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

"Th• Tl'1'1\5Urer (Sir Oordon Chalk, has acted swiftly to find I\ new home ro1· our ,xccllent collecllon," he sn1d. ,, M O re progress ha• been 1u:hle,·e1I In the last two da~•s about flndtna: a home !or the Rallery - albeit tcm1K1rnry 1rem· 1scs - thAn has been ochlel'ed in the last 30 years." Sir Leon ,esterday In• spectcd premises SUR• gested by Sir Oordon. Both were alr-condi• tloned, In high-rise Inner ci ty dev e lopmen ts equipped with security systems aultoble !or the collecUon. Inspection Bir Leon said on emer• iency meetlnR of the Ra_!: Jery trustees would "" held todny or tomorrow to Inspect and recom• mend o. site. The temporary site !or the gallery would be leMed by the oovern• ment until the new gal• lery at south Brisbane wu completed, probably 1978. · ,..cj,~u t 18,000 square WI at air conditioned ,pact w011ld be needed tod bi.Ill tM pictures nn boUN thl 1allery stall. th'fs"9.......P.!!!~'l'fi: exisrl.i" a11 n Bowen Bridge Ing 1111 • salr. • 11n d. and suhjrct - ',IICPRgO In hen,y rain. OnllnM '!'he Art hlt.ec $ or the new "allery tMr. fl'1bln Glbson I imld yesterday thnt plnnnlng and design !or the S7 ,500,000 pr~Ject was ·•on programme . He said he did not ex• peel &nl' major problem•. The expected llnlshln1 date was still early 1978, The new gRllery wlll be built on the southern birnk ol the Brlsb1u1e rlv• er near the Victoria Bridge. The Education Min• Isler tSir Alan Pletcher' aald yesterday he ehx• pected a report from t e work• Department today or tomorrow on alterna– ttvcs to the present art 1allery. The Sunday Mall FEBRUARY 3, 1974 Stroll through the 'city's "monsters" A STROLL throug"h BrbL11ne, with attention to its increasing number of the steel and concrete monsters, will go a long wuy towa1·ds fostering II belief that architecture is not Art. Go a little out or town 1111.0 most of our new r e s Ide n t I a I "'de,·et– o pm e II t • · ' , with their hotch-pc>tch ot houses ~1 ~/!} o•~~!:\;~nn~l':,~~ tort. u o u s roadway.s, seemingly de.,lgned .o make domestic prl\'acy an illltlOSSlblllty - the whole without concern !or original natural envi– ronment - and the be– I I e r advances towards certainty. Little wonder that an author. lilmself an ar- ~W,i:"\f~~~f1 ~.rr~~~ u'i,\~n;~;~nal u,ose ~fty blocks mny be - thut de• pends upon whnt Is Indi– vidually demanded "lLS functional artistic, t.hey certainly are not. U would appear that the design Is a basic one - a cubical structure as ::/~1bf:, ~r lef1~~ crn'if; possible , "decorated" with hopefully ornnmen– tal alabs or elephantine concrete sunshades to ~'ttl:inr':.:~t ~a?~lc~ the sunshine which the b u 11 d In g s themselves have blotted from I.be atreets. ln~t,\;~~J~l:it~r ~! wre or the houslnr. de· ~iJI~ r~~fld~"':t~ purchase from land de– wlopens <who ma:, them– aelvea alao be speculative builders) block.s that h ave bec11 carefully bull– dozed from r.n~ •clad areus Into bnrren wasLe,:,,, If. b\' chance, a tree Js left standing, advertisers nrc free to relcr to "!or– CSL surroundings." Maybe the Royal Aus– trallun Institute ol Ar– chitects ILself hn.s an 1111~asy co1L~cJence sh1c, It has In asooclallon with the Museum ol Finnish ArchilecLure &J>0nsorcd nn Australia-wide exhl– blUon or Finnish archi– tecture thnt L, now on display at the Queens – land Art Onllerv \Greg– ory Terrace J. The •how comprl- al- !":.!,,l!. p:ro":re-P~bl! lecture or &he Sca,idlna• Yian country - ancient and -•rn - wllh u– amplCll or trooden· ruml– lure and a collecllon or llooks and manal-. ; The 'whole tliln11 la an e y e-openi,r. No doubt there are building.a In rn~~~~en ~pt~t t~"~1~& a rt t • t Ic standarda of those shown here, but It wouId seem that even the humblest peaaant there hos some concept of what art Is. Indicated by the lllustraUons of old farm houses. an1J''!,~~~~~)es re~~~~n~ the dlaplay, aa w~l u achools and eollel!M. And apart from the In• tensely lntereotlng de– alrns exlllblted the moat Impressive renture le 111 care with which environ– in e n t. a I charnctcrlsLlcs hnve been not only prc– ser\'ed. but most artl• Hlcnlly ex11lolted. One hu lhe reelln1 lhal lhe an:hlled, beran, even havlnc 1harpened pencil. baa made a •· &ailed and ... ,rehelllll,e .....)', wllh Ille eye e1 M 1111111, or ewer)' Inell e, lhe Ille. . Everybody with • - that our Australian envi– ronment la not bttlna treated aa well aa it •hould be b)' our archl– t e c t s and planners, il:1'.u~\h~lt~,~~g to - arf ~r... e~~lal:rci -~~= time there. ~r envll'lllll– mental demands are vas• ~'l .. 1~{:~~tb~'i°'llie~"i: :~1~~ g, :~,~~ ::i/3i~:ti n Scnndlnavtan architect plnn Australia"• wonder or the world, the Sydney 0~~1!''n\:!, both lny- man and professional - architects are not un– known who dabble with fyn~t'l!tPca1n,\~1':t.a ~/: browae through the .. I e c t Ion of 'l>alntlnp, m a I n I:, by Auetrallan artists, from the Oal• lery'a permanent oollec– tloa. ' There Ill nothlnlf tllent to cqmplaln or.tn N!l'-R•d to Australian artistic tat• ent. Ti1ne 'ripe' an arts centre •r1rn Queensland Government is · in· vcstigat.ing buildiug a huge arts <'l'nlrc iu Brisbane. 'l'hc cent re would ln– curtlOrnte L11e Quecns– lnnd Art Galler)', the Quc,mslond Museum, 11 com:,•rt h11ll, and faclll– Llcs for live theotre, bal– let and other pcr– funulng arts. 'I' II c Premier, Mr llj<lko-Petcrsen, s o Id J'Cstcrd1ly he would ask lhl? Co-Ordinator ocn.,ml. Mr Bar'too, to st.111lv t.hc r,,.., 11>111ty of phulning und financing 1111• 1!,(•11tn:!. 1'hls follows dls,,us– ln· Mel- Pretnier orders a feasibility study boume on Friday with the NSW. Victorian nml West A11slrn1ion 1ll'e– mli·rs on J1ow slmllnr centres were dc~lgm:cl aud built ln their c.1111• I.Al cities. Th,! Premier said he rnvored lhc n111iro11ch In some Stult•s wl1Pre ntl M~ct,lons of I he comnm– n It v had comhln~d unclCr 1-, 1 uv11n1n1r11t Jend– cr.;11111 l,i build cnlturnl Cf'lllrcs, In Bi·lsbnm,. this would Include th~ QtH>t>nshmd Oovennncnt., thr Brls– lsmr City Cotmdl. busl– nrss hol1scs, Insurance rnmpanh•s, community or ganlsatlons, cultural groups nn d Ute tmllllc by snl~scrlptlon. COMMUNITY 'M1e Ans-tm111\ll Drol\d· casting Commls.., hm could lll:-:o he llt\''1t•tf to l.1kc pa11.. Mr Bjelke-Petersen ••Id eJl1)erlence else• where had shown that on arti; centre evolved by all sections of the community had proved the most successful. He said the State Oovernrnent already had plans ror-ew art gal- lery nnd to re• JllRCe the ng build- Ing nt Bowen HIii•. , "It might ~ better to mmlllne both In one bulldlnr rattler than build them all separately. sepatat.ely. "Alternatively" the art gallery and theatre fael• titles could be combined on the •lte the Govern– ment hu purchlued In South Brlllbane. This la what Mr Barton will ex– amine." The Premier said reports that Her Ma• Jeaty's Theatre might close down had high– lighted IA1e need for an arts centre. The theatre, built 80 yeara ago, Is the !arrest In Brisbane nnd the only one where major oversea.• productions can tlf' -.:tn.,.,...t