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

THI COURllll-MAIL THURSDAY Who's the villai11 of the-Ciallery piece ? By MAYME LOU WADE For years funds - antJ, hopes - ivere raise~ . T HANKS to The Courier-Mall for Its editorials urging the State Government and ·gallery trustees to get movlna on building • new State Art Gallery on the old markets site In Roma Street. · For the past eight years many art lovers have been thinking along these lines. Back In those days there WM much In– dividual ACTION and w1• were led to be– lieve that we were about to h!l,Ve a new Art Gallery, dne to the Indefatigable ef– forts of R o b e r t Ha ines, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery. We were told that the ma- b':i'i::'let ab~~t tr\l~i~es, u::fe~ ;~'\:':e a.rf '/~]~d b~r~~~~y a~~= men - two artists required to make up the Board num– bers - and Lhat they would formulate ways and means for building a new Art Gal– ler:,. Game. • • As you say, there seems to ha1·e been no action by trustees or Government, and ~,ive~a~;~fn 1Game Is being We are grateful to Mr. Bromley for his rt mnrks In Pkrllament on Norember 6. I had the honour of formln,c tlrn Women's Committee nl the National Oallcri· Society - an Idea hrought forward by the Director Al the annual merllng In l!)a3, In !054 the Women's Com– mlt,tee formed t,hc Arts Ball Committee, Inviting rcpre– suutatircs rrom 20 or more cultural orRunlsn1lons to l oin 1hat committee and ,elp us publicise Lhc nerd for a new art irallcry, and lo raise lnnds toward that gonl. For years the Women·s Commit.ire of keenly-inter- COURIIR-MAIL ~lDNlS~Y JAN. Collection of Nordic art e s I e d . ctcdicated, hard– working women planned nnd f,~~rl•flii~t\o~1anbe~~J~~-r't\~; Arts Ball. '(his, held each yen r tor some years, wn.s a co tume ~I~ t!~~.s:i:r~ii','i\'.\'A',J;~~~l:r: new Art Gallery publicit y.. The GnllPl'Y hm:zed With interest nnd excitement. We organized nmt worked In Tl~•••~~)r•~ 1 t:;., h:~i:l~ln~• •u,:resll n,c 11cw ldras, maklnlf plans and showing enthusiasm In all that we did. Here I would pay trlbme to Robert Haines for In the nine years he was Director of t.he Art Gallery r under– stand he 1:n•·e most or his time nnd thought toward making Queensland people art-conscious and t.ownrd pop11lnrl1.lnf' the Gallery. The public's response showed In aucnctancc nt the the Gallery functions nnd In their ir1rts nnd don11tlons to ~~o~le ~.~~el~fm a~~~';;t~n:~/ o! ~ratlt udc. SU~;: or 1 1~o~~o:. ;~3k:,e i~~~; the amounts raised would be Insignificant In compnrlson \\'Ith !he total rost or a new gallery but we were doing somcthlnl( toward thnt goal - r.\'Cn If only to krcp the public conscious ol the need for n new ~allcry. We co-op• •nted with the lhrn Ledv Mayoress - now Larly Groom - In producing the Centenary Show at the Cil.y Hall and the proceeds were £13011. Auction In Marrh 19fi0 " 'C hrld :~d "A~~:,•.~~ 11 ;:,, P~II~~~ Item• - rlnn h)' arll•I~ from Queilnshuut anfl nth– er Stairs "In aid or runds lnr Nrw lluecnslnnd Art Gallrr)'" nnd the prl'lC•erls were ahoul £1000. \Vlth othrr amount$ matte from the Art_s Ball and r11n1·– tlon!-i wr were Rhle to hn11cl orer to thr Trll!'-ll'C'S nhn11t rsnoo to he h1"estcrl nnrl \11'Cd when n new Gallery Is hull.I. ACourier-Mall re1x1rt nl the time Robert. Hnlnrs l'C'!'-l~ 11e<i • PUBLIC FRUSTRATION et the leek of c decent State Art Gallery has became chron ic-thanks to inaction by the oowers– thot-be. Only a few yeors ago !here was great enthusiasm-and fund-raising-far the couse-till the State suddenly threw cold water on the high hopes a' art lovers, as MAYME LOU WADE (Mrs. Arthur Wede, of Homiltan) recalls. here. Mrs. Wede in 1953 farmed the Women's Committee of the National Gallery Society and for years this com– mittee raised money far the promised new gallery . as Director of the Gallery snld he "wanted the Nation– al Gallery, ,·alued at more than £500.000 to be housed BI the Site SEl,F.CTED AND Arrno,·r.n by Cabinet. et ~he~tot(g~ o~lreo{f~ll~~~~r;. Building'• <old Government House,. This is on four acres ol land adjoining the Do· main. So sure • • • But or course the Roma !''rert Market area was not arnllabi_, then. This a,:'lrov- ri\ i~i1 t~dt'.ii': 1 t>r:~I~; n~i~ Nici lln (as quoted ;,y tJ,e same Courier-Mall re11ort1 who said "The present ac– commodation rArt Gnllery1 had never been rc~arded a.s other than temporary." We were so ~ure of a 11ew Art Gallery and hoped - among our~elvr-s 1hnt Hll,H Prlnrcss Alexandra wo11lrl be asked lo lay I.he rounrlatlon-stono while on her visit to Brlsb11 nr. ThP. Go\·crnor <Sir Hc11ry Abel-Smith I told me later that he hnd gone to lhe Gnrrlens with certain people to selecl a site. "But," he said. "since t.hey dld not know where the new ro•d ls to be built through the gnrdcn, to link up wilh the bridge t.o be built across from Kangaroo Point how could I.he )' select a site'/" I understood that Sir Hen– ri' had snid lie \\'Ollld ask some of his friends In Brll – nin t.o mRke ctonntinns or nlri l\festrr~ tn our n ew ~al• lrrl' Also thnt Archbishop n,i1i1~ had snrcl he wo11M ~ll'e his Arl Cnllrct.lon to n NEW Art Gnllrry, hut. not to thr olrl one. Harold Ruhln hnd hcen mngnnnlmo11~ tn clvlrnt the r nm o 11 !- pAlnt i11~~ whirh hal'r put lhe Quernslnnd M t Gnller\" on Lhc map or the Art Worlrl ! rc nn IL he lrur that there wa.s el'er • suir~es– tlon th11t Picasso·• "La Belle HO) I R 11 d R I S P .' ml~hl hr solci '!!!!1 . And, we were told that Robert Hames lmd promises ~iso~8oo 8 t/g~,~r:~i~n~~~\ ~~ the Gallery! We t.alked, among lhe members of the Women's Committee, about special Iott.cries to pay for the new Ga1':;f then the blow fell! I am not •ure of tlle ,rnrdln1 or the statement from the Premier'• Department but we were made to realise that nn site wa• available t'::'r ';.,~e.::; !~~. Gd':!!V[id !and The g ,rcctor resigned for Brisbane, Q. Tlll' .'-ln rk rca ll~m o f pop :1r1 or pun• nllst rnc1ion. \,oork u1~ rxr mplllinJ,t whn l i... alrr-Rcly known nbou t thr :-it•:111<tln11 \'lll l1 . kill ill rh•· :-.11.!II rn· pln~th' sculp111 rt':– . . . lhi~ I~ :0:Qlll(' of I hr rn 11~r 1·m·1•1'NI \11 the Nor• ,tu· :i rl 1·nlh'r1in11. - 2 JAN 1969 ·n,,, r xhlhll Ion. r ompn!-ird frfllll :?fl lr:Hllni::. :ll'l l~L"I in 1>1•n11111 rk, Nnrw:i~·. Rwrct1~n. 1"111lo ml nnrl ll'Pln11rl will llu nprnccl lonh.:hl h \' lhf' Oh"N'IOI' or Cul111rnl t\ctlVI· 1h'.1ii •~l r. :\ , .I. Crcrct,•1 nt 1l1r',.Qul~1·n~lnnrt Ar1 ·o nl- 11'1')', Thr 1ll~11lny wlll rr.- 11rn ln upt•11 until Fcb111nn· Ill. . I 1 Nordic art show 1 I Thr Qurrn~land D1rrr•tf')r 1 or c ullurnl .~r il\'llles 1~1r. 1 <\• .I. Crecrly1 wl11 npl'n All rxhlhiti('IJ1 nf contempornrr Norcllc nrt nt R p.m. on \ Wrcinr~r1ny. . Jnrn1nr~· 1!;, ln l 1hr Qucenslnnd Art Gal- lery. - 111111111111111111111111111IIIIIIIIIII reasoru; that most Gall~ry friend, ·~now - for It was publlclsecl for some time, Mr. Pizzer as 1 ted me 10 come to see hrm to talk 01•er the sltu– at.1011. Who Is responstble tor such INACTION? For losing all ,he promlllrd trra,;ures nnd r, nance? For losln& an Art Gallery Dirrctor? For losing the enthu ILsm and con fidence of the public'/ th~i~ 11 s:~t:~e ~: 3i':1',\\'.'c~e~r~ I know of some 11cople who seethed with raRe and dis- ~,ii:l~~~~f rt't :~:/~1 b~•~tt~~~ ested In a new Art Gallery. Laurie Thomas and Jame,, WI en eke, directors, ha1•e brought the matte.r up a11aln and again. Lottery? . ............................. We know t.hat 1.he States of Victoria and New South \Veles harn built their Art ~l~~e3:e ~';::Ce~~el'~omH~~~ clnl Lotteries. Is there nny reason \\'hY that method, which hss worked so efficiently there, should not be used In Quccnshmd to built the Art Gallery Queensland needs and ha., never had? It would rellewe the Gov– e r n m e n t of the "NO FUNDS" rea.,on for not building. It would be pain– less lor the tax-payer as the Govt. owns the Roma St. site and more Important r~f~• oe~~~U~ ml~~:J\~t~I~~ en~~~t 1 ~\'e~l~~k ?h 0 ~•:;:~1l~~ of llnanclng ! Let us begin now with a Special Art Gal– lery Lottery I