Art Galleries Told To Join Forces

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31977, 2 May 1969, Page 12

Art Galleries Told To Join Forces

Public art galleries throughout New Zealand should get together for a joint approach to the Government for financial assistance, said Mr Eric Westbrook, director of the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, in Christchurch last even* ing. He told a public meeting that if galleries did this instead of going to the Government separately like a series of mendicants they would “get the Government off the hook.” At present the Government was in the position of creating a precedent if it gave aid to a particular gallery. If the galleries took the politicians “off the hook” by forming an association for joint action, politicians would be eternally grateful, he said. Mr Westbrook said the 17 provincial galleries in Victoria had done just this, and as an association had been given Government support that had been denied them as individuals.

When there was unity of purpose the Government would be much more prepared to look at a project because it would be a “oncer” and would not open the door to a string of similar demands.

Mr Westbrook, who is in Christchurch to advise the City- Council’s cultural committee on the future of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, also proposed a cultural alliance between New Zealand and Australia. “I believe we should have a new Anzac,” he said. “It should be the Australia New Zealand Arts Council. I believe that our two countries, with their enormous reserves of talent, can do tremendous things.” He offered to do anything he Could to help such a venture, in the way of professional training and occasional loans. “But please don’t ask me for Rembrandts straight away;” he added. Obviously, said Mr Westbrook, the Christchurch gallery could not expect anything like the $l4 million spent on the Victorian National Gallery, but when the figure was scaled down it should expect a great deal more than it had received. “I am not pointing the bone,” he said, “but if I were it would be in the general direction of Wellington. It seems that your Government is not doing what it might on a number of levels for the visual arts, for example, in the form of tax concessions to donors, and grants for training. “It might be interesting to get comparative figures from a backward Australian state like Queensland.” Mr Westbrook is also advising the City Council on the

choice of a new director for its gallery. He told the public meeting that a good director had to be a professional man who was never satisfied with the amount of money he had to spend, and whose recommendations and judgment must be relied on implicitly. “In Australia in the last year,” he said, “the tendency has been to believe that only a painter can be capable of running a gallery. To be cruel, gallery directors have been almost entirely failedartists in Australia in the past. This is not a good beginning for a gallery director. The more he can be removed from practice the better.” Objectivity was of great importance, said Mr Westbrook. A director must know what was good, and he must know what was good of its kind. He must not express his own taste through the gallery. He said that he and his colleagues often recommended for purchase works which they personally detested, but which they knew were the best works of their kind. Mr Westbrook apologised for calling the McDougall Gallery “an architect’s Bank Holiday” when he was in Christchurch 16 years ago. “In the light of greater maturity —or weaker ideals—l would say that it’s an example of architectural indulgence,” was bis reassessment.

It was not a good gallery, said Mr Westbrook, and the retiring director, Mr W. S. Baverstock, had pointed out to him all of its troubles. Mr Westbrook described it

as the kind of small public gallery constructed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as “public totems" designed to give the appearance of “culture.” “This kind of tribal totem is no longer usable in the mid-twentieth century,” he said. “A public gallery today must be a workable and efficient machine, so that the professionals can use.it. “I believe that in Christchurch you have a marvellous opportunity to set up a very exciting art situation,” he said. “But it is not going to happen by some sort of miracle. It has to be done by very hard graft, but once it starts it will continue, and with growing momentum. “The greatest consideration you must acquire is public excitement—public enthusiasm.” He said excuses that the McDougall Gallery was in the wrong place and badly equipped were feeble excuses that must not be used against it and could not longer be sustained. Mr Westbrook advised the city to look at its collection and decide in which direction it wanted to go. Acquisition must be limited to the vital areas.

"Make it a policy,” he said, “that will Hluminate Christchurch as a cultural entity. Be sure that you get the right trained staff and provide them with the sinews of war. . . . Those who want to help can provide any of the three Ws—work, wealth or wisdom."