Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 5 : Presscuttings, June 1972 - November 1976

A new home for Art Gallery Ttn: t~uccnslnnrt Art Gnllcry will be housed trn,pornrily In two fl oors or M L !so. Mines Ho11sr in t\nn Street. Brlsbnnc. The Treasurer Goriton Chalk Stntc Pnrlinm1·111, ~•c~– tenlay the 1wo floors we r,.. nlr-conditloncd nnd hncl a greater nren nf cff<'rlivr spnce tha n the pn•sr nl Art Gnllery. He snicl an in~pcct.ion or thr 1\1 L Gallery In Gregor)· Terrncc h ad ht't'll carried ouL nnrl n n •porL ,mule on i 1, to ( 10W'fl\l11COL miniSIer • The rosl or rr pnlrlng 11 nntl 111,1kl11~ \L '-tl fC \\ (lll l<I be prnl1ihi lvc. pnruruh11·ly no; 1l woulrt br onl \' 11•111porn1 r until I111' 11c,, url Anllr ry wns h111Jt.. ··T lw rn lnablr pnin l– ln:-;s nnd ob.it •cls <l'nrr \\'111 hr· :--l•r \ll'l' nnd will IH' al1h• 10 bf' displnycrt t(, nch·nnta~r." S,r unrrlon ~nlcl 11 \\,t , .t c:.n1 ii-f,lrlory ~ol1t- 1or ~rmpnn1ri ly h 11.i 111~ 1h r p:nllcry 11r1.1I 1 !.•• 11rw ni l nnllc:·y mpl{•11•ci nhnuL Cultural 'neglect' THE controversy over the new Queensland Art Gal– lery must surely con– vince m o s t people th~t c_ultural affair.~ are being bndly neg– lected In Qucen;;land. Wlulc onr mnv occn~ • slonnlly doubt. the wi.c.:tlom or 1J1e Federnl Oovcl'l1- ~~~~;:~1c~ c u1,~d 1 r ~1~t1\'\'1\~; .'.;~;',~ ~~I~-~~-~ l~u~~h~l~-r~! thrlc~o:; rlcnr thnt. in ~r11- crnl. II hns n bc1 tcr rn-rr– nll rrcor<I i11 1hr sl,lm11i– fl tlo11 nf rult llrr thAn the Q11rC'n. lnnd (im·rrnnwnt. W hy Is It that lhlll~S mu~ nlwnys ~('I worse 1n Q11cr11sln11d before they ~Cl, brl lcr? The ur~ent nrect ror the nrw Art. O~llrry Allci MU~• ru m. :i;.houlct ~t1mulntc t.llC S t. n t r Government to ll!lrlrrtnkr Rll llfJ:,C'll!. rc– \'lr\\' or tilt' rurrcnt rc– rt ulrrmrnt~ of culturn l or• pnnl,al Inn~ In Qur r nsland. Or \\'Ill It slmplr I'll It nr~ n!,:!aln until t.he ~1t11- " L:on brromes comnlrtrly hnpr lr.<s~ - 0 . M. \\'lf– mnlt, Sunnyhanlt, Chairman of the gal– lery's trustees. Sir Leon Trout, said 1oday the most valuable 1>n1nllngs would be f{'JII0\'Cd nnd prubabl~• noL bt• .11:cen in puhllc again u111 1I a pro– posed ne\\' l;fllll•ry opened Ill 1978. Sir Leon snlcl the Rnl– lcry, whkh shares prern– rscs, built 75 ye• rs ngo LS _n concert hall. wi1 h the QueenslRnd Musoum at the comer of Cl regory Terrace and D o w c n Bridge Road, was ridden with white ants and some of the I.Jenms sup– porting Lhe roof were so rotten they did not meet. He said depending on the timetable set b)' the Works Deportment the gnllcry 7·011ld close with– In a few dnys, nnd re– main closed tor some weeks. "The bulldlnG should be closed forever because It could IRI'. down wllh- ~~~tri~l s'ftr1?t~ 1 "gr c1g~l~! fire easily," he said. SI r Leon snld the trustees had reached the d e s p e r a le postlion or having LO draw up a list of the most valunble of more than 1000 palnllngs In the collection which could be tnken (rom the gallery and Blored under gunrd In alr-conclllloned pren1lscs. The collectlon 18 valued al more than $4 million. Sir Leon snld the gnl– lery should :iever be re– opened to the public ILS there was a danger people could be killed If the building COIIBJ}SCd. Stole Cabinet decided yesterdi t.o have n aur- ~~~ ':!:' t~tn,\~• rfr~Jle!~ nlternntlve site for the mlntln s. 1r l,con sold the new gallery, near lhe south– end or Victorin Bridije, wns not expcclcrl to be rencty for O("cupallon u111 i1 Hl7K nnrl Quecns– lunctcrs would probnbly nn1 src Ihe ~nlh1ry·s col– lcct1011 111\lll Ihen. 1 ,o~·:·t~,~:- 1 u~~•(•~:J;~~:~,1~~11il n n d Cu lt uru\ ;\fl nlr:, ~tm l:-U•r, Sir A. lull Plrl – C'hl'r, l.huL llll r~11111n.trct 1400 aquare metres 115.000 square leet) of storage space would be needed LO house the col– lection. S I r ~n said the trustees hnd been uwure lor some Lime ol the crlt– lcnl srnte of the building. AssLstnnt dlreotor of the gallerv, Mr. B. Mel– lish, said some pnlntlnga had been stained by wa• ter and others were In danger. I The new gallery will cost an estimated S?.5 million. Sir Leon said In the plans for the 11ew gallery nenr the Brisbane River there was no dnnger In the rut ure ol the collec– tion being damaged by f I o o rl slmllnr to the January flood. In Parllnmenl Inst Fri– day the Works Minister Mr Hodge,, snld nbout hair or the new nrl gal– lery site had been under water In Jnnunry with the lowe.,1 11olnt or the site 2 m rn reell under wn1er wll h the highest point n1>1>roxlmntcl}' 2 m (0 reel) nbovc flood lel'el. Mr. Hodges snld the lower floor would hnvc been nrproxlmnlcly O Gm t 2 feet nbovc water iind the mnln gnllery · floor 7 m (23 feet) abo1•e wa– ter. Art Gallery doors shut THE Queen1land Art Gallery In Gre9ory Ter– race, Fortitude Valley, clo1ed permanently to the public at S p.m. yHterdoy, The gallery will be relocated on the fifth -ond sixth floors of the M.1.M. building in Ann Street Cit , The ~allery !Mr. ,Jumes Wlenek•1 sRld yestcrda~· the paint– ings would be moved al– most lmrnedlalely. ~: xhlbltions plnnned ror the old gallery have been c1tncellerl. The Treasurer <Sir Gordon Chalk I told Par• llament yesterday th• @Rllery woulrl have ample space ln lts ""'' tem– porary tor.atlon. an~h•oh~t::'b~~arf ~!!~~ be secure and displayed t'h ~he be~\ ~~~::Jrif~n~~ floors. Greater The e rrectlve dlspl•V Rrca was grentcr than ln thr bulldtng beln~ va– cntcrl. Sir Gordon told S1.nte ParllRment 11 Works De– pnrt,mrnt. 11wr~tlKatlnn or the cloS<'d gnllery hncl re· lt~~;~ t!\~ct~~- 1 r.!:~e"\~.~~:1~ br J~~~~!~:}~~·:~ could not, be ;ustl!lrrl In ,·lrw or th• ~~~~l~~lf1;~;- 1 ·~~\lf1\ 1~ 1 !o~fth 1lde or t.he rivt>r The new J,1,Rllrry !llhnuld be complrtcd in four y('ftl'S. Sir O ordrm Mlrl 1110 gallery trustee.~ r hahman /Sir von Trout I report– eel t<> the Ectucatlon 0t– pArt,mrn1 thAt ~erlo11~ 11tn1cturR I problem,'i \\·rre becomln~ .,-1ctent In th• eto.erl ~• 11,rv bulldln~.