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

Melbourne, Vic. J / 167 THE soft lead pen– cil whizzed ovi;r the large · sheet of white paper, In about 30 seconds I had a pair of shoes and socks. The portrait was complete. It had taken just five minutes. •I had wandered Into Wal– t.ems yesterday to look at an exhlb!Uon or Mexican hand– crafts when I ran across Mra. Joan Rodriguez. Mra. Rodrlauez is a mem– ber of that rare breed - the Uahtnlng-sketch artist. The store has commissioned her for two weeks to sit in a little booth an"d draw sketches or the customers. She estimates that she sketches around 40 people a day, so by the end of the two weeks she wtll have done portraits of 400 people In sort pencil and felt pen, Mrs. Rodriguez began her artistic life by training as a fashion artist In Sydney. After she was married she began palnttna wa.tercolora with the Fem Tree Outly Art Society a.n.d then she tried her hand a.t quick sketchlna. "It started L, a hobby really, and then last year·we went on a holiday to Bourke In New South Wales. "My brother does a run !or a brewery through the outback, and so we went with him and visited these quaint old pubs, and I started to sketch the charac– ters in the bars. I also sketched the towns and the countryside and I thought I would use t11cso sketches some time as the basis for a series or o '•1tlngs .on the (':Ji. said Mrs. Rodrl– -1 .. ,1't It worry her, as C\ wu111a.n, goln~ Into the male doma.Jn of a bar or did the characters worry her 'I "I like a lot of people around m~ when I am draw– Ing - the~· don·t disturb me and somehow they make the drawings feel alll"e." she said. As for the pub chn1't\ctcrs, they were fascinated. Mrs. BRIEFING llr JOHN Hn 1 •11 IIJN Rodriguez ended up by glv– lna most or her sketches to her subjects. Back home, Mrs. Rodrl– auez has been taking herself to the Healesvtlle Sanctuary where she has been sketch• Ing, not the birds and animals, but the English and American tourists vtsltlna the place. Her husband Is an adver– .tlslng slgnwrtt.er ("practical art," said his wife), and their two daughters, aged seven and eight, are already show– Ing an artistic fialr and last year successfully designed a Christmas card series. The family Is oft to the outback again shortly, thle time to AndaunookL to 0 'li~eu~8::~~ls ~ 1 ~•fl 0 b~rf!i! Ing my sketch pad," salc1 Mrs, Rodriguez. "NEWS" Perth, W.A. 1 14 .II 1i 11 ~!""'." RT DONOR'S WIDOW HELD BRISBANE, Today: The stolen $200,000 Picasso was seized by detectives at lhe home of the widow of the man who donaled !he painting to lhe Quce~rt Gallery. This was revealed todny by Queenslnnd's acting pnllt'C commissioner F. Palclhorpc. The putntlng, La Belin Hollandaise, was recover– ed at the home or Mrs Julie Rubin. of Carfleld– drlve, Bardon, a Brisbane suburb. Mrs Ruhln is the widow of Major Harold De Vahl Huhln from whose collec- STOLEN PICASSO lion !he painting was do– naled. [The picture- a nude Dutch lllrl- wus stolen In a dnrlng robbery at llw Q,wrnslnnd Art Gal• lery, on the nhih1 or June :l-fi. I Mr Palelhorpe said to• day Mrs Hubin had told police that a mystery man caller had Insisted on lenving the painting 111 her home 111sl Sunday nli:ht. The man le ft when she promised to hold the pie• tur(- for one month he- fore returning It to the Quc,•11sland Art Gallery, Mr Palelhorpe said poJ. Ice were satisfied that Mrs Rubin had acted In good faith, that her main concern was the safety and rL-covc1-y of the painting. Siu! had told 1>0llce she had no Idea whatever of the man's Identity, nor would she know him ul!aln. Intensive 1>0llce efforts to trace the man woulrt ronllnuc. "COURIER MAIL" '4 JUN 1967 BrlslMne, 0. 1 La Belle_.ude goes ·•J1on1e~~ BEI.I.E HOLLANl>AISf;, the Picas..-.o was returned to the Queen11lnnd Art Gallery by police ,•esterday. 1 I Chief of the BrlsbRnelflclRI~ from police head· I C.l.B. tlnspcctor W. quarters to the gallery Rnet1.l_ handed the pRl~t- when lhey took La Belle Ing o,-cr lo chRlrman of Holl•ndalse "home." ,the gallery trustees <Sir They are Detective, Ben• Leon Troutl In his office tor serKeant J. McSpor• at 1.30 p.m. tan and Detective ser- Slr Leon .;;lgned a receipt geant M Chalmers who which guaranteed that the have been assigned' to the P 1 ~:~~~n\ 0 ;:i\~~ tr ~! w~~; Inquiry since the fialnting needed ror anv subsequent ~~"l:::a':iin:rim he 11al• court action. 1. B ·b ~nspcctor Raetz said th~ n rl• ane pamtmg had been exam- IL waa recovered In a lned by experts, who con• house In a Br1s– flrmed It was the original bane auburb on Mon• Picasso. day after Inspector Raeta Smudo-ed received confidential In· • formation. Sir Leon 1111ld the paint~ He, with McSporran and Ing was examined by Mr, Oha.Jmers, seized the J . Wieneke <who hu been painting after a -rch recommended by the warrant WIii Jaaued. trustees for the po•ltlon or The Premier <Mr. Nlcll:– gallery director) and the Uni said laat night that acting director <MlliS police stlll were tnveattga- Robyn HIii\ . ting the removal of the The 1>11lntlng ts · un- r,a1nt1ng from the Gal– damaged l\ptlrt from , a ery. /slight smudge on one Pollce would Jay cha shoulder of the nude. I! !,hey obtained autftcten An art cx1iert said It evidence, he said. M _. 1 L" l wou id nol. rlelract from the Mr. Nicklin, who II Act• "' ,•ah1e of I.he palntlqg. Ing Minister for Police 1 Two leading detective•. 8Ald nonnal police lnveAU Brlsba accompanied gallery or- 11atto111 weN l)l'OONCUIIC, 14 JUN\967 14 JUN 1967 HolMrt, T••· '\\lf@,~P,i,/M\\ ( ,· z. Picasso painting returned BRISBANE. - The stol – en $200,000 Picasso painting - "La Belle Hollandaise" - wns re– turned to the Queens• land Art Gallery yester– day by police. The Chirf of the Hrfi;:lrnnc C.I.R. tln~JI. W. Hnf't1.1 lwnd• NI the JrnintlnJ.? O\'Cr tn the chalrnrnn of lhc gnllcr~· 1far f.cnn Trnul 1. Sir Lenn !-l,ttn· ('cl El fHCIJ}I w hkh J!II0 ''/\11· tcccl thAI th(' 1n1i ntit1t? wnul<I he rr-' urnrcl In pnllcc If it w:1~ nrcdcd for anv !-illh~c– qurnt Cn11r1 ;wtlon.' lnsp. Reeh ••Id the paint– Ing hod bun •xamlntd by eKperh who stated It was the origlnal Piea110. 'l'\\'n clclcl'ti,·t•!'i nrcnmpnn– ird nr1 c;1llPr~· nflirlrd~ frnm police IH!nrlqunrtC'r!-, tn tlw cn llrr~· whrn they look 1hr pnlnlinJ:? "home". The pninl111,t: wn:,, re1•m·('r. rcl from n llrl~harw ~11h11r-• b~n hnmc 011 :'\1onclny afl c1 confict~nlbl ,,clvirc rcrci\•rlf by lnsp, ltaelz. The painting \\'Us ~r•l1cct After n JH' 11reh wnrrnnt lrnll horn t1:! l11r.il :rnrl cxrr·uu.•tl.