Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

Tonight is indeed a night of celebrations. Mr Cowley's own support for the arts extends beyond his role at News Limited, as this evening's project indicates. He is Chairman of the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, and in that capacity he commissioned the images for and published his book The Outback Collection, which is intended to be a worthy fundraising project for The National Outback Heritage Garden at the Centre, and he has been a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1986. Even though this is, of course, a rival institution, Mr Cowley is, nevertheless, a good friend of this Gallery as well, and it therefore gives me great pleasure to call upon him to address us. 24 Speech to thank Mr Mike Smith, National Manager, Eunos Australia, and to introduce Mr Neil Macgregor, Director, National Gallery, London, at the opening of 'Renoir: Master Impressionist', 29 July 1994 NOTE: 'RENOIR: MASTER IMPRESSIONIST, ORGANISED BY ART EXHIBITIONS AUSTRALIA LIMITED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY, WAS THE FIRST EXHIBITION OF RENOIR'S WORK MOUNTED IN AUSTRALIA. CURATED BY LEADING ENGLISH ART SCHOLAR DR JOHN HOUSE OF THE COURTAULD INSTITUTE, LONDON AND BRINGING TOGETHER FIFTY-ONE PAINTINGS AND ONE BRONZE, THE EXHIBITION REPRESENTED ALL PHASES OF RENOIR'S LONG CAREER, EXPLORING THE RANGE OF HIS SUBJECT-MATTER AND HIS RESPONSES TO THE RAPIDLY CHANGING HISTORICAL CONTEXTS OF LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY FRANCE. THE PRESENCE (fO OPEN THE EXHIBITION) OF MR NEIL MACGREGOR, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, AND A MAJOR LENDER, WAS A SIGNAL OF THE EXHIBITION'S IMPORTANCE. A FEATURE OF THE PRESENTATION AT THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY WAS THE MAJOR SYMPOSIUM FEATURING DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. THE CATALOGUE WAS PRODUCED AND EDITED BY THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY. THE EXHIBITION, SHOWN IN BRISBANE FROM 30 JULY TO I I SEPTEMBER 1994, ATTRACTED I02 000 VISITORS. IT WAS ALSO SHOWN AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA AND THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. THE EXHIBITION WAS SPONSORED BY EUNOS AUSTRALIA. Great exhibitions need generous supporters; and the greater the exhibition, the greater the degree of generosity that is needed. Eunos Australia, a Trading Division of Mazda, as the presenter of this Renoir exhibition, has been extremely generous-as generous, indeed, as any company has ever been to this Gallery. I thank most warmly both the Company itself for its support and Mr Mike Smith, the National Manager, personally, for the part he and others have played in gaining it for us. There is no doubt that this is a great exhibition. And there is no doubt that the paintings will give a high degree of enjoyment to all those who are lucky enough to view them. As Renoir himself said: 'I am content to demand just one thing from a masterpiece: enjoyment'-an attitude that is sadly rather out of fashion among artists these days. 93