2005-06 Report

collection

/ QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY ANNUAL REPORT 05/06

COLLECTION

One of the Queensland Art Gallery’s key goals is the development,

management and conservation of the Collection to the highest art museum

standards. In 2005–06 the Gallery acquired 338 works.

AUSTRALIAN ART

In 2005, the Foundation launched an appeal to acquire

City

lights

1952, a major early work by distinguished Australian

artist Charles Blackman. Especially meaningful for Brisbane

residents, the painting has a direct connection with the

Gallery — it is painted from the perspective of North Quay,

across the river from the Gallery, and depicts the traffic at

night near the Brisbane River, with the arches of old Victoria

Bridge in view. The painting was acquired through the

generosity of Foundation members and the Queensland

community, and is an important addition to the Gallery’s

Australian art collection.

Also depicting local scenes are two significant oil paintings

by William Bustard —

(Brisbane River, Indooroopilly)

and

(

Brisbane River, view to Graceville church)

, both c.1940s.

Bustard became an important figure in the development of

art in Queensland after migrating to the city in 1921, and

these works are significant contributions to the Gallery’s

holdings of modernist work from Brisbane.

A strong group of contemporary works by Australian artists

was acquired by the Gallery during the year. Tracey Moffatt is

arguably Australia’s best known contemporary artist and

Adventure series

2004 marks an important addition to the

Gallery’s substantial collection of work by this Queensland-

born artist. The work was photographed in Brisbane, and

explores a combination of comic strips, television series and

Moffatt’s childhood memories to create deliberately artificial

and playful images commenting on the seductive power of

the mass media in contemporary life.

Brisbane artist Anne Wallace addresses themes of nostalgia

and longing in

That was long ago

2005, from the ‘Song cycle’

series. This painting — together with

Sometimes I wonder

2005, also from the same series — enriches the Gallery’s

holdings of works by this significant local artist.

Gordon Bennett uses modern Western art techniques and

references to strike a sophisticated multi-layered attack on the

official history of the Aboriginal and colonial ‘problem’, as

represented in Australian art and history.

Interior (Modern art) 11

Nov. 2004

2005, by Bennett’s alter ego, John Citizen, reworks

images from advertising and from the social pages of Brisbane’s

Courier-Mail

in a playful critique of contemporary society.

Additional acquisition highlights for the year included works by

Indigenous artists Irene Entata and Pedro Wonaeamirri.

Wonaeamirri is the leading young Tiwi painter who continues to

paint traditional jilamara, or ‘good design’. The acquisition of

Wonaeamirri’s

Pwoja (Pukumani body paint design)

2005

allows the Gallery to display a coherent and impressive group

of works by Tiwi artists from Bathurst and Melville Islands.

Since 1990, the Arrernte (Aranda) people from

Hermannsburg, near Alice Springs, have been producing a

vibrant and highly original form of ceramic art. Gallery

holdings include a group of 21 of these unique pots, and the

acquisition of

Mission days

2005 by Irene Entata further

reflects the distinctive visual culture and history of the region.

A significant addition to the Gallery’s growing collection of

Indigenous Australian fibre art was

Hot-air balloon

2006 by

distinguished Indigenous artist Yvonne Koolmatrie.

Embodying the form and lightness of a real hot-air balloon,

Koolmatrie’s work is woven from grasses and embellished

with decorative variations on the coil-weave stitch.

During the year, the Gallery also added to its holdings of

work by Torres Strait Islander Dennis Nona, whose prints are

Tim Johnson

(artist)

Australia b.1947

Brendan Smith

(collaborating artist)

Australia b.1964

Two phoenix

2005

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas,

153 x 183cm

Purchased 2006 with funds from

Macquarie Bank Foundation through

and with the assistance of the

Queensland Art Gallery Foundation