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

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY "A CENTURY OF MODERN MASTERS" The most successful art exhibition ever to be held in ueensland concluded its season at the Queensland Art allery on the 30th of March with a record breaking ttendance of well over 60.000 visitors. "America and Europe: A Century of Modern Masters rom the Thyssen- Bornemisza Collection" Is the finest International exhibition of 19th and 20th century art to be shown in this State and proved a resounding success with many art lovers trave lling to the Gallery from regional centres as far afield as Cairns. One hundred and eight works by ninety-eight artists are included in the exhibition which chronicles the parallel and often d ivergent developments In American and European art since the 1870's. It Includes at least one work from each year of the century by celebrated artists such as Renoir. Monet. Van Gogh, Picasso. Bacon. Poll ock and Estes The works on display are drnwn from the vast Thyssen-Bornem1sza Collec1,on which was started In the 1920's by Baron He,nnch Thy~sen-Born11m1sza (1875- 1947). In 1931 , some 11 yenrs after the 1n1t1al collection was commenced . the Villa Favorita , a Tuscan style house bulll in 11,e 17th cen tury nt Castagnoln, Switzerland, was nurchased to house the co llection collecting old masters - covering a wide range from the Siennese Primitives to Venetian fresco painters, his son Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza has favoured works by modern American and European artists. On the death of h is father in 1947, the present Baron expanded the boundaries of the collection by Including works by French Impressionists. and a selection of American and European masters representative of the major art move– ments of the 20th century The range of works on view has had tremendous appeal not only to art lovers and students but for the general public manv ol whom would be familiar with the works throug h buok 1llustrat1ons, but would never have ex pec ted to view the actual works themselves. Th e Gall ry·s Education officers conducted tours for school groups throughout the exh1bit1on with the assistance of seconded leachers from the Education Department and volountary guides. A total of three hundred and sixty schools from all over the State attended the exh1b1t1o n. " Ameri ca and Europe A Century of Modern Masters " was presented by the Australian Gallery Directors Co unc il with the assistance of the V1sw1I Arts Board of the Au stra lia Council. It was sponsored In Queensland Newspapers and Channel 7