Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 7 : Debate on New Art Gallery and Cultural Centre, 1970-1976

Q~ENSLAND GALLERY The .......... ID ......... Nalonal Art Gallery In QuteMlalNI •• made by the utilt luac Waltrr Jtnllff (1136-1902) who wrote to the Go.emnttnt In Odohtr, 18113, 1hor11y after he arrived In Brisbane fmm Enaland on 26th SepCembtr of the ume yt11r. Building. whi1:h IS IL'i rrc- morning. JohnPeart. ~ho He later founded the sent location . Dame wM one of rhe artists Queensland Art Society in Nellie Mclha sang in this chosen to exhibit in "The 1887 and continued to Conccn I-fall. Fie Id " Exhibition in work on the Govern- The E,ihihition Build- 1968, was a student at ment through this chan- ing. whirh now houses these clas.\es. nel for the est.rblishme~I both the (.lueensland Art The appointment of of an Art Gallery m Gallery ancl the Museum. the first Director wa.c; Brisbane. was originally planne~ to made in November, 1949, Seventeen yean later, house the annual ~gr1cul- when Robert Campbell Godfrey Rivers, President tural and lndustnal Ex.- took up the position . He of the Queensland Art hihiti11n . The Conce.rt immediately set a-bout im- Society and Art Master Hall wa.c; incorporated 10 proving the Gallery, both of the Technical College the r,lan as a means . of structurally and staff- again a roused public revenue when the build- wise and also had the interest in the establish- ing was not used for ex.- Gov~rnment G r a n t ment of an Art Gallery. hihition purpo 5 ~s . The increased. As a result of this buildin& wa~ designed by I . tion with activity, at the end of the architect, G. M . H. n coniunc p Cum- Addiaon,. of the Mel- Professor R. • 1894, the Premier, Sir bourne flnn of Oakden, ming5, Prof'-essor of Hush Nelson, promised Addison and Kemp, for Architecture .a I . t h e that some pictures and the Queensland (now Queensland Univcrs•~Y• he engravinp which were R.nyal) National Associa- had the Gallery d1spl~y the property of the Gov- ti;n. Construction was area remodelled to i~s crnmcnt would be given completoo in record time prescnl layoul o_f par(1- as a nucleus to an Arl in 189 1. in 2 '.\ weeks, of tions and vclarium m Gallery if suitahle ac- whi'ch there were some 1950. commodation could be I d' found. three week~ of rain. This 1959 was Queen~ an s wali at the time a building Centenary Ye:1r corn- Godfrey Riven per- record for Queensland, memorating the scparn- <iUaded the Mayor of which even now with lion! ,,f the Stale from Brisbane, Alderman Rob- modern met.hods has N .S.W. In 1his year the ert Fraser to make avail- scarcely hcen bee-ten. Minister for Education, :ihle a room in the upper Aet ••llM"tl Mr. J. c. A. Pizzcy, was floor of the Old Town h G 11 re inslrumcntal i11 havin!! Hall buildln• in Queen T e ,a cry wa.'I - ,. opened to the public on rasscd the Queensland Street (now demolished!. ' 10th Fehrl1,1ry, 1931, and Arl fialler)' Al'I ,,r I95S He fitted out this room at the Official Opening on This Acl rcreaied scctio11 his own ellpente, and was Rth April. 1931, was nf the Migmal Act .,1 later reimbuned by the marked by the .prcsenta- 19.16 and !!ave 1hc Tnis· Government. tion of a number of tcc.<i rnwcir to cstahlish ;i A number of citizens paintings f r O m t he new Queensland Ar· lent works of art, nota'bly Queensland Art Fund Gallery. Sir Samuel Orifflth and which was foundi,d by A si,e was chosen in , Sir Jamea R. Dixon, and artist Vida Lahey and si te al,1ngside Old Gov these, tosether with those sculptor .>aphne Mayo in ernmcnt Hi•use facing 1h, given by the Govern- ' 1929. H111anical Gardens. 011 ment as well as a hcqucst Administration o f the Cillwrnmcnl H o II s c from rhe estate of the Gallery again passed to a which had been thl Hon. T. de Murray-Prior, BoarJ nf Tmstee..'I with fo rmed the basis 0f the Sir Jnme~ Hl:iir as Chair- first collection. man . An <\rt Advisory 'the initial grant made Committee ('I five. in- t,y the Oovornment was eluding Villa Lahey and £500 ~annum and the Daphne Mav1,, wa.s ap- fint piill(ure purchased poinled on 4th March. was Evicl~d, by Bland- 1932. 1ci assis1 the ford Fletcher, for JOO Trustee~. guineas. Th c () 11 ,. ,, n , t a n cl T~e gallery w,L~ offi- Na1i,,11:il ·\ri < ,allery A1:1 cially opened by the Gov- wa, llil~,cd ,,n :!~th N1,- ernor, Sir Henry Wylie vcmher. lll . 16 . and ad - Nonnan, on 29th Marrh. min1,tration and cnntwl 1895. It was managed hy ,,t 1he (,.ilkn w ;" m:,in -- , a Board of Trust~ with ta,ncd •tlirP11t:h the Chic! Godfrey Ri\'ers as Honor - Sen1· t:1r~·, Departmen t ary Curator from IX95 10 I ater 111 19-l 7 this contr0I 1914. wa, ra,c;cd nver to the ..:c11m1 01 tne unive~11· for many years, wu to i,; included in the scheme II house art-Aeum ohjecl~ In May1 1964, Mr Pizzey a n n o u n c e d ; modified concept of th< original rrorosal statfoJ that a cultural cen tn would he huilt on tht 1111.-~1tion consisting of , nt•w Art Gallery and • r>innccrc;· Cc11tcnarv Hall F.1t·h PI the<;C building• " :1, 1" ht• under ~eparatc e11n1rol However. lhis flfl'P"~:rl l,tr"e<t. Nf'iw' Arc Gnllf'r;¥ new Vidona II r I d g c hounded by Peel Street. Grey Street and Mel– bourne Street. Cabinet approval of the site for the new Art Gallery was given on 1st April. 1969. The site is an excellent one, prominently visihlc from she city side ol the river and 11nly ten min– utes' walk from the heart of the city. The Queensland Gov– ernment ha.~ proceeded with resumption of prop– erties in the chosen ~itc and allocated an overall figure of $7 million to cover the cost of con– ~truction, including site resumption . The targel date~ completion ot t~ . ~allery has heen set · at =011•8. Ah.iy the skyline of the imter city area of Brisbane has changed considerably particularly when viewed from the New Gallery Site across the river. When the new Gallery is finally located there it will be indeed the major attraction as the centre of the SCate'5 cultural activities. Over the years the Gal– lery Collection has been wisely huill up with frugal purcha.c;es from limited finances and through the generosity of donor!I. At the presentation of 1he Trustees' Prize, 1972. on I 3th October la111 the . Chairman of Tmstces, Sir · Leon Trout, announced that donations to the G:il– lery for 1971-1972 hy monetary gifts and w0rks of art have ,1mountcd to 'i()nlC $ I 20.000. Thi,; tig- 11rc included a monclary !!ift 0f $.10,000 t, y two ,,m•ny111L111s donors and 1hc private collection of Mr-. . I.illian Bos1:h . of S11rtcr, Paradise. va lued .11 ,1 ppn ,, 11nat1·l y SJ0.000. ,ir I ,c1111 al-.11 me11 - In 1905, on completion of the Executive fluilding (now the Lands Adminis– tration Building), the Gal – lery was moved there and located on the top floor Administration wa~ 1:ikcn over by ·the Chil'I Sccn:– tary's Department with the Trustees reconsti111ted a~ • Board of Advice . Ocpartmcnl ,,I Public ln – , 1ructi0n 111,w the Dc– rartment ,ii F1.h11:ntion . l"hi~ i~ ,•1,11 1hc instru - 1111•111al D1.·1• ,r1111cnt fnr pa rmenl Pi the annual C invcrnment <, r.1111 and 1,,r admini,11at1vc 1:nr11rol 1 ,,,n1.·d Pn thi, ,,n;a,; ion 1hc 1mp11 rtant hc411e~t nf ,11111c 'iO piece, 111 antique l11rn1111r1: . ,live r and on– ..:ntal rugs hy the late Mr, . Rlanchc Buttner. 1,f Bri,;hane . To1?ether with Over the year" many 1hi~ gift, M~rs . Buttner rc4uc ~ts had hccn put In h a ., a I ~ o h<:4111:athccl 1hc (i1 1 vcrnment for a '5 15 .000 to es1a l,fi• 1'. :1n New (i ,dlcry In January. <\rt Scholarship. 19(,'J, as a rc~11lt of the All 1hcsc recent gifts i;11hmi,\111n hv the Tru~ - have n,adc 1971 -1117~ the Ice, ,,11 2 lni lkccmhcr. higgc~t gift. yea r f Pr the l'IM( ,,1 a kttn ~citing (iallcr ,in 1:c l')~lJ. when P11 1 lhe ra, 1 111\lory 11f rhe l,it c MaJtH H de Vahl the ( i.,llcry ,11111 dctailc I K1thm gave rainting\ ti,11 11).! 11! rill' 111adeq11ari1.·, v:tlt1 1:d .,t '$2~2.0011 11, lhe ,,1 rlt,· prc,t·111 (iallcr \' . c i:tllcr The new Gallery 111 thic; location w:L" ,,llki all v opened by the Co,we rnor . Lord helmsford, 1,n IXth December, 1905 . It re – mained here 1111111 19.ll l when lhc (1 ,1 llcr I wa, r moved to rhc ('1111rrr1 Hall of the Exhih1ti1•n Early 111 1 'l-11 the 1, ,;"t:C~ liec1Uc.tJ 10 cstan– li~h a Children·~ rcativc t\rt Class in th e Ga lle ry and the flri,h :,nc arti~t. Vida Lahcv. wa-; ap– rointed II) ,Pncl111:I regu– lar ,·l:1~q•, . I It · f'ir,;t ,1f 1hc.~c hcgan 111 M:lrt.:h . 1941 . Thl-...,1.' 1: la,,c,; have heen arried "" eve r ,incc and arc c11nd11 ·1cd in th (ialler y cv,·n , :i 111rd :1, th ,· 1 "" .: 1111111•111 ,clcrtcd T hi ,; gcnc.ro -.,t ,h1,w, " ' 1 1 •·, 1.ol < " 11111 1111Ct' r,, ., v11 al intcrc,;t in thl' new t'i11 1 ,"c a ,11c l11r :1 cw ()ll<-'1.'n~land Arl (i,tlkn· ·\ 11 C, ,ill11r\' I lw \f lt· ch,,,cn hy thl\ < , 1 m1111ll e,· wa, ,11rnr (,j ,h'l'1·, ,,11 the ,,.111h ha11k , <1 1 lw 111 i-ha11c Kivcr ''"1 11p,1rc,1111 lro111 the • /\fr . R111111/ M,·l/i.f/1 i, .4 1·xif /1u11 / lin·1·tor 111 1/1,· (>111·1·111/,1111/ A, I (i11//1•r '""' h ,· ,.,., c 111/ v "'"" " W i ,11 '"" ('/r,tr( /11 // .\I ,·Ill· 11ri11/ f'r i: ,·