 1rustccs arc not necessary. But in Brisbone two successive clil·cct.ors encl two successive assistant directors hnvl! 1·esigncd within seven years, and now two trustees have resigned oiler lengthy association with the gallery, Queensland differs in this from all other State galle1·ics and it seems worth considcr- 111,:; whether there is some clccp-scatcd cause. C~ntrary to Sir !.con's OJlln1on the ciircclor i, nol nn employee or lhc ll'llstccs, but nr thr Quccnslanci Govern– ment ( refer Queensland Art G allery Act l!lf>9l. His io,valty shoulrt be to the ~!ms anrt idc11Js of the :~~~i,'~~ti.""• in the public From personal experience r know that Laurie Thomas had this Joyall)'. Arlhcrcnce to these prin– ciples may al times include Cl'itici~m _of the current administl'al1on, and trustees should try to meet l'ather than suppress such crlticism. As trustees they should be prepared to justify their actions. This surely Is the ~~~:~;rental principle in• From Sir Leon's account It appear, that he, rather than anyone else, usurped lhc powers or the trnstces bv instructing the acti11g dli-N ,\•. on a matter not decided Ly : c trustees as a body. With 1·e~a1·d to the proposed lll'w director: J know Mr W i~neke well; nnd have always found hjm amiable helpful and a man or integrity.' r am sure he will not thank Sir Leon for putting him into the role of an "expert" on rt!storation-a process involv– ing highly specialised scien– tific knowledge and skill and a degree of training which Mr Wieneke has ncv·er to my knowledge clahncd. rt seems to me that many of the tensions In the present situation arise from the fact that Sir Leon Trnut is also chairman of a committee set up in 1950 to raise funds fol' the building of a new al't ll•llcry, As these funds have apparently not been raised oi:-ac can onJy view with alarm s, .. L.con's admission that he did in fact say "if we want a ne w itnllcQ' we may hA\'C to consider the possibility or disposing or some of our paintings, even OUI' major works, cspec!all~· IC we considered that they ore likely to ci~crca!-ic in vuluc in thC !uturc." This attitude is likch· to rinm•1tc nil public galleries in this country for years to cOmc by discou1·a~ing potential hcncfnctor:-. 1mrl <.·rcutini:: a general atmosphere of dis• trust. Board~ or trn:-.tc-C's :-:hould not need l'C'rn111rlini: thrH ,t public nrl ~•!Jen · is not n businC'ss <'lltcrpdsc hut ;i cultural a,nrnily, and that the p1·imnr~· amrnit~· con:-1.sts or the works of ;1 rt thcms~h·rs. A hnnrcl nf tl'll~lcC's ~hould holcl ~uch work~ in !rust fnr the public rRtl1rr than 1n•nti.1i.:: them as liquid as~cts to be cl \:-posrrl nf wlwn the market is fnvornhlc . B~· n:nson of a smnll numbrr of mujnr works the Quccnslnnrl t\rt Galler;• Is an Jm porlal'II cultural lnslilllllOll in thb 1·01intr", The ,::nll{'l'Y · t111~tcrs :i11rl the Quccnslnnd Gov e r n m r II L shmtlri be cnncN n('ct to rn.rn rp that it rctuins the wr,rks lhnl J?h'l' it thb i1nportal1l'C. - ROBt'.RT s,11TII. Srnlor J.crturer In Fine Art, F'llndrrs Unlnrsity of South ,\ustralh1, Bedford rark, SA. ·18 JU~ l967 'T , ~ t1 7 1-/ · Sf ate of the Sf ate - 196 VER UP AND HALF-TRUTHS Public misled THIS, apparently, is the Era of the Great Cover Up - a moment in history when Queens– land's top officialdom has ordained that a gullible public is to be told NOT the whole truth, but just what officialdom feels it should be told. The very disturb• the public has Rot to be It was not the true story • h b't I told the truth.· and Mr. Nicklin himself '"I 1 1 1 • t •ffl• And in the cue of Alex later had the embarrasa• min9 right from the Dewar, the public was NOT ment of having to admit top 1trat1 In our told the truth. that he hnd misled Pnrlla• State Government. The Premte, himself - ment to protect a friend. , Take the case of Mr nice fellow that he I• - Jn other worth Hon• I • would naturally Jean over nl Frank had co' umll A ex Dewar, our Minis- backwards to put the soft lbal he bad nel been ter of Indust rial De- light on a story If he pos• entirely Frank nor en• velopment until a few days albly could. tlrely Ronni. ngo, That ls a clasalc In- He did a similar lhln,: stance of collusion to a frw yean a.co In the mislead the public. eaae of another Cabinet Prominent men In the collea,:ue, Mr, Alf Muller. Go•emmenl Je~I their At that time Mr. Muller nallDe!I to •tatement• had been lloted a • a tax aboal the Dewar lncl- defaulter. denl thal 8 eemed de- The kindly Mr. Nicklin • lped •hnply to hide the put out a story of why Mr. real truth ol Mr. Dewar's Muller on that occasion There was another sec lion or Government ad ministration - the to brass of the police fore who alM> seemed to thin l11•t week that the poor old public deserved to Imo precisely nothing on a matter ol grave public in– tccest. reslrnatton, was leaving Cabinet. The story w, s given out TOLD NOTHING to the public that Mt·. Dewar had l'eslgned volun– tnrtly because ·.1e felt It was high lime he devoted more time to the Dewar family business or mak– ing belts and pulleys, At stake was the theft of that Picasso painting, La Belle Hollandaise, from the Art Gallery. This painting is valued A lot more at roughly S200,000, and when It was recovered by Yet the people making police early last week there those stntemcnts should I was widespread Interest. have known run well there And what did the top was a lot more behind the police do. They refused to resignation. tell the public anything Closr friends or Mr. about It, except that D ewnr hnve told Sunday somehow they had got It Trut-h thnt he wns In e tect back. told to resi~n n!ter a hap- They would not enn pening which I hey r 1 bad rneal the suburb In been unfairly ma nl!lcd which th•:!' round the ngnlnst Mr. Dewnr. palnllnr. Th• Gre11I But. whntevr,· I.he In- cu,·cr Up was tunctlon– cldent, top 111embrrs or the In,: again. I Cabinet should not l1n,·e Acting Police Comm ls- 1 t rlerl to hide nil the sio~er ~t r. Pnlethorpe took I momr 1~tous b n c k ~rouncl lllrn; 5 tnorl. from the public thnt clrc- A few dnys later he tecl It a nd hoi,e It would DID relcnse th.e run story I swallow the stm·,· thnl Mr. Wh;-, we have not been Dewar hnd ~ciue nlong told. meekly to the Premier, Mr.! Now let. us lllO\'e from ' Nicklin, nnd sndh· told him l\lr. Dewar nntl La Belle. I he woulct hnvc io 1::tct mlt I The Gorernmr.nl nlso in l or Cabinet becnuse the Its Greut Co\'Cr Up hns I De·.\·ar family pullrr nnd rrcc11tlr Pl~t . n ban on belt facl.Ot'\' llN!dCd him. te:t<'hl'r.'i S:t)'llll{ nnythJng · publlclv on educnllon Right thing withoui the spe<;lrlc ap- At till' ,·ery kinciesl,, hair- Pl'O\':li of the Education ll'lllh.s \\'1•rr tolri. Minister. Mr. Plzzey, No doubt the kindly This Is nb,•tou•l)' a CRblnrtecrs rtHurrd thnt dlrerl result nr all tht Ihe,· were doin~ the right recent "rltlclsm of 1111i1g by nn old collrngue. Quecnsh1nd's tcachlnit ser\'lt·e. I Whr n , mrn en ter pubHc Nohociv sre, more or the life U1ei tnkc nil Lile pe,ks Stnle's irnchln • r bi• nncl prl\'lieges thnl go with than lhr tench;,./ 0 em s ,public life. Bui nppnrenlly noboclv : Thr)' nlso accrpl the Is going to be ,;llowrtl to hn]'(irn or bcln~ con- talk on this \'llnl su!:>Ject– stnntly un<lcr the public except to Intl the public spotltpht.. The.,· nrc nothing Into thinking Urnt every- 1 mnrr than public servan ts thing In tl1e school g1u·d en nncl i! 1hev put ~ root Is lovely I \\TOnK, pnrtirulrtrll' to the Anotl1e1· blntnnl Go,·ern– c,tcnt or gell ing lhem- ment attempt to hoodwink srlve• bootell out or orrtce, a gulltble public1 1 l JUN l~b/Melboume, Vic. Interest pleases Gallery The verbal warfare over the National Gal– lery's current exhlibtlon Two Deoadcs of Ameri– can Painting - hns "rather pleased" exhibi– tion officer John Stringer. In fact, he say~. It would have surprised him if the $2 million collection or con– temporary American art had not provokca discus– sion. Nor has the general pub– llc dLo; appoint.cd Mr. Strln• ger. So far they have Protested about a modern painting of a nude woman, Claimed one painting was hung upside-down. In letters lo newspapers described the e:<hlhitlon as "a giant con fldenc:c !,rick," "ridiculous char– ade," and one .or Mcl– bourne's "funniest shows." Such commen t. Mr. Stringer inslst.s, is a healthy sign. "Many people hD\'C never seen anythin g like t his." he salci last night tn the stark white gallery, where the huge and sometimes start– lingly color!ul palnl.lngs arc hung. "They're likely to look dazed, to react - the n rst time they see such work. "But one or the aims or the exhibition Is to break down prejudices. HTo break down resistance thnt people a t lca~t tnlk bout something which hey would never have dls– ussed before." The cxhlbltinn. which rltlcs hn1•c hailed ns 11,c best to come there since 1039. Is bound In e rousr somethlHR akin lo vc1·bnl nsliculfs. l\t r. Strln~cr hcllrvcs lhe Onllery's cnll !or Common– wcnlt.h Go\'crnmcn t. :1ssls1- n11cr to brine: the pnlttti11~s from Amrrlca h a.c; hcc11 tust!Ocd by 1hr 11umbrr and vnrlrl)' of prople ,·tslt111g the cxhlh1IIon.