ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES ANNUAL REPORT 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES HIGHLIGHTS PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2 BUDDHA: RADIANT AWAKENING, AN INSPIRING EXHIBITION THAT BROKE NEW GROUND – UNIQUE AGNSW CURATORIAL CONCEPT; SCOPE AND SCALE OF LOANED ART DIRECTOR’S REPORT 4 1 WORKS; SUPERB EXHIBITION DESIGN AND PRESENTATION, EXTENSIVE COMMUNITY YEAR IN REVIEW 8 BASED PUBLIC PROGRAMMES; A MAJOR CATALOGUE PUBLICATION; AND, WITH OVER 100,000 VISITATIONS, HUGE PUBLIC INTEREST. AIMS/OBJECTIVES/PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 26 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 32 THE OPENING IN NOVEMBER, 2001 OF THE INNOVATIVELY DESIGNED CENTENARY 2 AUDITORIUM LOCATED BELOW GROUND AND ADJACENT TO THE MAJOR EXHIBITION SENIOR MANAGEMENT PROFILE 35 DISPLAY AREA WAS COMPLETED ON BUDGET FROM PRIVATELY RAISED FUNDS AND ORGANISATION CHART 36 WITHOUT INTERRUPTION TO THE ART GALLERY’S OPERATIONS. FINANCIAL INFORMATION 38 DAVID JONES LIMITED DONATED AN IMPORTANT GROUP OF WORKS BY AUGUSTE RODIN (1840–1917), INCLUDING A SET OF CASTS OF SKETCH MODELS FOR THE APPENDICES 62 3 BURGHERS OF CALAIS, UNQUESTIONABLY ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL INDEX 88 MASTERPIECES OF EUROPEAN SCULPTURE. GENERAL INFORMATION 89 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, A VERY PRESTIGIOUS PRESS WITH A WORLDWIDE 4 REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE AREA OF VISUAL ARTS AND SCHOLARSHIP, AGREED TO BE DISTRIBUTORS IN THE UNITED STATES FOR AGNSW PUBLICATIONS – THE BUDDHA: RADIANT AWAKENING CATALOGUE, BEING THE FIRST PUBLICATION THEY WILL DISTRIBUTE ON OUR BEHALF, HAS COMMENCED THIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LARGEST SINGLE ORDER THE GALLERY HAS EVER RECEIVED. IN AN ACT OF ENORMOUS SUPPORT FOR ARTS AND CULTURE IN AUSTRALIA HAS Bob Carr MP 5 SEEN THE ART GALLERY BECOME ONE OF THE MAJOR BENEFACTORS FROM THE Premier, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Citizenship ESTATE OF THE LATE RUTH KOMON – SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING THE RUDY Level 40 KOMON MEMORIAL FUND BY $2.4 MILLION. Governor Macquarie Tower 1 Farrer Place CONSTRUCTION COMMENCED IN JANUARY, 2002 ON THE BUILDING EXTENSION, A SYDNEY NSW 2000 6 CAPITAL WORKS PROJECT FUNDED BY THE NSW STATE GOVERNMENT, WHICH WILL INCLUDE A NEW ASIAN ART GALLERY, ADDITIONAL TEMPORARY EXHIBITION SPACE, Dear Premier, AN IMPROVED CONSERVATION STUDIO, NEW CAFÉ AND RESTAURANT, AND EXPANDED OFFICES. In accordance with the requirements of the Annual Report (Statutory Bodies) Act 1984, we have pleasure in submitting to you the Annual Report for the THE MAJOR CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION – SPACE ODYSSEYS: SENSATION AND Art Gallery of New South Wales for the year ended 30th June, 2002, for Top: Guyto monks making a sand Mandala 7 IMMERSION – WAS A COMPLEX ART GALLERY CURATED EXHIBITION INVOLVING as part of Buddha: Radiant Awakening AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS WORKING WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES presentation to Parliament. exhibition activities 10 November 2001 – 24 February 2002 TO CREATE ENVIRONMENTS THAT EXPANDED THE VISITORS’ PERCEPTION OF SPACE. The annual report of the Gallery, in our opinion, has been prepared in full Middle: Centenary auditorium opened in compliance with the requirements of the Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) November, 2001 CONTINUED EXPANSION OF VISASIA, THE INSTITUTE OF ASIAN CULTURE AND VISUAL Act and the Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Regulations. Bottom: Lynette Wallworth Hold vessel #1 and ARTS, LAUNCHED LAST YEAR, WITH EIGHT NEW BUSINESS COUNCIL MEMBERS. Hold vessel #2 2001. Projections, digital video 8 imagery. Courtesy the artist and Australian Centre for the Moving Image. THE ART GALLERY SOCIETY PRESENTED A SHIPWRECK OFF A ROCKY COAST BY Yours sincerely, Underwater film © David Hannan PHILIPPE JACQUES DE LOUTHERBOURG (1740–1812) WHICH WAS PAINTED IN PARIS Space Odysseys: Sensation and Immersion 9 exhibition 18 August – 14 October 2001 IN THE 1760’S AND IS AN EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLE OF LOUTHERBOURG’S MELODRAMATIC SHIPWRECK SCENES AND PROVIDES A LINK BETWEEN THE FRENCH ROCOCO AND BRITISH ROMANTIC ARTISTS SUCH AS TURNER AND JOHN MARTIN. David Gonski Edmund Capon President Director MAJOR ACQUISITION HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE ASIAN COLLECTION INCLUDED A FINELY Cover: Inside the Buddha: Radiant Awakening 10 CAST CHINESE GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA FROM THE 14TH CENTURY exhibition 10 November 2001 – 24 February 2002 AND A PAINTING OF A STANDING BEAUTY BY THE WELL-KNOWN JAPANESE ARTIST HOSODA EISHI (1756–1829). PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD The 2001–02 year has been a year of building construction which has seen the completion of the new Centenary Auditorium and the commencement of the Building Extension project. Centenary Auditorium, opened in November, 2001. Funded by private contribution from the Centenary Fund. In November 2001 the Centenary Auditorium was officially from their Capital Works allocation. This is an ambitious and During this reporting period the terms for Mr Lachlan world-class exhibition and public programmes while working opened by the NSW Treasurer the Hon. Michael Egan, MLC. exciting project that will see an additional Asian art gallery Murdoch and Ms Jillian Broadbent were completed. I take around major building construction, not for one minute The Auditorium’s cost of $2.2 million was funded entirely constructed above the current Level 1 gallery space, this opportunity to thank them both for their assistance to the diminishing their enthusiasm for their work. Our Gallery is from private contributions. The members of the Centenary effectively doubling the display space available for Asian art Gallery. I am very pleased to say that Ms Broadbent’s work extremely successful and it is their creativity and hard work Fund are each contributing $100,000 over varying periods, and in particular contemporary Asian art. A new temporary and support for the Gallery will continue in the role of that has made it so. and are responsible for making this excellent building project exhibition gallery on the Upper Level will provide much Deputy Chairman of the Art Gallery Foundation; she having a reality. I extend to them my deepest thanks for their needed space for the temporary exhibition programme. The for many years been the Vice President of the Trust and Chair commitment. development also includes a new Conservation Studio, a re- of the Trust’s Finance Committee. ordering of internal office space which will see several staff David Gonski The Centenary Auditorium is a tiered theatrette comfortably previously languishing in the sub-basement area integrated Newly appointed Trustees, commencing their first terms from President seating up to 90 people and fills a real need for servicing the into the general office accommodation. Completing the scope 1 January 2002, are Ms Anne Fulwood and Ms Irene Lee. I Art Gallery of New South Wales Gallery’s very active public programmes. The auditorium has of this project will be the establishment of a new Restaurant welcome all four new Trustees and extend my thanks to the been fitted out with modern information technology allowing and Functions area to be situated on the ground floor and an continuing Trustees. More details about the Trust can be online connectivity, assistance for the hearing impaired and upgraded and expanded Café on Level 1. found in the Corporate Governance section of this report. high quality presentation of film and images. As such the auditorium plays a key role in enabling the Gallery to fulfil This Building Extension project will be completed by mid This year has also seen the continued significant support for its mission – to provide an accessible venue for the year-long 2003, with the extended Café being the first new area open the Gallery from a range of people and entities including the Contemporary, Asian and (evening sessions of) European art to the public in August 2002. All this work will be completed Art Gallery Foundation, members of the President’s Council, lecture series, and for the many public programme events without closing the Gallery for a single day. of the Centenary Fund, of VisAsia, and of the Art Gallery supporting and enhancing our major exhibitions, which Society and their hard working Volunteer Guides and Task include such activities as film sessions, symposia, artist talks As well as expanding the building, the Board of Trustees has Force members. This involvement has allowed the Art Gallery and curatorial lectures. also expanded its membership from 9 to 11 Trustees during to expand its art collection, increase it’s public access and the year. The two additional Trustees are Mr John Schaeffer generally develop into the place of fine arts excellence it is With the completion of the Auditorium, the Gallery rapidly and Mr Peter Young, both of whom add considerable today. moved from the planning and approval stage of the last year management and financial expertise to our board, in addition to the on-site construction stage of the major Building to their strong interest as great supporters of the Art Gallery, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Extension project. This 3 year project, with a total cost of and as notable collectors. Director, Mr Edmund Capon, and his staff for their continued over $16 million, is being funded by the NSW Government commitment to presenting to the public of New South Wales 2 3 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The year 2001–02 was, as it turned out, the Year of Buddha, the Biennale and the Building. Work on the new extensions to the Gallery which include a not even the new building, but the acquisitions of works of new restaurant and coffee shop, new exhibiting gallery, new art that we have made. The heart and mind of any art conservation centre and new Asian gallery, commenced in museum such as this are the collections and they are the stage earnest in January; the 2002 Biennale of Sydney curated by upon which the intelligence and the opportunities of the Richard Grayson was as its title, (The World May Be) institution are performed and explored. The development of Fantastic, inferred, just that; and the Gallery’s major summer the Gallery’s permanent collections thus remains our primary exhibition Buddha: Radiant Awakening brought new realms responsibility.