Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

f objects. Jn fact, Michael Brawne in ub/ic View : Houainf tltt Arta 1 notes hat the museum, in some hands, has moved away from the presentation of objects as icons: "there have been a number of efforts during the last half century to popularize museums and many of these have taken the form of trying to desanctify the objects on dis– play." But he warns, "It is worth re– membering, however, that any object removed from its original surroundings or no longer put to its intended use - a triptych taken from an altar and r,ut on a gallery wall, a windmill no anger grinding corn but open to view - will acquire different connotations. These changes can at times be subtle, at others quite radical 88 when, for instance, primarily religious and ceremonial tribal artifacts are displayed 88 abstract art." Crt1ctnl Ear Orna111tnl1, hammered sold, Narino di1tricl. The Colombian gold ornaments are not ao isolated that they are objects of aesthetic reverence, but, if one can say so, they remain intimately iconic, and, after all, many are ear and nose orna– ments, pectorala and pendants that defy presentation in their natural atate. The Courier-Mail 6th May, 1978 However formidable and compelling– ly frontal the ornaments are, they retain an intimacy through their re– straint in craftsmanship: the hammer– ing and the suspended tubes, oblongs and discs look quite innocent, fresh and unsophisticated. This gives them an immediacy that one hardly finds in Renaissance medallions and brooches or in French post-Renaissance silverware. Yet they retain a remoteness and ema– nate sienals of a people whose treasures were not so plundered as to become curiosities. It may appear remarkable to those who have not looked at books like Karl Meyer'• TIit Plundtrtd Pa,t.2 that the Banco de la Republics, Colombia, has done a unique service that exemplifies the best aapects of the retention rather than the dispersal of national treasures. It ia only in recent years that aome museums have a,reed to leave such treasure, in their native countries;how– ever, it doea come as a surprise to find aome of the ,reatest New Guinea ar– tifacte in Dahlem in West Berlin. Pri• vate owners do atill sell on the under• ,round market and thieves still loot temple, and rob museums: such ac– tivitie1, which encouraee the forgery of objects and provenances, are directed at the private market, but can eventually, by aale, ,ift and Jeeacy, find their way into muaeum1. With the El Dorado exhibition we are aafe from such disturbine thoughts and, to reiterate, the very presentation is ao aesthetically abaorbing that they hardly ariae. Queationa about the people who made and uaed the objects do ariae; one would like to have more information on the aocial clauea, the religiona and the cliff. erencoa betwaen area,, aome of which muat have been almoat autonomous; the catalo,ue ia sufficiently didactic, but its QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY 5th Floor, MIM Building, 160 Ann Street. Brisbane EXHIBITIONS Watercolors from the Collection of Sir Leon :Ind Lady Trout and The Trout Gift until 6 June, 1978 Contemporary Australian Drawing. Thi• •ll'WY ed1/61t,on of d'l'Wtt'IQI br Aulftl lilrt An,,r, Otp1tn1Md by lhf w... ,.m Austtlhln .Art G,lf.,-y ,... bwn •lfMMd ,_.,,,1 f4 Mer, 1978. Tarcstrics from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop ~6 May-5 June 19 8. ·················•·············· COMING EXHIBITION EL DORADO COLO~IBIAl\ GOLD II Queensland Art Gallery 13 J~y •13 August 1978 -,,-.·,-.-.- .- .-. ,~r 27th May,1978 QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY 5th Floor, MIM Building, 160 Ann Street. Britb1n1 TapeatrlH from the Victorian Tapeatry Workahop Thi~ didatic: exhihilion includft! relau1d pafntinAI cJNtoons, works in progres!I and tnpestties fr.,, the V1c1orian Tasies1rv Wo,kshop end wdl bt at th • Oueenslnnd Art GAilery unt,1 5 June. 1978, Mrs. Sue Wi1Ihr, o,,ectm ot the V1ctori1n Taru,stry Workshop, WIii bfl av11ililhle to talk with Mch,1ec1s students and v1sit0JSon Saturrt11y 27 May, o11nd Mt. Memll Oumbrell, ttu, Wo,kshop's Senior Weaver. will bi ,wa1/~hle on Satuufay 27 Mnv, Sunday 2B May 1nd Monday 29 May duung Gallery hours. .. ------ - ----- Watercolour• from the Collection of Sir Leon and Lady Trout to 8 June, 1978 El Oo,ado Colomhi,1n Gold presented tn essoc,ation with the 'Australian Art bhibltl C0tp0tation and sponsored by The Benson 1nd H1dg11 Comp,1ny. 13 July to 13 Auguat, 1978 Arlmlssion Adults S 1.50. Children, Students, P1nsionn 7Sc. Pr&-8ook11d evening, $5.00 per person. ---- - -- Altm•s~lon cha,ges 1pply only to Columbian Gold E1.hth11tnn. Entry 10 othM Gnllery e1h1h,tion1 i5 fret. OM!IN~lP.!C Pendant, Jasuar, ca111old, Masdaltna, tl Banco. bibliography, mainly in Spanish, deals appropriately with artifacts. The Chin• ese archaeoloeical exhibition did not provide, by object or additional mat– erial, much inaight into the people who made the utilitarian objects, most of which were not ceremonial or ritualis– tic, except to indicate that it was a ,lave society that auppoaedly pur • ued the 'technological revolution' deapite its rulers. Colombian gold i1 ceremonial and ritualiatic. It ia clear enoueh that the ordinary Colombian Indian had gold and it waa buried with the poor as well 88 with the rich . . , But that ia the area of the relation, of ornamentation to aocial clHaes, and in aome eocietiea puritanical rejection of decoration can endure for centuriea - we have had it briefly during the French revolution and for over a decade under Cromwell - but with El Dorado :Colombian Gold we have decoration dell1htfully indul– gent and unabashed. I. The Alfred Blouom Lo<1ure, publl1hed in 7'1t Royol 2 =::i:: ~ ~,;:'·,~-~~•i.1.9.7..8,:,:r1:S~im and rovloed !or Pe.,.in Boob, 1877. The Courier-Mail May 10th, 1978 ' ' ' l i "' ',, II , One piece Is a nose ornament with double pendants In hammered gold 15 cm high, The other Is the handle or a start In the form of a dog, cast In gold. Th e collection from the Museo de! Oro, B o g o t a , Colombla,, repre– sents the finest and most varied gold work made by a 11 CIC 11 t South American Indians before Lhe Spanish conquest.