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

ISBANE, SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1978 ~ COURIER-MAIL SATURDAY MA The El Dorado COLOMBIAN Gold Exhibition will open at the Queensland Art Gallery on July 13 and continue until August 13. Entry to the exhibition will be adults $1.50, children, school students and pensioners 75 cents, pre- booked evenings $5 a person. ... ....... '" 1 POPORO (lime conloiner) in Jhe form of a woman w ith n eck lace ot 146 bea ds. The piece from lhe V olley of the Couco Rive r is of cosl gold. • From GEOFF HARRIS in Melbourne GOLD was like plasticine to the ancient Colombian Indians. They played wit.h It - and In the pro– cess produced some exquisite wares. They delighled more In gold's qualtlles for objects of personal decorallon, par- ttcularly ear and nose pieces, lhan Its ma tertal ,,atue. When the 16th Century Spanish Con– quistadors 110t the gold fever they lus– ted ror these treasures, The Spaniards showed no Interest ,vhate,·er in the objects they looted - only gold mattered to them and they melted it down like scrRp metal. During four centuries of South Amer– ican occupation they shipped home more thnn 180 tons of gold and made Spain the wealthiest kingdom in Eu– rope. lt wus not until 1939 that Colombia's national bRnk, the Banco de la Repuh– llcn, recognised gold ornaments as art and began preserving them, By 1968 about 10,000 pieces had been brought Jn nnd the bank established a gold museum, the Musco de! Oro, In the country's capital, Bogota. Today the collection has grown to In– clude more than 28,000 gold objects from the period 500 BO to 1500 AD. It is the world's biggest collection of gold artefacts, The Australian Art Exhibitions Cor– poratlor> has borrowed 238 gold pieces and 24 ceramics for display around Australia. About 200,000 people already have seen the exhibition In Perth, Ade– laide and Melbourne. The exhibition \\'Iii end In Melbourne on July 2, and will be sho\\'n In Bris– bane at the Queensland Art Gallery from Jui)' 13 to August 13, before mov– ing to Sydney. This may be the last Ol'erseas show• tng the Colombians allow, "Thei• are getting Increasingly reluc– tant,'' AAEC executive director <Mrs. Bronwyn Thomas, rmld. "They wnnt to boost their tourist trnde and attract tourists to Bogotn." The Australian exhibition Is so small It packs Into a couple of suitcases, but Its value Is priceless. It Is Indemnified by the Federal Go\'– ernment Rnd Is being guarded by elabo– rate security, Colombia WILS nercr 1>art of the great American Indian empires - the Aztecs to the north and the Incas to the south. The small, Independent tribes or Co– lombia reser\'ed gold mainly for cere– monial and burial purposes. Tales grew of legendary Dorado,;, elu– el ve places of fabulous treasure, ' • One or these w. ceremony carried ,, dlans at Lake G 111t centrnl hii;:h pin t~. The legend is th naked body with r dust, and glitter! , mlnous sunshine" the mlddlt, of t he gold offerin gs to th A big audlencr then named him , ded one." This gold folk!,., quest expedition, When the Conn n rlng a vast. n 1111 grnves and tom 01 er Colombin. 011Jy the locn 1~ . es were hidden. 1'11 , trn rlftlon , !1111(: ~1fl r the :- ) lntenslllcd when \'0hmble ns ort. Most of the uncnrt,hcd by q utu1 sure hu nters or · st.111 ~uard wlthn, crets of where t.hr Their crude me, m•nrly nil archn1 11 llll~ht. hn \'C cnnb ., J.?Old nccurn.tcly I n mnrle nnd used. Howcrcr. it Is , l11lrn bllcct nlmm · worK.111g n rLli-i:tn fnr Lhc1r own i:,:111 with 11e1~hbour11 • These crafum,, t11n,1 1 rn.l ~- hut I r Rnrl d{'\'l'IOp{'(I rr The nh1rr1 :; n,. , ~11111!.. \\ ere a s t.1 n Tlll'SC n n ' l~ l rrm11rkA. hi Lccit._•l crlng the primlll• f.1 D rndo: present.en b.,· thr brtlons Corporn1 1 or t11e Comn,onw sponsored by Tli ('On'. J'·.JI\"