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

Arts111111111111111,,,,,,,,11,,1,111,,,,11,,11,11111111111111111H111111,11111111,,111111111111111111111111,1,11111,, th Bread and Circus to flogging the show 29th: 'There were uors to the Thyssen collection yester· nging the total to pales in comparison e of the glossier pr rating Brisbane. You much more breathless ping than 'The mo~, t international exhlbl– , .ying 19th and 20th ~n yet shown' us. ,., money It Isa pretty survey' that has such 'most important' (to , phrase! gaps. As I , at we are being of– ," aspects of some 3nd schools featuring ,.eats. The collection, erms of period, Is not ustive as is claimed: It ii include 'at least one a m each year of the ·. but how true an ap· n can there be of Post onlsm without Gaugln , Fauvism without a the mysterious with– of the only Dall (sic The Telephone Booths by R1chJ1d Estes transit Su1tealisml and the depressing absence of anything Australian , (aren't we 'inter– national' enough?). this exhlbi· lion could more truthfully be touted as 'A Century of Some Modern Masters' or even 'Selective Bits of a Century etc etc'. Surely even to validate historically an exhibition that claims to 'chronicle' the developments of a century for an Australian public, a token presence of the Heidelberg c:..-.., ...... 1 :4 ..411 4..i r~•., For Instance, my companion Is a great one for Magrine. Has books and books about him and seen nearly everything In reproduction. Well, I had to lead him gently Into a comer to recover his manhood when he flnally came face to face with the single offering of his hero's work In the collection, It was not helped, of course, by being squashed Into a tiny, dimly-lit alcove that wouldn't do justice even to II postage stamp, but we had been promised so much Realism - works by Wessel– mann , Rosenquist, Roghko and Estes burst on the scene like sunbeams through cloud. In a quirk of placement, the paintings themselves summed up my Impression of the hls– iorical movement. In- Edward Hopper's Hotef Window (1956) a forlorn woman sits at 11 window, apparently staring out along the gloom of the preceding walls of pictures, You'd swear she was think– Ing Well...so much for that an Australian public, 11 token presence of the Heidelberg School is called for? Okay, so perhaps the Baron's collection doesn't In– clude any Australian painting, But If the Australian organisers arc fair din!-.. 'll about giving us an accurate idea about our– selves, our place and our time in relation to the rest of the art world, then even a peripheral, parallel apr .arance of some Australia , painting Is If our Gallery Wallahs don't feel that painters of the calibre of Streeton or Roberts deserve a look in on home ground , the, what hope is there of a lit– tle International recoynition 1 The same, apparently, would apply to the best of our modems. As far as an Austra– lian audience fs concerned, the ·show's most vivid message seems to be that artistically we haven't and still don't exist. This cultural cringe factor Is not the only disturbing aspect of visiting 'lntematlonal' exhibl– tlons like the Thyssen Bome– mlsza. The problem Is not simply what is significantly missing, but also the quality of what Is shown . If, as we are graciously informed , this Is our once-In-a-lifetime chance to see a Braque, Picasso or Magritte, then all the more reason to make sure we are going to see them at their best. I heard a lot of saddened fans of one or other of the ex– hibited painters shuffle away munering things like 'never knew he painted anything so little and dark' or 'always throught they were bigger and brighter than that' . .. .it is a pretty selective 'survey' that has such a lot of 'most important' gaps. Perhaps that is largely the problem. I'm beginning to realize that much of the real ar– Ustry behind these art spec– taculars lies in the accompany· ing publicity campaigns. Unfor– tunately a painUng will not pro– duce the same psychosomatic effect as a well-sold headache powder, and it is usually only against Its own bener Judge– ment that the public can be persuaded that Is has seen the most 'exquisite', 'beautiful' or 'important' of works. That lnevltabi;-breathle~ blaze of publicity can rarely blind one to all an exhibition's shortcomings. (Yes Virginia, there really ARE some Australian modem masters.) Bernard Boles quite rightly makes the point in 'Art for a Client Nation' (Nation Reulew Feb 19801 : 'True, what we see here Is not third rate, but It Is third category! We see no great masterpieces!' I personally very much doubt that the Courtauld Gallery Is breaking Its neck to get hold of much In the present exhibition . True, things got much bener the further one proceeded through the sequence, Small, overcrowded and rather unmemorable earlier pieces (even the Fauves weren't at their wildest) gave way to some exciting American ·Action' and half of the century...thlngs can only Improve!' This optimism found Its vindication in the final work In the sequence, David Ligare's brilliant. airy gesture of release Kithnos - Thrown Drapery . One final piece of opdmism resulted in another - the hopeful belie f rhat our cham– pions of the ans haue remem– bered to secure us a little redproc,ty in taking on this ex– hibition . If they can get S2 o head out of us (and at current attendance rates the exercise seems extrem ely lucratiue, the baron 's generosity notu,1th– standing), and get the Com– monwealth Gouernment to underwnte the insurance cost5 of the whole deal, then surely surely we're entitled to a little something back In the way of artistic exposure abroad . Of course, you might find your optimism In this regard somewhat tempered by what you dldn 't see at the T + B ex– hibition . If our paid Cultural Arbiters are not giving our own artists, dead or alive, much of a show on home ground , they are unlikely to be doing so else– where . On reflection , maybe Hopper's woman In the win– dow was contemplating a jump? Kate Collins.