Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 4 : Presscuttings, November 1967 - June 1972

Call to appoint art director now 1 • Y DAVID ltOW • OTHAM THE director of the propo • ed new Queen1- land Art Gallery muat be appointed now, Briabane architect Mr. Jahn Dalton said laat night, "Without m•glc, !~L~· b~iiuJ~~! .W:? visual this gallery will be of "Someone said It's to no value •to anybody," house our treasures, but Mr. Dalton said, we've only got a few trea- "Mag1c makes llltle sense sures. ln Itself, but we must be "The project has got to sure the anti-Ille forces be alive In creative aware– a-aln no strangleholds in ne&S for the publlc. Where the plannlnf of the 11allery. does all this end? Until we t h 0 ~ t t ': n\ ~~m ;e~~:~ f~gclrl~;e~dia':io~~ R~:n~at; are operatln~ at the level see It narrowed down to of gallery truateea art. I'd want to run. I 'm in- "Commlttees of inen and terested In forms." women who count heads Artist Neville Matthe.,•11 ave no place in plar,ing said : "It's obvious thlll development. must be gone Into In ~very "We should place our aspect, but things don t al• confidence In the Jndlvld- ways happen this way In ual, acting of course under this community. a certain tenure. "I see so much bad ar- s chitecture. I don't believe Uperman we have aood buildings here, especfally In Bris- "The director will then bane. So we've got to get have the chance to formu• someone with more th&n late the new policy. Just ideas." • "Where do we get the au- Visiting Melbourne artist perman director? We can- Ian Armstrong, said that n o t I o o k to Govern• "for magic you need a lot ment, Cabinet, or bureau- of monev." cracy. We must look to the · la Rrtlst.s. We have suffered Advan ge too l~ng under bureau- Dr. J. E. O'Hagan, of the racy. · Queenland ' Museum Com– Mr. Dalton wu speaking mltte said . "There is some s co;.convener of the f?,· advantage · In having a rum, Planning a Gallery· , complex. we should t hink hlch wu lleld at the of this as a cultural com– Queensland Art Gallery, plex" Gregory Terrace, by the In' answer to questions Queen&t1nd Art Gallery from the Budlence, the Society. convener or the CQrum. Mr. About 400 people attend• P. Prystupa. said the South ed the meeting, which wa.s B r I s b a n e site for the chaired by Mr. E. J. Weller, proposed s7 million gallery vice-president or the Art was most suitable and that Gallery Society, · 1 11 was very safe from Mr, Weller .said: 'Any rioods opinions expressed by the · people here ire n6t nece• • sarfly the oplnlona of the society." 'Too maslcal' Art critic and historian Dr. Gertrude Lanser, who was Invited to ilpei.k, said: "Damn the maslc I If the art gallery Itself Is too magical, you get aome of the worst 1rt galleries In the world. . '•An art gallery exists to serve !Is art ccllectlon. You must design a gallery that allows for exPanslon. v nu need a plan that can grow. "Any Architect must con• alder how best to plan spaces, and how to make the best display of the sbuff we have. "We must consider .,,hat ts here In this galler& al· ~l~~C'ls•~~re~e must ouse T; ~~!~~~d!h•oJ~e a~ar:h~{ this gallery wlll further re• quire. and what it Is aim• IDJTt 1 e allery has an un• bal1nc~ collection. Its ae– lectlon or Australlan art Is rteplorable. And we can only hOpe the future will bring more enterprise In acquisitions. Aimless buy• lnR Is bad." Combination Queensland University archllect Mr. J. MacCorm• !Ck snld Ihat Melbourne, "'hen planning It. Cultural centre, appointed "an lndl- vldJ~"· s •Id : "Bir Roy G l' O u n rt l,' An archileCL, went overseas with director F.rlc Westbrook. to research thoroughly, and with no rc!l~l.t ri~~~rc!:~1di~"it~ t It's the architect alone who 11 !,rts" t'l:'~lei6rnblnat.ion nl t he architect and the pe1f[f;; Roy Ohurcher pu t the q11r.s1lon : "Should I.his project. lnl'olve. the total ™·Arr..a1reaor' I I ' \ /, rs permanent QUEENSLAND Art Gallery director (Mr. James Wieneke) said yesterday his appointment was permanent sub– ject to the discretion of the gallery's board of trustees. m~t" ,f ~ 1 ~:t~~ V:,ff~~: ~~?n~!i~7elas being ab!Y firmed on May 31, 1967, "There has been no ap– when he was 59, proach by the Gallery S t ate Publla· Service trustees to change the sources repcrled yesterday present Eet-up". Mr. Flet– that Mr. Wieneke was ex- che1· said. ~~u~t f~1::11~h~~~~~ s1 1~! Gallery ·plan relating to retirement at Mr. Fletcher emphasised the age or 65. that the proposed new Gal- His position would be one lery near the southern ap– for the consideration of the preaches of Victoria Bridge Art Gallery board of was still a "beautiful plan" t rustees, Bnd the Education which probably would take an d Cultural Activities two or three years to be Minister <Mr. Fletcher). realised "In completion". On Tuesday night, a fo• He said It was obvious rum called "Planning a that personnel changea Gallery" was held by the could occur before the new Queensland Art Gallery ~allery was occupied, but Society. The subject was In the meantime he was Queensland's proposed new "quite happy" about the t'I mllllon art gallery. Work present gallery's iµ~ectlon. ls expected to begin In the The chairman a( the 1973-74 !inanelaJ year. Queensland Art Gallery P II d board of trustees (Sir Leon 0 Cy nee Trout> ~aid, "We are ..,-ex- Speaking at the Corum. ~~~~~ d~~ll~~d g~t~h W: t he Brisbane architect Mr. think we're very fortunate John Dalton said the di· to have Mr Wieneke and rector of the proposed new believe that we made a RRllery must be apfcolnted very good choice there r~: ~'li!~~! hfu w1~r~~1!~: 'Finest' . new policy. "I think that we have Mr. Wieneke said he had one or the finest a i·t collec· Just returned Crom vlslt.s to tlons In Australia. It Is Canberra, Adelaide, Mel• worth more than $1 mll– bourne and Sydney, and lion we have the best col– that he was actively in- 1· f D d 1 bob II volved In contributing to lect ons o rys a eL_ e early repcrt.s on the new and the French unpres- art gallery slonlsts. Mr Wieneke said that "I would very much llke most · 0 1 the apparently In- to have seen somebody at vlted visitors lo the forum that forum congratulate the contributed something well ~i:' 1 t1;!1~~~ 1 \J 0 ~e~s ~;:C~n'f: w~ii~::ii~" he said "It's lery for Queensland. I I · ; 1 "I think at the present m sJead ng to decri t ,e time we have not sufficient Queen s la n d collection. money or space available :;tulte apart from the valu• for a Fine Arts School to ria~e ~~~•:~eu! ~? exa;;: be l,ncluded In the new lflll· pies of Austi; • llan art. and Ier.1iut there ls no reason we hope we II continue to why this cannot come In acquire worthy examples the futu re. we hope that w~enever possible. we'll be able to provide for We also hope th,et gen• 8 lot of cultural nc'.lvltles !~~: t~e~~~n~~ .. " Ill con• s the scheme develops." Cost rise Mr. Wieneke said: "Costs or running a gallery have climbed steeply, and only ~rin~h~f rri~~sc:~:r~e ~~~~ •~!fn~~urg~~· !t~nim~~~jy lmpos.,lbfc to satisfy every• f~!t br~~~~m l~i~~!~~o n'~a lnternntlonnl vlsltocs have expressed warm apprecln• tlon or what we ha1•e." The Education nnd Cul• turn! Activities Minister !Mr. Fletcher) said ye.ster- ~~,l': ~~~ ~~t"J~11e% "Jt rector or to change the prff;";nffl' 1 \~~vtf1~,f ~I~{ the QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY ART FROM MALAYSIA OPEN TONIGHT ! Until 9 p.m, Art from Moloysio exhibition will finish on Mon. Moy 4 at 5 p.m. The Gallery will then close for mounting of next exhibition and REOPEN SATURDAY 9 MAY "BULLETIN" Townsvllle, Qld. ART GALLERY/ PROPOSAL BRISBANE. - We're going to have a new Queeniland Art Gallery - on the southern sirfe of the Brisbane River - and it's evide11t that before the paintings are hung· and the 1tatuary mounted, someone will have to steer a ateady middle course. The artists and the wasn't too stron1< for that rchltects are having their word, "Maa-Jc" She oatd, ay on whllt ought to be "Dnmn the ma1<lc. If art done, nnd so nrc the lay i:allcrJcs In themoelvcs are people. From It all ohould too maa-lcal, you l!'et some come o satlsractorv corn• or the worst art 1<a llerles promise on how $7,000,000 In the world". will be spent to buy There were sevorn.l Quecnslund n ren1 monu• others nt tho forum who mcnt to the urte. made their ,vlowH known Now thnl the decision nbout what a n art nlle-ry has been mndc to get should be. Queensland'• art treasures Mr. F letcher sllld there out or the ground floor was no renson whv an Art (and attics and base• Gallerv director should be ments) or the Museum and appointed to take over Into a home or their own, from Mr. JameA Wieneke. It's comforting to know We wa,, supported by that so many qualified the Chairman of the Art people arc having their Gallerv Bonrc1 of Trustees say. (Sir Leon Trout) . who sn..id Arter all, $7,000,000 Is n his bonrd wna dclli<hted substnntlnl eum or money, wtlh Mr. Wienek e. nntl once we decide whnt "And" snld Sir Leon. "I to do, that will be ii, mate, would verv much like to tor a long limo to come. have seen somebody at At present the pro11oanl, lhnt forum con1<r1ttulate In the words of the Minis- the aovernment for Ito ot– ter tor Educntlon and Cul- fer to hull,! 11 brnnd new lurnl Activities (Mr Alan nrt a-allery for Queens• Fletcher) was still n land". 1 'benutlfu1 plnn." This plnnnlng will tnke while yet, und It le un- lkclv that n start will be nd(I on the nrl ga llery ulldln~ ucrnrc tho 1073-7•1 innn.:lnl vcnr. /t.l n forum ont.ltlcd, 'Plnnnin..: u gallery," rlsbnne nrehltect Mr. ohn Dnlton culled tor the mmedlntc appointment of director for the new gn l– cr y. H fi nlso Mpol<c of 1 ~~ ~ihout mn1,:::lc, the gnl– ery will ho or no vnluc .o nnyhody.'' Mr. Dolt on nlso naked, "Where do we get n eupormnn director ·• "\Ve cnnnot took to l110 Government. Cnhlnot or burcnucrncv. \Vo mm,t lol< lo the nrllst•. We hnvo sufferer) too Jona under burcnucrncy", Raid Mr. DAiton, Dr. Oortrudo Lnn~cr. nrt critic nnrl historian.