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

' , ISN'T progreu wonderful? Exadly 12 month5 ago to the day, a brick fell from the portico of the Queen1land Art Gallery, and repair or demolition of the offending Hction was begun. Seventy-six yea rs ago, the hole building, t hen known as the Exhibition ~uilding, was built - from f6undation exon– yati~ms lo the 4).sl r.oat or paint - in 23 weeks,. Including two or thre weeks of rain. ~ The feat, a-,rdlng to the Brisbane (,ourler of the day, was "regarded as a building record for Queenslnnd. If 1101 Australia·· - and it looks 111.e • U1ndl11g, In 1876, '>'hen the Queensland National ~ociat.hm lllHUHUralcd Brlsbnne's annual "Ekka ', the 111nln display buildlni; wa., a we, den structure 150-feet long by 80-ie ·t • •Ide that, from extam photograph,. looked rather li.l,r-:- n u111mug111• at~'{l{"'t,~lfit~~~ c~~~~~- 1mll! J une 1888. when It wa.s de~troyed by lire. With an Inadequate £4500 Jn hnnd trom insurance, the Qucem,lo nd Nutlonnl Association st.arttd plun– n ini:: for a new buildlng. Plans were duly prepared by ar hitect G. H. M. A<ldhon. or LJ,r• Melbourne firm or Oakden. Addison and K mp, but ns late as Norembcr, 1890, the Q.N.J\. Coull(:tl was still debnllng lhe matter. Members w~re concerned lhnt the proJect.ed 11ew bul!dln~ could be n y.·hltc elephant, lying. idle durln~ the tY~fug~cT~t A~J~~~• two weeks· ex- Then up came the Council ·s chalr- 111an, Mr. John Fenwick, with a sue• ~~\1?.~'·n;f!t~~,:,~e ns~fJ.°fr~~ fft'i~~~~ were Incorporated In their plnn n •music h all to hold 2500 or 3000 It • ould r,ny well". u,~b.:~g~;'.' 0 1ai~!'"::!~iiii1~ 11 dw::.~ adopted, with an nmemlment hinted at by Mr. P . R. Gordon !the then Chief Inspector or Stock for Quee11s• Jandl , "'ho IJ1oucht "" concert hnll \\ ithoul an organ would be a waste of money'', Lbough he conced d tha, a n organ would e<mt. --an uddtuonal couple of thousand". 1 He was way out in his e:stlmate, as f\'fOl.6 tun ed Ollt.. but I ha l is another - and r tly mlCl'ebU.ng - ~wry.) Ral'Jng gone 1'0 far, the Q.N .A. "'a:,1.cid neither 1~ O\\ n nor i~ con– tractor s t.inie. Barely a week or Jan11ar·1 1891. had p11,s.,<!d before Lenders ha ueen called Jor the erection Qf an Exh1bit1011 Bi.Jlding In ludln~ 11 concert hall - nd they were returnable In a Jort · night's time. At u,e February n.ceu n~ or the t:ow.a·H. 26 Lend-:rs were cofuldered. ,T HE successful tender wns Mr. J 1111 Quinn, whose e:nimtt.t e of 1'20.~00 was th~ lowe,;t, and therefore gi~8g5_ IC the budgeted allOCfHIOII 01 (The Government hud authorbed a Q.N.A. Joan of £30,000, or " h1ch l:!0.000 wns can nnrkt•d a.'J a bu1Jci111g Jund.\ Quinn wns required to hO \ C the building co111 1 Jlelcd in 12 months, with lhe Pl'Ol'ISU that the 11111111 hall r,lio~~g~=l r~d~ ~~rt:r~hebl!~!~!~;;~g~ 6\\RY, ~n1e meclinl! t..o cunslder tc•nders WRS held on February 2 nnd L., Feb• runry 11 the Drisl>nue Courier was Rblc IC reJ)Ort that "\\'Ork has COili· mencttd on uxca\· tini; the Jouiul• atlons for the new E ·h1b1uon Building. About 50 or 60 laborcrs ore engaged. but It Is e,pccte,1 200 will be \\'Orkin~ \\'hen the opcrntlon Is In lull swing." T hat "50 or 60" work force actunlly in<-reased to "300 men n11d four ~tea1u en~lncs" while thr brickwork \\IHi in ~,ar~~I 1 rtt~i1'~r° 1 ~'.~/i\i.~b 0 i~1~rf B)• Auirust I, lhe llhlln building Brisbane, Q . 1967, ~ 5J.J. -~~- ·· 'tillon in art 'also-rans" show By FREDERIC ROGERS QUHN,LAND Alt Gallery Director Ja111e1 Wieneke'• deci1ian to ha1t1 entriH in the Rlchanl1 PriH conte1t for which there had been no room in the fint 1howin1 He111ed a rao1onable one, All cont.est.Ant.. would llllelr the merl~ or PAlnt• have t he M tlatactlon or 1n11s eliminated b:v ~~"~ t~~~-t?~l~h:"8'!f~ Ju<lae. ler:v and the 1>11bllc would Now that the "a.lMl-raM" have an Ol>IJ()rtunltv or &re on .,,~w. I.here muat aee and -1nl' ror lift doubt or the wllldom of the declalon. M far M !ta value to art la con~ed. 8-e of the wol'II II enn,enUonally aceept– allle, thou1h obrlouslr lnell,tble for "°ulder• :!~i:=rt!r at "u!:•;:::!~ aet hy 'the main nhl• blUnn, Othera, ho,.·ever, u e ao poor t.hat thev could be co1111ldered ,; salutary eumple of what &nd how not t.o paint. Let It be hoped that thla will P!'OV• to be the meana whmb:v rood will come out itr ~ • nirenment, . 111//S/J..INf.''S ..,,, Gallrrt , T/i, portico loa,l lo l,e pullr,/ dmM a/Irr l,rfrk, /••II Jrom ii. uml /or 12 nu,111h, ii lau, •ltHHI like thi, ,ur- rulfml,•,I br , n ,f/ol«liuc. N1oili111 Jar repair,. had been fin ished and the noorlns or platform arranged so that singers th i: 1 :.r,~;\ ~ni~.. r;~l~!~ 1 1~fet\t WILS ~ ~~UC~~'." ,t ~~"'!.~gn~~~,~~ tt~ announced thr,1 the concert hnll and comJ)Otcnt musical auU1oritles to be galleries had been finished 1u1d nearly l)l'rfcct L'I rcg11rds arrange ll'OUld be ljl!~d for exl1lbllS In the 111cnt,s and acoustics." It seated 2800. next week 's Exhibition. From the second week In February wo~~'.ttc"i\'i' bt [i~iit 1 ~oJ~;~•~:~,/~~I~ ~ d~1c S('C()lld week In AUIJ'USt. Not -<'lectriclti•! And It took 76 years tor I.he first The concert hnll wns 97 feet by or 111106e 1,600,000 bricks to loosen % feel nnd 41 feet high. T here was and fall. a gallery on t hree aides, with a How 10111: v.111 It take lo put ll back. E, Noa,eu1ber 26, J967-l•a1e 4 EC Y§~RIER MAIL" a.,........ n THI COUIUllt-MAIL WIDNISDAY DIC, 27 19'7 7 ..................................................... Country tour for city paintings A RT Is going country-style. New galleries In Rockhamplon and Toowoomba are receiving paintlnJrS from the Qu~land Atl.Gallery in Brisbane. A gallery apok~ man said ,-..:...__________ that the dl~r or the gal– lery (Mr. James Wieneke would make a country tour soon ns part or the 11allery's policy of brlnglnf. "paint– ings t.o the people. ' ta:ils~~~ei ;n~i:.lng es– Q allery need In the lnt~st 11ewsletter of the Queensland Art Gal– lery Society Mr. Wieneke says that "the desperate need or a new gallery for Qucen,Jnnd Is a snd f~ t and painfully obvious." "'Nc,•crthele"" \\'e also lt:nO\\' thnt the potential of Queensland 1s bright, In– deed it Is 11reat. but worth• v.•hllc nchlevem~rio will de• mand hard work, sacrifice and sympnthetlc recogni– tion or the many problems assoclnted with the build ~~fd_or a new gnllcry," h