AGNSW_AnnRep_00 full.pdf - Parliament of New South Wales ...

Artist unknown (Japan) The Plain of Musashi circa late 17th century – early 18th century
pair of six fold screens; ink, colour and gold on paper, 156 x 360cm each screen.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation purchase 2000
together a number of partner institutions in Australia and
in Asia to co-operate on a whole range of undertakings
such as exhibitions, research, staff development and
exchanges, education services and enhancing public
interest in and appreciation of Asian art. Our Art Gallery,
with its Asian art collections, curatorial strengths and
scholarship, public programming expertise and
organisational and museum management experience,
possesses a unique combination of resources which can be
harnessed to develop our engagement with the Asian
region. Another priority for us in the forthcoming year is
to progress the digitisation of the collection project which
will, in due course, enable easier and more widespread
public access to the collections. All these projects are
essentially evolutionary, stemming from and out of the
building, the collections and the resourceful imaginations
of the staff.
There is a reasonably understandable assumption
that the public image of an institution such as the Art
Gallery of New South Wales is determined, principally, by
its art collections. There are, however, other factors and it
is my belief that the public’s perception of this place is
conditioned to some extent by the building, to some
extent by the art we display and by the programmes we
run, but above all, I am sure, it is determined by the
attitude and demeanour of the staff within. The progress
and the success of the Art Gallery is the achievement of all
the staff from the Senior Managers and Head Curators to
those in all corners of the Art Gallery and I, as ever,
record my gratitude to all for their unstinting and, I hope,
generally enjoyable work for the Art Gallery. To the
Trustees, led by David Gonski, the Art Gallery
Foundation and its board of Trustees, the President’s
Council, the Centenary Fund members who have raised so
much money for the building of the new theatre, our
various benefactor schemes which are the result of
extraordinary work and commitment by individuals, the
Art Gallery Society and its Council, the Volunteer Guides
and the Task Force, I express my thanks for ensuring the
life and breath of the Art Gallery. In addition there are
also of course our benefactors who continue to support
the present and the future of the Art Gallery with gifts
and donations; the list of acquisitions is evidence aplenty
of the extent to which the growth of the collections is
dependent upon private benefaction, just as our list of
sponsors ensure the successful fulfilment of our
exhibitions and events programmes. To all those we
express again our thanks. Finally to the Secretary, Evan
Williams and the Ministry for the Arts and to our
Minister and Premier, the Hon Bob Carr, we express our
appreciation of the government’s continuing commitment
to the growth of the Art Gallery.
Edmund Capon
Director
Art Gallery of New South Wales
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