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

GallerY' 1 loo small for growing city , I AM sure many other art lover • are delighted that Mr. Bromley, M.L.A., has made the public aware of the sad state of the Qu11n1lond Art Gallery (C.M., 6-11-68). Lack of funds ls a big Sf "b' k · " fa r.tor In this situation. • op IC ermg LETTERS TO THE EDITOR IL 1~ a channing 11111,, ca l– ler)' bu t 1101 for R dty v,hk h 15 .J.>'~~Jf::;,n;:.hlch hn,.. to rl06e Its doors to chanwe Its f1 1 ! 0 9,· s~1\aWCLU~~r,c.. ~l~~l ta~t f~moi,~a~~tur~?i~f 1~ 0 ~••11: med1oc1 e exhibition need., largrr premises. Efforts hnl'e be•n mode by 68\'eral g·roUJ:>fi Lo rrus~ fun<ts fof :,,h~:cFr~r,<'i'i:'1t111g up resi- dence 111 1 his I'll)' joined such 1< group, bUL Ihe small •ums or mone)' raised ••ould never build a gallery. Whn1 Ls needed ar• aome benrtnctors. Ewry h• II In Lile 11,w Mel– bourne Gnllery hns been named after those who have endo••ed IL The amounu art 1111dll!· ;.'~:1 co~:.!td;rn~f;~ume they T h e • e benefactor• are members of Ihe large l11du•– Lrlal and relAII companle•. All of Llw•e busJnessrs have subsldlarle. In Brisbane and nre mRkln~ 1iro!ILA hero. Some lnflucnllal membel'II g~rh~~ l~~~~~•tl'he~ 0 ul~ ~~J;;,,,~, f 1 ~fiito- 81~ Cnorparoo. th• Qure1111ia11d Art Gal– ltry (t:.M. I-It-ill, IL ll'OUld appear LO me I hat tti, Qo1•ernmeni hu seltclAld an Education Mlnll10r who, cioubtle55 bri111ant In many ~'{1~:'J'cm: 1 ~,~:_•I{. 11\;'~r:~! cu1-,able? I bft,llrve not . surfl<'e II to av that I , a third l(ellr.tration Queens- ~t~:~d a"i"~1 "Jafj~j~us ~~ Ienco and f!Xp~anatlon of the ahernanhtans Jolnir on at o ,ir Stele Gallery, Rlahl ,~ right anc! wronir t, wrong, and Mr. Wlrneke. brt!llanL at•o thouirh he m•Y be. can– not. 9.'ll h a clNr con""hmce aen·e two mastC'ra. Mr. Wieneke had only on• honourable cou,-s• - to close hl.5 private pracLlce Lht day h• became a public ser\'anL. I feel entitled to make thll statement beca1110 my for– bears, who h•ll>td found thll su,te. could offer him lnnu– m,rabl• prteedtnta for •uch a course or action. - .. Boa.. dlcea," Bmbane. In lliu ft:.11hnr ~layn·~ b i l t ,. r :.Uark on tht> QuN'n&land Art Galh•r,, and Uu• prt•iwnt Uh·rrlor, ~lr .,amr1 \\'lr,nrkr, she u i• lht GalltrY II In a ,tale of "Hd drrllno" (C.- Mw~:·•~!~n'l she produce 1ome real facLR and figures to substantiate her ridlculou• claims? Just bfoca11.Se she was oul• 1·ou>d 1n th• rhoice or a Olr. er·tor, d0t•s not ~h·e her the ria:ht to crlticl.. everybody else Involved. a,;!;"t~e "'n,~~~~t~ ~~/:r:'JIJ 1LAnds. tnI~o ~~~~i~ ~l~ 1 eo!.';,' :~ : sona.t ea-nfri in this <·ontro• ver~v. Nn p:-01,Cre. " wlll he made ~~ 11 i,~I::::i:;e~.;1 ~~~~i~i attack on Individuals who ~8'a1~~n« ~~p~r~r- S.: Lucia. · Townsville, Qld. ·1 s Nov 68 ART GALLERY · INYESTIGATION IIHli;IIANt~. Nu,•, 11, - Ttw A•·thtl' Prf'mlcr, Mr. G. W. \\', Chulk, hu• 1111• 11ouru-t..-d he luu1 lnlUllted un In, e1itJ,1ut111n Into tfrn fut Urfl of Uto c·)up,emdund Art Gullery, Mr. Chalk aa id lhla re• lated t.o tho Covcrnmcnt '11 annual 1rrant of $24,000 " .veur, 11nd a possible 1ltc for a n 1 w Jtnllor)'. Ho eRld tha t. during the week he had •oen Bir Leon ,Trout, choJrmon of the Gnllcry' • trusteoa. Thev bad dl•cu•sed an lncrcaae In the prcHont Stn.te Government grenl nnd n long term plan for n new gallery. "I uked Sir Leon to ma ke 11omo furth er In– quiries and I hnvll tret In 11101 Ion Homo nrl1011 by the Cnvornmcnt," he said. Mr. Chft lk •nhl ho could not comment furl.her nt Ibis stag~. but he Indi– cated he W&3 aympnlhotlc lv I.ho cau•o of tho Art Galle,y. • Training lack " :~ c~e;en:, "fnr~~~·u.1 r~x•·,o;i:.o n'::'':~te a~~~ lory, IIO lhlA 1ttm1 an ap- ~~t~!e :~Tee,,.!l'..r";~'!.1 Art lover pleased Queenoland hu ,trtually nn tndnlnr ttnlra for fin• arta. We hal"' 11 Con•on-atorlum of Music J' • a Ch~lr of Mu– sic. In compui,on, •·e have an RrL schoot at. one or our technical colltgea 1Brls 0 ::1:r,;e'.i w~_l1~~ l\~al~~q~~~= mcnt.A of commerce. s e Ve r A I OOUl'llel, un– changrd for decade!!. exlaL ror "11ncommerclal' 1 an. 1111- dents, At cerllflcate level <two :~~f:'~h ;l/i~'inta a~~ w~•~I~{ ,ome atu,ntlon, but the di• ploma student. are In the m,rrr,, ~~t~nthoiy ~~~nfn I~ l!Chool where enrolment,, for commercial art hav, brought about irn,at ov,1-crowdlnr In r~cent year•. acg,i:,i;~~rJa~;rt "Rg~'~r~ school. - CMtL) Roaallo R. ~~'Je~:,~z1e~ 'i.ha ~1::w:::t Wynnum. "Two masters" by Parliament • views A S one of the art lovers who has lost all interest in the Queensland Art Gallery as at present constituted, I was glad to read Mr. Bromley's timely remarks in State Parliament (C-M 6-11-68) bringing its present sad decline before the notice of Par– liament. The Art Gallery meant a tremendous amount 10 me ever alnce I was a small 1tlrl. IL WAS hou,ed then In a 1ong room In the Landa or- 1lce In George Street and .va& a collection of picture. to which new worlts wer. se•dom added. Since that day and until th• pre•em period the Oal– l•ry has been administered ::~n~fK~f¾ff?u8a~~l"t?nle~of~~; directorship of Robert Campbell and th•n Robert llalnes, It became a vital fccal point not only for a, :1st.s n.nd art students. but also tor the general public. •Alack of$$ REFERENCE the exist- Ing Queensland Art Gallery facllltles, the situation I suspect Is that the Government has unsuftlclent funds for :- <a> A IUII.Able New 0.1- ler~•. Cbl An adequate salary for the director. The hlatory of the effort. to gain a new Art Gallery waa aet out In The courier– Mall. November 25. 1966. There hM been no progress to dl\l.O. Lamentably the existing director "r,pears to supple- :~~; ~!11e~~.°:'J1c'?I1a 0 :J'r'~li ' 1 ~ tJn\/ 1QRR And through the Impor– tant acqul•ltlons mad• by these two directors nnd tM splendid gltls that came to Lhe Gallery through mount– Ing public enthuslRSm (the Raubin collection with the Picas.so "Belle Hollandaise" - and the Godfrey Ril'era Tn1st collt>etlon with the "Cypriot" by Dobell Just to mention two of the gift.,, . a veri• embarrMslng •ltua– llon for a loading public a.ervant tn hi• pogltlon. The whole Issue L5 one t hat, demands the most eareful examination And calls for Immediate flnanola.l programming bi· those responsible. - "Art Lover", ftrtobano. ~J>e,qple's-- i The"" work a together • •Ith lhe Epsleln sculµtures and :~;:rn~~h,~·~rldlf;{;.t~•.1r Otll- At U,e retirement of Lnun e Thomas, appllcallons were called for a new direct.or . I WIIS a trustee of t,he Gl\1- lery R.L the I lme, so was fully htformt!d on a.II part.1- culAra. First class A111ong t,he many appllct1- tlons that. came In, there ,,•-,re a number of fir~t– cta.,c; ones rro 01 men who "·ere trolned In th~ wide field or knowled~• rPqulred In Art. Gallery mana~ement, nnd who hnd had experl– enre In other Public Gal– lerir~. nnrl who presrntrd e:i.:crllcnt referr nrc~ from lrni~t°i~t~:~}-e:.°~icl~~ir or tl1r~r nppllc·nnts had qunllflcn llona Ihat fitted lhc111 lo maln– lAln tllr hi~h ~t nndn rd that 01% 0 ~:11~?' t~~~e~~~~ et·r n con~lcierrd, b11L nn npJ>ol111- mr11t wns rusl1ec1 1hrou~h which filled R ~real, number or •rL lo,·r rs In lhl. SlnlP with lnrrcdulity Rnd rlismny. Mr. BromJ('y's mod('rRte r,,mnrks hn\·e been TC'– cell'ed with sat.lsfnrt lon In art clrrles. and IL Is now nppnrtunr thal the rr.c;pon• ~Ible Mlnlsier should reeon– 'sldrr thr rrcommrndatlon m ArlP by lhc tru.'-lCe!il of lhe Art Onller\' l,hRI lhe term or 1he prr~c111 dlrerLor ~ rxtcnded. nnd II nlso Is nn– port1111e Uint n ruu lnn11h·,· !-iho11tr1 b~ enlered on ~,tul- 0111 delny Into the nrlmlnls– allen•,..Jtl!!:l I NEED FORGALLERY: SEEN 'LONG AGO' IT hos become popular again to ossert that Brisbane needs a new, adequate Art Gallery. We have ~nown this for years. The Mlulsler for Edu– cation a11d Cultural Ac• UvlLle.s. Mr. Fletcher. has said he hlLs some ideas on !ilt.e and gener– al requirements. so lt. can be a.'l.sumed that the ls.sue Is not to lle allowOO to lie dormant. The main ls.,ue at the moment. surely, J~ 11ot 10 much who cont.rols Lhe gallery lL'i the prrn•l– :don of a !iUitable J>hysl– cal cnvironme11t for our ooltecLion of pal11Ll11g$ and sculpture. At the rerenl Warana. Writers· Convention, Lhc 11resldenl of Queensland Se C l I O II or LIie Aris Cot11tC!II. Dr. Gertrude Langer, re11lled lo a cul– tural forum question that a new ul gnlle1·y should be pla1111ed n.., JHlrt of a large - sea le genern1 cultura l centre Let's hRvc a long ·• term pr0Jcc1, If neces– . ary, with I h;, Arl ORI· lcry a.s rlrst 11rlorlLy. As for site. whAt allout those parts or Spring Hill Lhal need redeveloplna close 10 C e II t r a I SI llllon? Wrtler tTorwood ,.