Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 6 : Debate on New Art Gallery and Cultural Centre 1963-1970

$11,000 for painting: big 'teen' audiences • IS ,. , "HERALD" rea '\4 1n Melboume,Vlc. 196~ By ALAN McCULLOCH 1 ••• if higher education in the arts, long waiting ll8ts of students applying for admit– tance to the art schools, increased attend– ances at art exhibitions and the emergence of a young buying public, mean anything. During the past five years, ln response to the world-wide revolution of publlc interest, Auatra– llan education systems have experienced a swing of emphaals to– wards the arts and sciences. Another fa ctor havln~ a bearing on the si tua– tion is that the op and pop centres of action have roped In large teen-aae audiences at the entertainment level. While one hesitates to put ln a plu1 for these sensation seeking as– pects, there ls always the hope that out of them wlll come mature appreciation of the arts In their more enduring forms. It seems to me that these forms of art are additives which ln no way destroy the central core or art and might even stimulate It. A feature of the year 's activities which supports this claim Is the record prices for works or well– known pai nters. Even pictures by pion– eer impre11t1lonlsts such as Streeton brourht as ' much as $11.000 at auc– tion In Melbourne. As against the high prices of paintings, 10118 saw the Initiation of a number of print work– shops which olTcr hand– prints by leading artists at prices which come within the range or a large buying public. New prizes Important new prizes such as the Alcorso– Seekers prize for sculp– ture In Sydney appear– ed. and t he change or the well - established Transfleld prize from palntlnR to sculpture nt a special, outdoors In– stall ation In the Domain ga rdens, helped to make 1960 a sc ulp tors' r.ea r. In this ge nera un– precedenl d ~win•~ o: public lnt r st townras the arts wl at r cogni– tion a.ncl hnlp lWI been for thcoming from offi– cial sourc s? The New .·oll lh Wu\1 :, oov rnment estnbllsl1 cl n sul>lltnntln l hmd lo nrnkc 1-(1'1\n s nvnllable to lwlp '111• tll'I : 1111(1 lH' W S ('I'l l /\llh ll'll \11111 II)\' • l ' l'l1J))\' i1 \ ru 11 Ulllll' l'cl In - creased supoort for the Perth Arts Festival. The Victorian Govern– ment pressed on with the bulldlng of the new Vlctorlan Arts Centre and also continued Its policy of subsidising the development of country galleries. In this larrely educa– tional field \ lclorla Is a Ion~ way ahead of any other Australian at.ate. There are now more than 12 government– subaldlsed publlc art gal– leries scattered through– out. Victoria. The biggest Main attention for 196'8 was focused on t.wo of these: Geelonir A.rt Gallery with Its $75,000 exten– sion pro;eeu RHCI diiii&I! Carlo prize (Lhe largest prize for painting In Australi a n outside · 'of cap I t a l c lties) ... . . . and the Mlldura Art Gallery where vso~ WO~ of bulld– ng eriSI , includ- 1 ng a theatre for the pertorml.ng arts, ere complet d for t he n ationwide s c u Ip tu re competition tor 1067. The s upport given to such enterprises suggests' that there Is some offi- ial awakening to the fact t hat country art . galleries can be much more than mere art mu ·cums exhlbl i l n g palntl n ~ and sculpture coll ections. In t h e U.S. such gal– leries hlive become centr es or creative act!· vlty m a king vital con– trl bu lion s towards the who ! llf of towns a nd citle . There Is every reason wh y Aust ralia should fo llow a si mil a r pattern . The great advantages of a series of strategic– a lly placed cent res of c ulture which could lm– plem nt the work of schools and universities a s w ,11 as stimulati ng clvl · pride Is obvious. - Su h an aim curried LO It s lo~lf' nl ·ulmlnn - 11 0 11 1•111 lltl wn rk wonders a11 d 1,1\ 111cq; tn ~ ~ 11 : rat.Ion of more cultu rc•tl Au trnlla n s wou ld no lon ~c- r n rl to cl\l sL r so x ·Ju :,; vf' ly around the bl ~ ,·Ill ' . . ' . '\ .,