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Queensland Art Gallery ANNUAL REPORT 2008–09
Highlights and achievements
highlights and
achievements
The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and
Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) attracted
1 153 326 visitors during the year.
Audience surveys reflected 94 per cent
satisfaction with this year’s exhibitions.
Exhibitions
‘Picasso & his collection’ ended its exclusive-to-Brisbane
season in September 2008. With a total attendance
of 206 580, critical acclaim and strong support from
visitors to the city, the exhibition continued to define the
Gallery’s strength as a cultural tourism destination.
In partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, and Art Exhibitions Australia, the Gallery presented
a second exclusive international exhibition this year
— ‘American Impressionism and Realism: A Landmark
Exhibition from the Met’ (30 May – 20 September 2009).
In its first month, the exhibition attracted daily average
attendances of 1000 and audience satisfaction of 95
per cent.
‘The China Project’ (28 March – 28 June 2009) was
a three-part exhibition project. ‘Three Decades: The
Contemporary Chinese Collection’ brought together
works from the Gallery’s internationally significant
collection of contemporary Chinese art. In focusing
on the contemporary art of just one country in the
region, the exhibition gave key works a fresh context.
‘The China Project’ also presented the first solo
exhibition in Australia of work by Zhang Xiaogang,
and a site-specific commission by respected
photographer and performer William Yang.
The Gallery launched the first in a new triennial series of
contemporary Australian art exhibitions. ‘Contemporary
Australia: Optimism’ showed at GoMA (15 November
2008 – 22 February 2009) and, through a Queensland
Art Gallery Foundation Appeal, the Gallery acquired
17 works from important mid-career and emerging
Australian artists included in the exhibition.
The Queensland Government funded a $2 million
refurbishment program at the Queensland Art Gallery.
The refurbished galleries, with new lighting infrastructure
and flooring, reopened for ‘American Impressionism and
Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met’.
The Premier of Queensland’s National New Media Art
Award and New Media Scholarship was launched on 31
October 2008. Queensland artist Peter Alwast won the
inaugural award, and emerging Queensland new media
artist Leah Barclay was awarded the first scholarship.
The award exhibition (1 November 2008 – 8 February
2009) gave audiences access to some of the most
innovative and technically sophisticated art being made
in Australia today. The award is the most significant for
new media in Australia.
Collections
The programming opportunities provided by two sites
supported a substantial program of exhibitions based
on the Gallery’s own Collection, including many new
acquisitions.
The Gallery’s internationally significant collection of
contemporary Chinese art was recognised and celebrated
in ‘The China Project’ and documented with a 312-page
exhibition catalogue.
Important international contemporary acquisitions,
including works by Candice Breitz, William Eggleston,
Tobias Putrih, Beat Streuli and Yvonne Todd, were
acquired with the exceptional support of Queensland
Art Gallery Deputy Chair of Trustees and Foundation
President Tim Fairfax,
AM
, and Gina Fairfax. In recognition
of their generosity, Gallery 1.1 at GoMA was this year
named The Fairfax Gallery.
An important work by Matthew Smith, one of the
great British colourists, was generously gifted to the
international collection by longstanding supporter
Philip Bacon,
AM
. Galleries 7, 8 and 9 at the Queensland
Art Gallery were this year named the Philip Bacon
Galleries, in recognition of support provided to the
Gallery over recent years.
The complete list of acquisitions is published in the
Appendixes, pages 46–58.
ABOVE LEFT
Professor John Hay,
AC
,
Chair of the Queensland Art Gallery
Board of Trustees, and artist
William Yang at the opening
of ‘The China Project’,
March 2009
Background:
Wang Qingsong
China Red
2008–09
Ink and synthetic polymer
paint on paper
Site-specific work commissioned
for ‘The China Project’
Collection: The artist
ABOVE CENTRE
Queensland Art Gallery Deputy
Director, Curatorial and Collection
Development, Lynne Seear speaks
about key works during the media
preview for ‘American Impressionism
and Realism: A Landmark Exhibition
from the Met’, May 2009
BELOW
The Honourable Anna Bligh,
MP
,
Premier of Queensland, and
Peter Alwast, winner of the
Premier of Queensland’s National
New Media Art Award,
October 2008