Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

In her lta-down. When she shimmies beneath the sheet She's a blue eyed baby with a boogy beat. Well, we all look forward to lta's opening speech tomorrow morning and we are sure she will let us lta-down. I ask you to charge your glasses and to drink to the Australian National Gallery and the Queensland Art Gallery and David Jones, and to the success of this joint enterprise. 11 Speech to introduce the Hon. Sir Llewellyn Edwards to open the Molt & Chandon Touring Exhibition, 6 November, 1987 NOTE: THE MOET & CHANDON TOURING EXHIBITION WAS FIRST PRESENTED IN JANUARY 1987. EACH YEAR THE FIRST GALLERY AT WHICH THE ANNUAL TOURING EXHIBITION IS PRESENTED, AND WHERE THE ANNUAL FELLOW IS ANNOUNCED, RECEIVES THE MOET & CHANDON ART ACQUISITION FUND OF $50 000. THE MOET & CHANDON AUSTRALIAN ART FOUNDATION WAS LAUNCHED IN JULY 1986 AT THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AND THE FIRST TOURING EXHIBITION WAS INITIALLY PRESENTED AT THE ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. THE FIRST SHOWING IS SHARED ON AN ANNUAL ROTATION BASIS BETWEEN THE STATE GALLERIES AND THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA. THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY WAS THE RECIPIENT OF THE $50 000 IN 1997, THE CELEBRATION YEAR OF THE FOUNDATION'S SUCCESSFUL FIRST DECADE. THE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS YOUNG ARTISTS AND THEIR DIVERSE CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE THROUGH THREE ANNUAL PROGRAMS: THE FELLOWSHIP, THE NATIONAL TOURING EXHIBITION AND THE ART ACQUISITION FUND. THE FELLOWSHIP PROVIDES THE WINNER WITH A YEAR'S RESIDENCY AT ITS STUDIO AT THE ABBEY OF HAUTVILLERS AT THE MOET & CHANDON HEADQUARTERS AT EPERNAY, FRANCE. MOET & CHANDON HAS ALSO PURCHASED A MAJOR WORK FROM EACH OF THE FELLOWS AND ITS COLLECTION IS HOUSED AT THEIR HEADQUARTERS. I appreciate the Director's kind words and warmly reciprocate them. The age gap (thirty-five years) does not seem to inhibit us. We are both equally dedicated to developing this Gallery in all its aspects. I believe that it is highly desirable for a great art gallery to have a close and cooperative relationship with a great champagne maker. This is particularly so in the case of a Gallery as close to the tropics as ours is. Those of you who know your Hilaire Belloc may perhaps recall what that great wit and humorist had to say about champagne in a hot climate. In his poem The Modern Traveller (1898), he wrote: The nuisance of the Tropics is, The sheer necessity of Fizz. . . . Well, just as a Gallery should take an interest in champagne, so too should a champagne maker take an interest in art, and Moet & Chandon have certainly done that in a big way as their support for this prize exhibition bears eloquent testimony. For that, we the Trustees are deeply grateful. 129