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

"OUR GALLERY IS IN SORRY STATE" The president of Queensland Art Gallery Trustees, Sir Leon Trout, said today he agreed with o leading Aust,a l'an Art historian .and critic when he described the Queen~and Art Gallery as "weedy and malnourished. Sir Leon said : " Our g~llery is in a sorry D • t d • • ·n state, in spite ot the tact w,' hove one at the n finest collection at pai~t_ingl i~ Australia. I rec Or en I e S wan In fi .. I. t-n11rclY Bl,!1'1:C w1111 Slltt•.:s. buL is also luc;ked ~- ... £..... ) ,,,,,,,. __ - · ~ / ~, • • Professor Ll<rnnnl S11111h [lloor space. ~ Hf#&A,4,1 I~ • I ·~ G 11 in his t ·rlt.ic !hm," 0 1 the arts in Q111wns• e e • Prolf's:;or or Cont,·1111)()rnn· t,,,..,. u ..~·... ,d to slide encl I Pro(e.;sor S1nlt.h. , ho 1Sla11d he said : "thm~, hBl't' public interest 1n a erl ;~~.:td )l~lS~li~l~~lO~I 01 F'~~~~I ~~~ r.ro~ :-i~fled rea~-,t~1'n an~ Arts ,u Sydney U11l\'tir/'III Y, ~CIISt', surrerllli,t trom l'Ul - ~~tic~a~1r/:lt~ al~L;Pe;:~;~~~~ ltu.~~d~~~k~i/' Leon Trou1 I JUdJ!t>d the record :.! • tl en- ,mid: "The .. ,rt G1dlrl',\' tries tn this ycur·.-.; 11, C.,building is un.-,uhnble and Richards Mt>Ol:inl Prize. \.,; not. worthy o our tit ty. FEEL sorry for Miss Mayo and her so sad she says that interest, including her own, been last by a number af art lovers - and the H e said that the Gulle ry 1lt:t. ;done the Stnte. was noL only in a poor po· \"C II 1. · sition when rompnrcd with O ec ion 15 With so much claim ~':.~lie~_,;. 01 01her badly housed" on my time these days blame. I "Bui, luck o run<t_s m11ke I have not enough op– it uno,;sible 111 to nnpro 1 ·• portunltY for press let– the buildln~. or 10 conciurt ter writing. th ;ira 1 /~1 SRld Queens- But Miss Mayo's :-il~t~menl lond's Art collecilon, whic, about lack of Interest 111 1he cont.l\tnect ~me or Austrn • Queensland Arl Gallery m– lhfs best works. wu~ value< vnes a reply as she creat,~ R and conservation areas have bcpn re-ileslgnnd and Im– p r o v e rt , exhibitions have been sclectert anc\ taken to the country, about s1.2r,o,OOO. fnlse Impression, . Rut the collet'llon Is The number of visitors to hacllv housed and much t,hls gallery rtmlng the last o 11 · 1s reiegall•'<I to tile 12 mnnths or so he• nol, r•II · cellar,;," h• said, en of! anrt public Interest \ "\Ve just hal'en·t got 1h generally In th_e exhibit.tons spucl' to r;how I\. p1·01n:rl~•." ~~ 1 ~~n/vt~~~L oh::.' has heen to ';t~ 5 h i~:r~l~~~[1!mn'/~~~ ly successfu . exhibitions ao the Rodin , rom.es, such a group nc\'e · ha\'lng been seen In Qu,enslnnc\ before ~~jd~~~~.•~it ,fe~~ul~~tt~~ the blind. This collection should ha\'e interested Miss Ma,yo. Set record "Design In Scandina.,·ja" was another fine exhibition and did undoubtedly pro– mote further appreciation for better design in the things which we use e\'ery dRY, and Rt.trncted a record number of visitors. The Duchemp Exhibition from NPW York wns another important collection. The famous Aubusson Ta– pestries were on view for a mont.h. Hallan Thrat.re Me•ks by the designer Sartori, with the Print Council of Austre- 1\n. nnnual show and nward. plus n superb collect.ion of Old Master nrnwln~s rrom ~~:;~~~dn~~1~tf~-~~•~r~m' 0 3;: Rubin Estate mane most In• 1.eresLing shows. Dirt Miss Mayo see any ol these? tn bel,\\'ePn such e:shthl~ r.tons. works from our own collections have IJeen on ,-•~w lncludln~ lhp fine Ru– bin . GHt l),llntmfis and The g~P,~\~1, bv S r William Other cities thf%1re~w~~ '/;it~ agteBu~ chase and generous ~Ill. NeverLhelPs~ there ar~ many gaps In t,he collect,ion from the early riays unUI to– nny. However. we all work hard !m:1tu~~st~ 0 ~teo~insfJ:f:bl~ stall ls small, ann our build· Ing Is totally lnanequat.e - one cannot achieve the im– possible. I ca n only conclude that MIAA Mayo and certain other oeooli, must. subscrlbt> to t.he time worn Idea "no matter what he cloe& - orr with his ier~~- C lo r~Qu:n~~~;e:;i Gallery. v' 1968 At, lenst I he mnJor Inter– ns t iona I PX hibit Ions were shown In most State Gal– lerlPs, i;o Bri~bRnr hRI\ had R high percent•ge of rxhlbl– t torn• which hn vf' hrf'n pn- i?t:\:~ 0 1 /1 A~~ff'Rmlh~~ldm:.1r~ ~~rl RrflP,ri'~,~;ris_or thr tru~tees The current exhibit.Ion for I he 1nr,R H. c . R.lchards M•– mnrlAI Prize }lllS Rt t,l'RCt.ec1 R rf'corr1 numher or entrle~. lament (C.-M., 11-11-68) in wh in the Queensland Art Gallery I~ message is of course that I am "Museum, too,ne·eds ahome .." A great deal has been said about Brisbane Art Gallery an.r-n~- 1mr11equate housing. HO\\'C\'er no one has ~ 11 t~:~e~u~/~~~ lSf,e~~!r~~~ Museum whose collectlons, scientific, Rnthropologlcal, technologlcal. nnd historical, are equally poorly housed, and vastly more valuable t.h•n those or the 'll•llet'Y. , The museum's llbrair.· alone Is Irreplaceable. but' fe~p1?: 0 ~t::vr~rar~: 1 h,:~ tt~ riuseum Is as much In need of a new · home •• the art gallery. By n nlrecl. contribution to knowledge and education, the museum ls or economic. as well a.s cultural value. - "Pro-Museum," nawlborne, Brlsbine, Q. the i 11surcd, ltuil(lin~ The Q'lct!n,land Art (iflllr•r't' 'i worh of o,t ore The I.rust.em ;, hn\ 1 e in– crnn~er1 lhe pr\1.r monPY lrom $ii2ii t.o $\000 for 19fi8 and th\~ remRins non Ar– qutsltl\'e. Th• rtlsplay walls or t.h• ga llery hHe been palnt.ed a ,ft.er many years, storage Art 1111io11 for 11rt? insured , but the 9al1c,., building is not. TIH• 1•:{l tH'H l l1 tl \ l1n1~r,•1 ;-.;,,i,•c 111111 Hit' i\lr. Fli•ldlf'r, ltll\'.'' rln, [til ~ ·.1.1 ,, 111 111,, (·n n 1p a 1:111\'(' :-.w,•r Ill f:;!U,lt' l'll rlltl l!l•'nl 11,•rn II 111,, llll lll ll 111: t o rt 1L v wll1•n ~n.~w,•11111: T t1,· :i1dc:•· r,·n •·w,·d Ill'' q11t•.,t 1111\., tiy )lr. l\rm11I••\' •1111l•1 1t.: 1•111n 1•, :/1~';,::c11~~, 1 ~l~: 1 ~' :;, : 1 1\\. :i1r 1 r 1 ... ·~· 1 .~·:. ·'',~\~ 1 ~" t "i 1 :;~,~ \\'~ .. ~::;.1,~ I( 1 1· 11 ,1 I' r1 ., ,\ 1<'111,11 I'll :\I'' .r ,u •k •· I ,11 1lw 1u irll roo111 Pr l'I•' ,I 11 111 ~ rl1,• 1•,11111•,,1 ~ I r Fh•t ,·\11•1 .. 111.t , lt,•r,• \ I , 1\1 11111h•y n:-k,·11 1I \\'t'rt.: :!:m t•111 11t•:-. 111 ih· .,1111•· 1) t 1h,• ...:L1ll,•n·.-. lrn 11 11- c n111p >1 1111111 ,tttd 17 \ 'I 111..::-. ,1nd ,•t11 1-.1'IILlt'tl ( \' 1111 1111111.i , t lu• 1·11,11•··• 11••11, , p1• ,pi • , ,nu 1 ·11·n1,1•rt \' W1'1 1 i111nct,• tiv 1 111· ~ull,·1v ir1 '(·- r,•111,,,... 1 1,,11;, 11u1i1\,'. d t!--- 1 t •II' 1111(1_ A• ..;.-.l'!ltlll l d 11,•1'l111 11 I t V d lll 1111! ri,,• 1·11111 - ;\1 r . 1-'h•li:ll••r -.11111 LI ,•I(. ' 1, •1111<11 1 tllilllol'-. l'1ll'll IHI I l',\''1 1 VI r F l,•1 ••11,·r r,•pl 11•d l w ,u•~!-, 111111~ !lt,•11• W,l:-. 111.,u lll('lt'fl l !tHHII T h t• r ,u11111•[il 11lll rutl' .. !,, _, •~·· 11 11 t•\ l11h11 1,1r1 n( 1llO Wt•d fl 111(11Clltllllll 01 11 111.-. ,lt•• 11111 k,•1•p tlf'"'l' - 1 1.111·••1• ~11trl,•s rro111 ,u,y (tll•' 111,111,•1.i w111 h.-. n .,n 0 11 lll'I I .. I 11,,•11 wa ll.-.. A f'Ot lRlf:R-MAIL rcntler yr.slerday su,ri:·est.etl A h•mptin,r mea ns or ralslnir the cluslv lunds for :1 new art ,rallr.ry or culturnl ,·entre· Wh.,•, !'ot Jrt>l the monr.~· from speulnl lotte~le~? · I he S ydney oprra hon.~e lott eries have hrlprct ti1ke at IP.n.~t. some of the st.!nR from the relent.l ess spira l or Its r.onstruct.1011 costs. • Th e c halrn1Rn of the art, Rallery's trusl,ees (Sir Leon Trou t) sRys t.he Idea ls tmpract.lcable Rile! that t he Government should put up the monPy . But wlll It'/ ' There srr ms to be no llmlt to the num– ber or lot.t!'rles t he publlc wlJI support In nn ~tl empt t.o !lei, somct.hlng for not,hlng, The re may be wcll-founclecl mornl and social ob,!ect,lons t.o a lottery, of course, but the State Government should have none . It already ls Immersed hRpplly In the gambling business through the Golden Casket and the Totallsator Agency Board.