Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

For a long time Japanese art was misunderstood and maligned in the Western world. It was thought of as beautiful but small, exquisite but somehow inconsequential. Such things as netsuke, inro, ivory carvings and woodblock prints provided the measure of Western interest. Indeed, that acute observer of things Japanese at the end of last century, Basil Hall Chamberlain, quotes (with approval I regret to say) a Western lecturer who said, 'Japanese art is great in small things but small in great things'. How misguided they all were. Anyone who has had the good fortune to be exposed to major Japanese works of art will know that the screens and sliding doors painted by the Kano School rival in their splendour and opulence anything produced by the great Venetians; the depictions of the city of Kyoto-the so-called Rakuchu rakugai screens- have all the nervous exuberance of a Brueghel; the paintings of historic battles-Seki ga hara, Dan no ura, Nagakute-in their intense vitality and depiction of stylised slaughter stand ready comparison with Paolo Uccello's Battle of San Romano; the scenes from the Gengi Monogatari are as revealingly intimate as any Dutch interior. How historians could have been so misled is curious to say the least. And now we suddenly. find that modern Japanese art, too. is not at all. what we expected it to be. The works in this exhibition are big, not only in size but also in content. They are the assured and self-confident products of a nation that is taking, in everything it does, a leading place in the modern world. Not for nothing was this exhibition called in Japan-where English and Japanese go hand in hand in the language of art-'Art Exciting '89', genzai wo koete, that is to say, Exciting Art 89, surpassing the present. They are certainly exciting works of art, whether we put the adjective before or after the noun. And, finally, now that I have the word 'exciting' upon my tongue, Iwant to mention, for the benefit of those who do not know about it already, another exciting facet in the Gallery's relationship with Japan-the Exhibitions Development Fund. In June the Director and I travelled to Tokyo to try to persuade those Japanese companies with large financial involvements in Queensland to support culture in this State, by contributing to a fund devoted to the bringing into the Gallery of major exhibitions from other countries. I am happy to report that the visit was successful. Three companies-Nikko Securities, Nomura Securities and Meiji Life Insurance-– have each contributed $100 000, and the Japan Travel Bureau $50 000-a total of $350 000. Taking into account the Queensland Government's generous dollar for dollar subsidy, the Fund now stands at $700 000. 2 I thank the four companies I have named and hope that those other companies which have, at this stage, expressed interest in the Fund will find it possible to contribute on an equally generous basis. .,J 4 Speech at a reception to mark the establishment of the Queensland Art Gallery's Exhibitions Development Fund and to honour its Founder Patrons and Members, 11 December 1989 22