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

"COURIER MAIL" "COURIER MAIL" Brisb,1ne, Old. Brisbane, Old. 3- APR 1974 / unsafe gallery T im Sl·tle Government musl s11eed upflt! ' ' ' ll ronstruclion o a 11ro,ramme for ,e · b 'ldlnc new Querusland Art Gallery ui Arts festival blow South 8risb1111 c, It is more thnn four years since tl~~ ~~I~ was selected. Undrr present pla1frnln1hc new be at least another four yenrs be ore CLOSURE of the Queen1lond Art Gallery could mean di101ter for the Queen1lond Festivol of Artl thi1 yeor, galle;~/{:itmg - nbout 40 years too long - the present ''temporary" gallery haH been Orcnn 1s ,r~ '-' fre 6eRrc.'hinJ: ~•rstrrt1ay for Rn nllf'rnate \·pnut fnr 1he: mnl n fr"t.h'Rl nttnlr'- 11011. 78 paintings from the Quern.•dnnn Unl \'P.t– &ity Darnell colltcl inn. a b1h~o~~-ndlt.ton ot the building ha! con.; !need the trustees that the best of the State . !rt collectlon should never again be ?\splat~~ In It, even after repairs. For one t 1 ng, fire hazard Is too great. 1 1 surely, then, the remainder o~ 1 ~~j P ;; T hP ft.~u, nl rollPC! 10n, r1Rl lllJZ b1u:k tn the Con– rad Mnnln ,rn. 1., wonh around s 160,000. First tures should be removed as q Y 1> 065 ~~eoovernment also should move f~sted In Its planning !or a new Queens an 1t lnl'iurirs work• by sir Ar Lh u r Rtrtrlnn, Charles Blackman. Jnl111 Mnl l'I~. 1,loyd Rees encl John Olsen. Museum. Dnrnrll truslee, Mrs. Nann· Unoerhlll. •a•M ye. trrriny the showing Gallery By a STAFF REPORTER THE Oueen • lond Art Gallery trulte11 ore rl9ht, The gallery 11 o toad place to keep away from in a ltorm. It also is a fire risk, despite alarm systems. And the S4 million col– lection, as well as being threatened by building collapse and fire, l.s Uke!y to be wet by water seep– age t.hrough the roor ev– ::S'in.tlme there Is heavy There WI\S no imme– diate danger or collapse, he said. But the building was under constant sun·ell– lance. The false celling would be removed soon for an Inspection or the Hardly the place ror the Slate to house Its art collection. be{~: n~~i:~~tnlen::la the Queensland Museum, which WI\S part of the The trustees this week asked the State Oovern- f:r~: d~~l~rt:::et~l'm~f~~ r~~b~~~•u;fi"~./{eu~~l-ln 1::,~~~s1.:'o~ 1 fti c~~edftf~~.ry The gallery'& most prized palnLl11g - and the most valuable at an estimated SI million - Picasso's La Belle Hol– lnndaise, hung In the ~:i~n a 11i:1,1:[le r~~r~~~ But the museum had w a t e r seepage during heavy rain. He said the projected rlnlshln_g dale of early 1978 for the new Queens– ! and Art Onllcry In South Brisbane was a realistic date. biggest water stntn on the gallery's suspended celling. "It Is not Just a matter Prized n guitt~o'ln~re: s~~ 1 it~f. Another or the galle- ~;f 11e~f1xi~be!l!i11~, c~!~ gpo~i; r~c~r1:~~,~~i and will take time for design and construction," he said. paintings - yesterday was In I.he air-condi– tioned first floor store– room. But it would be almost Impossible to save this or any or the other palnt- l?f~c'b°~ki~~t.oreroom There arc thrte exits from the storeroom floor, ~~~ t t'!er e ~"";:,1fii 5 ot~~~ paintings, l!'Rliery equip– ment and pieces or sculp– ture and pottery. The water seepage hn.s caused electricity short C I r C II I t s nnd nlmo.st caused " fire In January. A blackened section or cellln~ around n light fitting which lilied wllh water nnd shortrd can still be seen. The Internal S\\'llch– board has n sheet or flllStlc tacked o,·er It lo 'fYit'~~:in° rri-oblem ror t,he gallery ~ the poor state or the gtnnt wooden roof trusses which span the 20 metre main ga l– lery. Dry rot They hnve dry rol. LonR crack!- . nnke out acros~ the beams. In one ri 1 ,~~irs'·~~u~a~er~~:~1J~~~~ into n crnck. In another the t ru!-s hns come R way from the wall by three centimetres. "It Is not worth cutting corners for a project llke this.'' Lease area The Works Minister !Mr. Hodges> said yester– day the Slate Govern– ment might lease space In a private building to dLsplny Its art collecllon Jr the existing Art Gal– lery could not be repair– ed. wo~fa d~ 0 :1,e~e ~~~d ~~ find suitable space rather than have the collcctton held In storage. He said It would be n pity to huve to kee11 the paintings under wrnps until thr new gnllcry of. South Brisbane opened in 1978. He snld engineer., from his dcpnrt,mcnt were ex– nm In Ing the existing building lo see tr sullnblc rc~~-rs 1I'id 1 ~~s b~n 1 i~ nd tilat Sl75.000 hnd been spent on the old bullriln~ m·er the Inst frw ycnrs t.o re– llnlr thr roof, Install nlr– conctltio11111R nrH1 do rcs– tor:tt ttrn wnrk. Mr. J-lodr,es said thsl about. 10.000 :squnre fl'rt. ~·~u 1 1t~~ 11 1~~~i~cri1n 5 \\~fd the collection in Morngc nnd il wns hn1>cc1 suit nhle space could b£' found t.o dlsplnr some or the col– lectton n~ Wl"II. woulrt hn \ ,. herri Ihf' fir... mnde outside the un1, rr– s11,r. Shfl se1rt tha t unte,,. AUl~ble prPl111Sf'S RJH1 Rr1Pf1Ua le ~er urll}' were f o u n n the 1>atnt1n1,:·s would not he 5ho,, n. 'l'wo \'Cr~· ,"-lllRII pR lnt – tm:s by St rCl'IOll All~ • rnre wntercolor by Philip Fox hnrt lo be wntc:hert COllMRntl\·. f 1 e s t 1· ,. R I nn::alll.'-rr 1Mr'-. t.r"'llt Ci111tn, n1lrt 111, rstu::n t,1011.. \,rrr hrlm: nrnrlr R..~ 10 whrl lirr the r o 11 r c t I o 11 1111~ht. hr hown nt. M 11mt. ,~a M111p, ' r 1Ly 0H1ce, '-' 1t h thP rr•-ll \;1I'~ rnmputer comJl(>.srr ,11. piny. A Stale Work., Dr part– m en L spokesman !-Old v e !- t c r c1 n y the ttm her lru~scs In the building were .;susprct,." Mr Hodges sntd he dirt not know when work would stnrt on the ricw gnllery - lhe1·e \\'err still a few building acquisi– tions to be mnde. ROT Is so bad In some benm. of the Queensland Art Gallery a ha nd can be Inserted four centimetres ( l l inchc. l into gaps.