Annual Review 2017

I am pleased to present this review of a remarkable 2017 at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). As well as achieving an all-time record attendance of 2.17 million across our two buildings, we staged landmark exhibitions and received a number of transformative gifts. We also debuted a groundbreaking account of the Australian collection in the newly refreshed Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries at QAG, following their 16-month closure to enable the expansion of our art storage. As the major exhibitions, commissions and programs that accompanied GOMA’s tenth birthday drew to a close early in the year, focus shifted to QAG with the modernist works of Georgia O’Keeffe and her Australian contemporaries Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith. ‘Making Modernism’ was closely followed by ‘Sung into Being’, a deeply impressive selection of Aboriginal masterworks from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection. ‘Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe’ was a new type of exhibition for us, attracting record-breaking crowds and providing a great opportunity to showcase the work of GOMA’s Australian Cinémathèque to a new audience. It was a rare privilege to close out the year with major Gallery-curated survey exhibitions by two of the world’s most important living artists, Gerhard Richter and Yayoi Kusama. All of these, along with many other Collection displays, programs and initiatives, are featured in this review. Once again, the Gallery enjoyed the unswerving support of the Premier, the Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk mp , the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and Arts Queensland. In December, we were pleased to welcome a new Minister for the Arts, the Hon Leeanne Enoch mp . We continuously reap the benefits of a highly engaged family of supporters, committed sponsors, and generous donors. I’d like to thank our Chair, Professor Ian O’Connor ac , and Deputy Chair Rick Wilkinson, the Board of Trustees, QAGOMA Foundation President Tim Fairfax ac and the Foundation Committee, alongside the Executive Management Team and staff. I also acknowledge former chair Professor Sue Street ao for her significant contribution to the Gallery over the past five years. As we head into a year that will include both our largest exhibition to date by an Australian contemporary artist and the ninth chapter of the Asia Pacific Triennial series, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of those artists, donors, visitors and myriad other supporters who make our work possible. CHR I S SA I NES cn z m DIRECTOR, QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY | GALLERY OF MODERN ART 5 FROM THE DIRECTOR